America Achieves has released a new series of short videos designed to show what great schools and districts are doing around the country, in hopes that more schools and districts might follow their lead. America Achieves, an organization that “helps communities and states leverage policy, practice, and leadership to build high-quality educational systems and prepare Read more about Spotlight on Promising Practices[…]
Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently gave a speech to the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. His remarks addressed the issue of testing, specifically with Common Core implementation becoming ever more imminent. Here are some excerpts from the speech: Introduction: With federal support, 44 states plus DC are part of two Read more about Choosing the Right Battles: Secretary Duncan’s speech at AERA[…]
StoryCorps’ National Teachers Initiative celebrates the work of public school teachers across the country. By recording and sharing these stories, StoryCorps calls public attention to the invaluable contribution teachers have made to this nation. This 18-month initiative honors those who have embraced the profession as their calling, encouraged teaching as a career choice, and helped Read more about Great Stories from Great Teachers[…]
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) recently released assessment blueprints and test specifications for both the English language arts/literacy and mathematics assessments set to debut in 2014-15. These blueprints and test specifications will help educators better prepare students for the new online assessments that are aligned to the more rigorous Read more about PARCC Assessment Blueprints and Test Specifications Documents[…]
As arguments about Common Core abound, Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, recently called for a moratorium on “the stakes associated with Common Core assessments until the standards are properly implemented and field-tested.” Here is more from the AFT press release: Weingarten delivered this call in a speech sponsored by the Read more about AFT Weighs In on Common Core[…]
Public Impact has released a new report emphasizing the potential of the combination of good teachers with technology. If school districts can incentivize good teachers who make skillful use of technology, they will achieve what Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called the “best combination.” Hiring the right teachers is the start, but from there, teachers Read more about Schools Need State Policymakers’ Help to Enable a Better Blend[…]
A new report from four researchers associated with Columbia University suggests that arcane rules, not any sort of objective and standardized measure of AYP (adequate yearly progress), drive outcomes under NCLB. Matt Di Carlo at the Shanker Blog posted recently about this important new report: “Fifty Ways to Leave a Child Behind: Idiosyncrasies and Discrepancies Read more about Reflecting on NCLB: Are States playing by the same rules?[…]
Download a new white paper written by Core Education’s president, Kimberly Fleming, PhD: https://www9.performancematters.com/?page_id=1308 Following is from the press release about the white paper: Over the last 15 years, Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) have gained tremendous momentum in K-12 education. In several states, including Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, these measurable instructional goals Read more about New White Paper on Technology and SLOs from Core Education’s President[…]
New America’s education experts have deciphered the 2013 and 2014 budget actions, with a particular view to how they affect education. In the report, “Federal Education Budget Update: Fiscal Year 2013 Recap and Fiscal Year 2014 Early Analysis,” Jason Delisle and Clare McCann explore congressional budget actions over the past year and describe the effects Read more about Federal Education Budget Update[…]
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released a detailed report outlining revenues and expenditures for public elementary and secondary school districts for School Year 2009-10 (FY 10). In addition to providing data with breakdowns by students, states, and districts as well as breakdowns adjusted for median income and inflation, the report revealed the Read more about Education Spending Data from FY 2010[…]
Aspen Institute’s Education & Society Program recently released a new report entitled, “Evaluating Evaluations: Using Teacher Surveys to Strengthen Implementation” by Ross Wiener of the Aspen Institute and Kasia Lundy of The Parthenon Group. Apple and other high-performing companies use employee surveys to drive continuous improvement. The report asks why schools couldn’t also use surveys Read more about Feedback from Educators Is a Key Resource for Continuous Improvement[…]
Anne Hyslop at the New America Foundation has pointed out the new partisan tone of debate that has emerged around the Common Core Standards. Hyslop makes clear that the Common Core state initiative is just that—a state led initiative. While the Obama Administration has indeed supported Common Core and has tied its Race to the Read more about Threats to the Common Core[…]
Coursera, one of the larger MOOC’s (massive open online courses), will begin offering free online teacher development courses this summer. And for a set of courses that are just beginning, a rather impressive list of traditional universities including the College of Education at University of Washington and John Hopkins University School of Education as well Read more about Coursera to Offer Free Teacher Development Classes[…]
Chester E. Finn, Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute believes that Smarter Balanced and PARCC, the two federally-backed Common Core assessment consortia, will lose their place over the next few years to the comprehensive testing apparatus of College Board/ETS and ACT/Pearson. In a new opinion piece for the Fordham Institute’s education blog, the Flypaper, Read more about Will the Common Core assessment consortia wither away?[…]
After two-plus years of work, the Gordon Commission recently released a public policy statement designed to “stimulate a productive national conversation about assessment and its relationship to teaching and learning.” The Gordon Commission believes that now is a “remarkable opportunity to re-conceptualize the purposes of educational assessments.” The Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment Read more about Assessments for the 21st Century[…]
Teach For America (TFA) announced the winners of its annual Social Innovation Award, including education advocate-turned-filmmaker Kelly Amis, who was one of the first 500 college graduates to be accepted into this national teacher recruitment program. Amis will receive a $50,000 grant from TFA’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative to support TEACHED, an innovative series of short Read more about TEACHED films bolstered by $50,000 grant from TFA[…]