A new policy guide, created in partnership with the College in High School Alliance, Everyone Graduates Center, Linked Learning Alliance, and National College Attainment Network, encourages state and district leaders to use federal coronavirus relief funds to improve college access and success, especially for students who are historically underserved and Read more
A new report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) focuses on the fundamental importance of the fine arts and provides policy recommendations for reclaiming the arts and culture in education. Key points of this report include the following: Despite overwhelming support for arts education, an increasing share of children is Read more
In recent years, federal education programs and policies have increasingly focused on teacher quality as a means for closing achievement gaps, in part by directing states to measure teacher qualifications and performance and to promote equitable access to qualified and effective teachers among schools within a district. A new report Read more
Writing for The 74, Kevin Mahnken recently released a piece updating readers on The Gifted Gap, or the gap between talented Black and low-income students and their whiter, more affluent peers. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Efforts to improve the quality of American education often focus, implicitly or explicitly, Read more
Recently, AIR published a report from Keri Ingraham, fellow at Discovery Institute, focused on the possibility of using adjunct teachers for K-12 classrooms for limited roles. Excerpts from this intriguing piece appear below: Trends in higher education tend to trickle down to K–12 schools over time. In the K–12 setting, Read more
Recently, in Fordham’s Flypaper, Brandon L. Wright wrote an insightful rebuttal to Anne Kim’s recent long-form article in Washington Monthly titled “AP’s Equity Face-Plant” in which Kim interprets AP courses as problematic from an equity lens. Excerpts of the piece appear below: We as a country should care deeply that Read more
Choosing instructional materials wisely is one of the most important jobs education leaders and teachers have, perhaps now more than ever. Unfinished academic instruction resulting from the COVID-19 crisis demands better ways to reignite student engagement and accelerate learning. At the same time, the disparate impact of the pandemic on Read more
With the release of data never before published, NCTQ focuses on a uniquely challenging point of teacher certification: licensure tests. Their report, Driven by Data: Using Licensure Tests to Build a Strong, Diverse Teacher Workforce, raises many important considerations around the use of licensure exams and their results. After a Read more
The federal Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education has released a report outlining the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on America’s students. Major observations include the following: OBSERVATION 1 (K-12): Emerging evidence shows that the pandemic has negatively affected academic growth, widening pre-existing disparities. In core subjects like Read more
The District of Columbia Public Schools is well-known for its comprehensive teacher-evaluation and performance-based compensation systems. But an equally important component of the district’s work to strengthen its teaching workforce has been a systematic, data-driven approach to hiring the strongest candidates in the first place. Known as TeachDC, the system Read more
There is no doubt that teachers exert an incredible influence on students and their learning. But what if teachers hold the key to school and district-wide reform as well? In Core Education’s September Issue Brief, we explore the many ways schools and districts are offering exceptional teachers opportunities to share Read more
The Wallace Foundation recently released a report focusing on the potential for Assistant Principals to help foster educational equity, school improvement, and principal effectiveness. Recent years have seen a surge in the number of assistant principals and the percentage of schools with them, but despite its growing presence, the AP Read more
Students across the country continue to return to in-person learning after more than a year of varied access to the educational opportunities they need to succeed. For example, some estimates show that 3 million students have either been consistently absent from or have not been actively participating in remote learning Read more
Over the past 18 months, the parents of an estimated 10.8 million students, or nearly one in five of the nation’s schoolchildren, did not get what they wanted from their child’s school, reports Bellwether Education Partners in a new report, “The Overlooked.” These families are not a monolith — they Read more
The National Council on Teacher Quality recently released a report by Patricia Saenz-Armstrong comparing the salary trajectories of teachers in 90 large school districts across the country. Excerpts from the piece appear below: “Teacher pay is low.” It has been said hundreds of thousands of times before. The search term Read more
The way teachers teach and students learn is changing. As more learning communities embrace personalized, competency-based learning – learning that centers each students’ strengths, needs, and interests and provides differentiated supports and ways to demonstrate what they know and know how to do – educators and leaders are also working Read more