For years now, standardized testing and teacher observation have been seen as the two key pillars to gauge student learning and teacher proficiency. A new survey company, Panorama Education, hopes that its improved and much cheaper survey techniques can ensure that a third pillar is added: student voice. A New York Times article by Farhad Read more about Better Student Surveys Crucial for Better Teaching[…]
The Regional Education Laboratories offer a number of webinars that are of interest to education reformers. Below, you will find a list of recently recorded webinars as well an upcoming event of interest. Effective School Leaders This webinar explores the role of school leaders in fostering teacher effectiveness and discusses strategies they can use to Read more about Upcoming (and recorded) Webinars from the Regional Ed Labs[…]
Most analysts in the education policy conversation agree that teacher quality is the most important in-school variable shaping students’ educational outcomes. It’s a huge lever—new technology, fancy curricula, and better content standards are almost meaningless without a great teacher to make them work. A new report from Third Way offers some insight into the challenges Read more about New Report on College Students’ Perceptions of the Teaching Profession[…]
The New Digital Learning Playbook: “Understanding the Spectrum of Students’ Activities and Aspirations” is the first in a two part series to document the key national findings from Speak Up 2013. For the past eleven years, Project Tomorrow’s® annual Speak Up National Research Project has provided schools and districts nationwide and throughout the globe with Read more about Understanding the Spectrum of Students’ Technology Activities and Aspirations[…]
Montgomery County Public Schools, MD, will greet its students this fall with a survey that asks them questions, not about academics, but about “hope, engagement and well-being.” MCPS is teaming up with Gallup, the polling giant, to conduct this survey, which they also conducted last year. For three years of work that includes working with Read more about Montgomery County (MD) Measuring ‘Hope’ to Help Improve Academic Success[…]
If the Common Core initiative is to have a chance to take off, a new strategy of professional development, coupled with thoughtful evaluation is necessary. This is according to Peter Youngs, writing under the auspices of the Center for American Progress. This new strategy requires reform of the current system of teacher evaluation and needs Read more about Reform to support Common Core[…]
The Center for American Progress has released a report on student surveys regarding how challenged they feel at school. Along with the report, CAP has provided an interactive map breaking down key results by state. Popular assumption is that the nation’s teenagers are drowning in schoolwork. Images of sullen students buried in textbooks often grace Read more about Do Schools Challenge Our Students?[…]
In a recent blog post for Education Week¸ Sarah Sparks reported on the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference in Vancouver, BC. Under discussion was the massive Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project, funded by the Gates Foundation. MET is finding that their teacher effectiveness assessments “aren’t good at showing which differences are important between Read more about Studies Give Nuanced Look at Teacher Effectiveness[…]