Andy Smarick, writing for AEI, has penned a piece on the shortcomings of efficiency as an educational goal. Excerpts from his article appear below: There are very good reasons to resist (or at least be skeptical of) efforts to drive “efficiency” in public education. One of the biggest reasons is that any attempt to maximize Read more about The Shortcomings of Efficiency in Education[…]
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) opens up new possibilities for more meaningful approaches to assessing student learning and teacher and school success. The law broadens the concept of student learning, requiring that assessments measure “higher order thinking skills and understanding,” and explicitly allowing the use of multiple assessments – including “portfolios, projects, or extended-performance Read more about How State Assessments Can Foster 21st Century Learning[…]
To ensure that the public education system delivers on its promise of great outcomes for all kids, we need a shared understanding of the facts to help us assess the system, identify challenges, and develop viable solutions. A new report by Bellwether Education Partners, titled The Learning Landscape, presents a balanced assessment of the status Read more about The Learning Landscape[…]
An Education Week survey of states’ testing plans in English/language arts and math—the two subjects covered by the Common Core—found that states have continued in 2015-16 to drift away from the tests designed by the assessment corsortia, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, and Smarter Balanced tests. Here’s how Read more about Shifts in the National Assessment Landscape[…]
State achievement standards represent how much the state expects their students to learn in order to reach various levels of academic proficiency. In the past, these achievement standards were used by each state to report adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind federal legislation, and are now being used for federal reporting under the Read more about National Benchmarks for State Achievement Standards[…]
In the last several years, state policymakers have enacted a dizzying array of new policies on education issues ranging from assessment and accountability to cursive-handwriting and citizenship exams. Within states, education policy-making isn’t led by one person or entity, but many — state legislatures, state education agencies, state and local boards of education, the governor, Read more about Aspen Institute Releases Checklist for Education Policymakers[…]