Historically, states and districts have invested large sums on teacher professional development or “PD” as the primary strategy to help teachers improve their practice. Despite its potential, in its present state, PD has gained a poor reputation among educators and those who study education, in part because little evidence exists Read more
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, the ticket to the American dream. But if educational opportunities are not offered equitably to all students, the American dream remains out of reach for youth. In this month’s issue brief, we explore new data on inequities in education, look at outcomes Read more
Teaching quality is recognized as the most powerful school-based factor in student learning. However, capacity and often commitment have been insufficient across states and districts to ensure all students have equitable access to excellent educators. Too often, students from low-income families and students of color experience educational “opportunity gaps,” meaning Read more
A new study finds that teacher candidates who passed the edTPA teacher performance assessment for certification and licensure on their first try tended to boost their students’ reading test scores more in their first year of teaching than those who didn’t. While that finding is good news for supporters of Read more
The materials on EngageNY, the online library of common-core-aligned curricula hosted by New York state’s education department, have now been downloaded more than 45 million times, far surpassing many people’s expectations for the free resource created just five years ago. But with the website’s federal funding source having all but Read more
Do teachers really know what students go through? To find out, one teacher followed two students for two days and was amazed at what she found. Her report appeared on the blog of Grant Wiggins, the co-author of Understanding by Design and the author of Educative Assessment. Read more
Beginning educators who participate in teaching residency programs (TRPs) are more likely to remain in the same school district than teachers trained through other programs, according to research from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). A new report from ED’s National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) examines Read more
Recently in The Atlantic, Paul Tough expounded on what we know about teaching kids resilience. This work argues the importance of the noncognitive for student life outcomes, reviews the little we know about how to improve student academic perseverance and mindset, and raises questions about our nation’s current measures of Read more
Although they find parts of their jobs immensely rewarding, many teachers feel ignored in education policy discussions and are frustrated with the constantly changing demands on them, a new survey finds. Listen to Us: Teacher Views and Voices released by the nonprofit Center on Education Policy, is based on online Read more
Previously, this blog introduced readers to the work of California’s CORE Districts. Now preliminary evidence is out, and we are able to look more closely at the use of self-report surveys of non-cognitive skills as a potential element of school accountability systems. Analysis of data from the CORE field test Read more
The critical issue of teacher shortages is often featured in today’s news headlines. Whether a shortage exists varies from state to state as do the root causes and the approaches states are taking to address the issue. To support policymakers, Education Commission of the States conducted extensive research on the Read more
A recent Education Week blog written by teacher Justin Minkel offers up a counterpoint to those articles that explain why teachers leave the profession. He begins with a poignant introduction: I groan each time another “Why I Quit Teaching” story pops up in my Facebook feed. These columns by teachers who decided to Read more
Even though school principals have a powerful impact on teaching and student achievement, in general they remain relatively low priorities on crowded state education policy agendas. A new report recently released suggests a number of possible actions that state policymakers can consider to raise the profile of principals on policy Read more
In the first of a series of research briefs focused on the biggest implementation challenges facing American education today, EDI looks at what data from the field can tell us about education leaders’ capacity to anchor their work in clear student outcome goals. Eyes on the prize: The capacity of Read more
Over the past 15 years, a national consensus has slowly coalesced around one of the most enduring and contentious debates in education circles: how to hold schools and districts accountable for improving outcomes. The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, is in many ways the culmination of the movement towards Read more
Below, two articles are excerpted that come to very different conclusions about the recent NAEP results for high school seniors. Education Week author Liana Heitin writes: High school seniors have lost ground in math over the last two years, according to the most recent scores on a national achievement test. Read more