In a recent article in RealClear Education, Ashley LiBetti Mitchel and Chad Aldeman explore the difficulty with evaluating teacher preparation. Excerpts of “Our Failed Investments in Teacher Preparation” appear below: Each year, new teachers collectively spend about $4.85 billion dollars and 302 million hours on their preparation work. But there Read more
A recent article by Education Next examines the correlation between poverty and mediocre test scores in the United States. At a time when the national conversation is focused on lagging upward mobility and yawning income inequality, it is no surprise that many educators point to poverty as the explanation for Read more
A recently published report by the National Center for Teacher Quality (NCTQ) summarizes research-based strategies that new teachers need to help teach students how to learn effectively and then questions the extent to which teachers are learning these strategies in their preparation programs. Future teachers need to learn about learning Read more
School administrators serve as instructional leaders and set the tone for the culture of a school. The principal’s influence is pivotal. In this month’s issue brief, we explore effective school leadership and recommendations for improving the training, support and evaluation of educational leaders. You can read the issue brief here: Read more
A recent article in Education Week, written by Evie Blad, examines how select California school districts, collectively known as CORE districts, are measuring school effectiveness with criteria that extends beyond academic success. As discussions about school accountability begin to focus more intently on factors beyond standardized-test scores, educators and policymakers Read more
Over a the past several months Real Clear Education has been spotlighting schools and teachers participating in the Opportunity Culture initiative, a movement launched in 2011 by education policy and consulting firm Public Impact. Opportunity Culture models are aimed at improving the quality of education by extending the reach of excellent teachers Read more
The University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) has released an updated version of the Principal Support Framework. Representing the best thinking of educators from across the country, the framework describes key actions of central offices that effectively support principals as instructional leaders. School system leaders can use this Read more
Policymakers are still looking for the right way to identify effective teacher preparation programs and predict who will be an effective teacher. Nothing tried so far can guarantee effective teachers. In No Guarantees, Bellwether recommends an alternative approach that relies on the best available evidence for predicting future teacher effectiveness: Read more
One of the main differences between the U.S. education system and the systems that outperform it in student achievement is the amount of time teachers spend in the classroom in front of students versus the time spent in professional development activities. This chart, “Teaching Hours,” shows time spent actually teaching Read more
The new Every Student Succeeds Act returns to the states much of the authority for directing school improvement that the federal government had assumed in the past 15 years. Some states are ready to roll, but plenty are searching for potential role models. Fortunately, at least two such candidates are Read more
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. We’ve all heard the phrase. It’s true, of course, and always has been, that who you know is important. But in today’s technology-driven, globalized world, what you know matters more than ever. The set of skills that is most rewarded in Read more
In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, Robert Wachter focuses on the effects of metrics and measurement on the health care and education professions. While arguing that we, of course, need to hold professionals accountable, he cautions against unanticipated consequences. Following is an excerpt from this piece: Read more
In a recent post in Education Week, Marc Tucker examines the teacher professional development systems in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, British Columbia, and Shanghai. Professional development looks very different in all these places than it typically does in the United States. It is the main driver of school improvement. Far Read more
Under the newly enacted Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states now face the challenge of creating school accountability systems that can vastly improve upon the model required by No Child Left Behind. To help spur creative thinking about how they might do so, and also to inform the Department of Read more
Dozens of schools around the U.S. are opting to ditch the traditional school structure altogether to motivate teens in new ways–and it seems to be working. They are using the Big Picture Learning model. Big Picture’s model is now used in more than 60 schools across the U.S. In Vermont, it’s Read more
Policy implementation is perhaps the most difficult element of education reform. But what if policy development and implementation were flipped? What if policy design began with an implementation perspective? In a blog post in Education Week, Jal Mehta explores this concept: The idea of Human-Centered Systems Design is that if Read more