2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) Data Release

Posted on September 19, 2014September 13, 2014 by coreeducation

The National Center for Education Statistics has added the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data to PowerStats. This update includes the following datasets from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey: Public Schools, Private Schools, Public and Private Schools combined, Public Principals, Private Principals, Public and Private Principals combined, Public Teachers, Private Teachers, Public and Read more about 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) Data Release[…]

Wallace Foundation aims to help school leaders get better, donates $30 million

Posted on July 31, 2014 by coreeducation

Fourteen school systems around the country, including the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County (MD), will receive grants totaling $30 million to improve the effectiveness of unsung middle managers in large urban districts – those who supervise principals. The five-year program, funded by the Wallace Foundation, is designed to help improve management in sprawling Read more about Wallace Foundation aims to help school leaders get better, donates $30 million[…]

States Forge Ahead on Principal Evaluation

Posted on July 30, 2014September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

Since 2010, at least 36 states have adopted laws requiring principals to undergo regular assessments and increasing the rigor of those reviews, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This change is in large part due to demands set on school systems by No Child Left Behind and the later waivers granted by the Read more about States Forge Ahead on Principal Evaluation[…]

Great Principals: Developing Every Teacher

Posted on April 9, 2014 by coreeducation

America Achieves’ latest multimedia report in its Spotlight on Promising Practices series is entitled “Great Principals: Developing Every Teacher.” As the title indicates, these stories showcase effective school leadership and its impact on teaching and learning. Watch how at Merrill Middle School in Denver, school leaders have implemented an incredibly thoughtful practice in which educators Read more about Great Principals: Developing Every Teacher[…]

Supporting Principals in Implementing Teacher Evaluation Systems

Posted on April 2, 2014April 2, 2014 by coreeducation

Supporting Principals in Implementing Teacher Evaluation Systems is the latest policy brief from NASSP and NAESP. It is the product of two months of work from a committee of elementary, middle level, and high school principals from the across the country who are all experiencing different challenges and opportunities in conducting classroom observations, mentoring and Read more about Supporting Principals in Implementing Teacher Evaluation Systems[…]

February Issue Brief: Principalship

Posted on February 20, 2014 by coreeducation

School administrators serve as instructional leaders and set the tone for the culture of a school. The principal’s influence is pivotal. In this month’s issue brief, we explore effective school leadership and recommendations for improving the training, support and evaluation of educational leaders. What essential skills should principals master in order to be exceptional instructional Read more about February Issue Brief: Principalship[…]

Principal walkthroughs: Do they help or hurt?

Posted on January 21, 2014September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

A new report suggests that principal walkthroughs do not improve student performance. For years, one of the key debates about principalship has been their role in “instructional leadership”. In other words, how much should principals be doing to directly impact student instruction and what exactly should they be doing if it is so important? Principal Read more about Principal walkthroughs: Do they help or hurt?[…]

Principal Training and Support in Six School Districts

Posted on January 17, 2014 by coreeducation

How can school districts build a large corps of highly qualified principals? Making sure that would-be principals get the right training is one step; providing new principals with plenty of support is another. A new report describes what those two steps look like in six urban school districts working to build larger pools of strong Read more about Principal Training and Support in Six School Districts[…]

Three New Tools to Help Districts Strengthen School Leadership

Posted on December 12, 2013 by coreeducation

Principals are key to improving teaching and learning in schools, but how can school district central offices give principals the support they need? Three tools designed by education researchers at the University of Washington are meant to help. Two focus on the redesign of central offices in ways that foster effective leadership in schools. The Read more about Three New Tools to Help Districts Strengthen School Leadership[…]

Finnish Educator Refutes U.S. Approach to Education Reform

Posted on December 8, 2013September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post has posted an article by a prominent Finnish education policy expert, Pasi Sahlberg, which argues persuasively that the American focus on teacher effectiveness is missing some key components. Without a shift in thinking about how to reform American education, Sahlberg, who admits some of the large differences between the Read more about Finnish Educator Refutes U.S. Approach to Education Reform[…]

Rethinking Principal Evaluation

Posted on October 7, 2013 by coreeducation

What can school districts do to ensure that schools have the best principals? Deanna Burney and Robert Hughes, writing for the Harvard Education Letter, propose that districts create a growth-oriented system of principal professional development and certification and tie this system to principal evaluation. Following is the basic idea for the Burney and Hughes’ proposed Read more about Rethinking Principal Evaluation[…]

Change Agents: NLNS Report Examines Principals’ Roles in Student Success

Posted on September 19, 2013September 19, 2013 by coreeducation

Principals are the primary agents of change in schools, and their effectiveness as leaders plays a key role in improving student achievement, a new report from New Leaders finds. The report, “Change Agents: How States Can Develop Effective School Leaders,” encourages states to develop a pipeline for attracting and retaining educational leaders and a high-quality Read more about Change Agents: NLNS Report Examines Principals’ Roles in Student Success[…]

10 Steps for Integrating Teacher Effectiveness Systems and the Common Core

Posted on July 14, 2013 by coreeducation

To strengthen state implementation of Common Core State Standards and meaningful teacher evaluations, the Aspen Institute and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a set of recommendations for forging coherence across these efforts at CCSSO’s Implementing the Common Core Standards (ICCS) meeting of 22 states in New Orleans. “Teaching to the Core: Read more about 10 Steps for Integrating Teacher Effectiveness Systems and the Common Core[…]

5 Tips for Principals to Put New Teachers on the Right Path

Posted on June 13, 2013 by coreeducation

This tipsheet is a complement to TNTP’s latest report, Leap Year: Assessing and Supporting Effective First-Year Teachers, which shares what TNTP learned after radically evolving the way they train and evaluate new teachers. It is based on a simple idea: The first year is the most important year of a teacher’s career—a critical window of Read more about 5 Tips for Principals to Put New Teachers on the Right Path[…]

AIR offers Helpful Recommendations on Teacher Evaluation

Posted on April 8, 2013June 9, 2013 by coreeducation

In “Flexibility for Fairness: Crafting Business Rules for Student Learning Objectives” AIR’s Amy Potemski explores the ways in which states are creating “business rules” to allow for flexibility in the SLO process. SLOs, or Student Learning Objectives, are being used across states as a way to provide a student growth measure in non-tested grades and Read more about AIR offers Helpful Recommendations on Teacher Evaluation[…]