New York City, especially under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has often tried to be a model of a progressive city, willing to take on business lobbies or entrenched bureaucracies in an effort to improve. For example, recently, New York started using data to rate restaurants, track the repair of potholes and Read more
Did you know that nearly half of U.S. states require, recommend, or have identified student learning objectives (SLOs) as a measure of student growth for evaluating educators? To support states and districts in developing and implementing SLOs, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) has developed two new Read more
Catherine Gewertz of Education Week has delved into the complicated issue of how testing for Common Core will be administered, and the results suggest that the prices of those tests, while probably fair for what they offer, may prove prohibitive for some states. What we already know is this: “Now Read more
John Merrow, longtime education reporter and author, begins his blog post, “The Business of Schools is. . . . .?”, with a short multiple choice quiz: Here are two multiple-choice questions for you: 1. The primary business of public schools is to produce: A. Educated students B. Knowledge 2. Which Read more
As schools open for the 2013-2014 school year, one of the new acronyms on the lips of many education professionals is SLO. SLOs, or Student Learning Objectives, are an alternative to standardized testing that can demonstrate student, as well as teacher, growth and progress. SLOs have been mandated in many Read more
The U.S. is in the midst of an important shift in K-12 education. Nearly all states are beginning to implement college- and career-ready content standards and are in the process of developing new aligned assessment systems to measure whether their students have the knowledge and critical skills they need to Read more
As teachers and students are heading back to school, Jenny DeMonte at the Center for American Progress has penned a timely piece about teacher professional development. DeMonte argues that there is a general consensus that most current systems of educator professional development (PD) are not effective, and calls for reforms Read more
Is there a policy disconnect surrounding teacher evaluation? In a commentary published in Education Week, Stephen Fink, executive director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership, argues that how we use the new evaluation tools will determine whether we simply create the aura of accountability or actually help Read more
Did you have a teacher who inspired you? One who changed your life? Is there a teacher you credit with helping you become the person you are today? Do you remember a specific interaction with your teacher that proved to be a moment of inspiration and transformation? Share your story. Read more
The Obama administration recently approved eight California school districts (Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, San Francisco Unified, Sanger Unified, and Santa Ana Unified) for a one year district waiver from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in exchange for locally developed plans to Read more
Conor Williams of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation takes on those in the “teacher professionalism” camp of education reform. In an article sparked by Harvard Education Professor Jal Mehta’s new book and article, “Why American Education Fails: And How Lessons From Abroad Could Improve It”, Williams Read more
Schools are now being expected to implement comprehensive and complex reforms. What systemic supports exist for this transformational change? Recently, reformers have turned their attention to the governance structures that support or stand in the way of meaningful reform. In this month’s issue brief, we explore the topic of Education Read more
Because education is such a key element driving economic growth, states realize the need to prioritize education, but are often short on answers when facing large budget deficits. Andrew P. Kelly and Daniel K. Lautzenheiser of AEI Education recently released a new report entitled, “Taking charge: A state-level agenda for Read more
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) at George Washington University has prepared three new reports based on state survey data about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The reports focus on state implementation efforts and professional development issues related to CCSS. “Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: Read more
A new website, Learning Registry, which is an update to http://free.ed.gov, is an improved site for educators to find free digital learning materials. While still in its beta stage, Learning Registry offers promise as a much more organized, comprehensive, and inclusive education resource collaboration website. While there has been a Read more
Alison Anderson at Getting Smart has compiled a helpful list of new educational technology, or #edtech as is it often called on social media platforms. Several of these technologies are only in their beta phase or will not launch until sometime in August, so now is a good time to Read more