A recent blog post from Education Week takes a look at the current state of professional development for teachers and finds a brave new world of “micro-credentialing.” The following example shows just how it works: Last year, Kay Staley and Jessica Scherer, literacy coaches in the Kettle Moraine district in Wisconsin, Read more
An Education Week survey of states’ testing plans in English/language arts and math—the two subjects covered by the Common Core—found that states have continued in 2015-16 to drift away from the tests designed by the assessment corsortia, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, and Read more
In the early days of the accountability movement, Jeb Bush’s Florida developed an innovative approach to evaluating school quality. First, the state looked at individual student progress over time—making it one of the first to do so. Then it put special emphasis on the gains (or lack thereof) of the Read more
Observations of teacher performance are a critical component of most teacher evaluation systems, and, if done well, they can help teachers better understand and improve their practice. Yet, as critical as observations are to ensuring quality instruction, not much is known about how districts are training and supporting their observers. Read more
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Angela Duckworth, founder and scientific director of the Character Lab and the author of the forthcoming book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, recommends against using the results of character surveys for school accountability. A short excerpt from Mrs. Duckworth follows: Read more
Education research consistently shows that positive teacher-student relationships are an important dimension of effective teaching and contribute to students’ success in school and life. Students who have strong relationships with their teachers tend to get better grades, work harder in school, and are less likely to drop out. A recent Read more
New Teacher Center (NTC) has released a national report showing that most states provide insufficient mentoring and support for teachers and principals as they start their careers. The report—Support From The Start: A 50-State Review of Policies on New Educator Induction and Mentoring—shows only limited progress in most states since Read more
Deans for Impact recently looked at nearly two dozen educator preparation programs and found that only six have access to student achievement data connected to the teachers they prepared. Less than a third have access to other kinds of data about their graduates’ performance, like classroom observations. The organization, in Read more
There’s lots of talk about getting more teacher voices into public discussions about education. As there should be. What we don’t talk about as often, however, is this: Just because someone puts a microphone in front of you doesn’t mean you’re ready to represent your profession – or even yourself Read more
The availability of high-quality and aligned instructional materials is central to successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Achieve is proud to make publicly available the 150th set of instructional materials found to be of high quality and aligned to the CCSS by the Educators Evaluating the Quality Read more
For years, education leaders have sought to pinpoint how teachers become effective in order to better leverage teachers’ impact on student learning and improve student outcomes. Teacher leadership is receiving increased attention as a potential lever for improved instruction, recruitment and retention of effective teachers, and improved student outcomes. This Read more
Learning Forward and the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) recently released a white paper on the role that teacher agency plays in creating successful professional learning opportunities. The white paper, Moving from Compliance to Agency: What Teachers Need to Make Professional Learning Work, defines teacher agency as Read more
A recent survey by the Association of American Educators asked its members about how they felt about education reform. The survey asked its members about current issues in education including School Choice, Virtual Education and Technology, Testing and Assessments, Teacher Preparation and Leadership, and the 2016 Presidential Election. The results Read more
A recent report released by New America called Beyond Ratings examines state teacher evaluation systems and evaluates their usefulness as tools for teacher growth. The report highlights what actions states have taken so far to ensure evaluation systems are being used to develop teachers’ practice, and what more needs to Read more
Teachers often know best when it comes to helping their students achieve academic success, but districts and schools are not set up to capitalize on the wisdom of teachers. In this month’s issue brief from Core Education, we explore ideas related to increasing teacher professionalism, including changed teacher roles, teacher-powered Read more
Recently guest author on the Shanker Institute blog, Andy Hargreaves, reflected on research-proven methods for promoting professional collaboration among teachers. An excerpt appears below: When teachers collaborate rather than work entirely alone, they show greater confidence and competence in teaching and stronger commitment to their profession. This is because they Read more