A new article by Jason Tanz for Wired Magazine makes the argument that big data already reigns supreme, and for the most part helps us, in our lives, so why shouldn’t it do the same in education? Tanz understands that there are legitimate concerns from parents and education leaders about the role of large-scale standardized Read more about Wired: Let Big Data Do Its Job in Education[…]
Often, it seems in schools that reform after reform is layered on with little thought to alignment or coherence. The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders is responding to that problem with a new special issues brief titled, A Framework for Coherence: College and Career Readiness Standards, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, and Educator Effectiveness. Read more about Coherence in Education Reform[…]
A new report from the National Association of State Boards of Education suggests ways that state policymakers can get more students invested in learning. Education is a $600 billion-a-year enterprise, but the investments states make in education will not benefit students unless they are physically and mentally present in the classroom. Too many students are Read more about A State of Engagement: NASBE Study Group on Student Engagement[…]
Education Resource Strategies (ERS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming how urban school systems organize resources—people, time, technology, and money—so that every school succeeds for every student. Following are three of their new publications that focus on improvements at the school level: Designing Schools That Work: Organizing Resources Strategically for Student Success Building off Read more about School Design that Works[…]
It sounds simple—make sure students are learning. But as more schools and districts begin to develop competency-based pathways, questions have arisen about the best way to go about implementing these models. Complexities related to student grouping, curriculum design, scheduling, assessment, and grading abound. In this month’s issue brief, we explore various resources, research reports, and Read more about March Issue Brief: Competency- Based Learning[…]
Two groups made important announcements recently: EdReports.org ( http://www.edreports.org/discussions/webinars/webinar-results-instructional-materials.html ) released an analysis of math textbooks’ alignment to the Common Core State Standards, and Michigan State University’s Dr. William Schmidt released the Textbook Navigator Journal (http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2015/msu-researcher-launches-common-core-tool-for-teachers/), a tool that enables educators to locate the lessons in 34 mathematics textbook series that align to particular Common Read more about Navigating Math Resources for Common Core[…]
Evaluation studies of educator evaluation systems can provide feedback on implementation, support continuous improvement, and increase understanding of evaluation systems’ impact on teaching and learning. Although crucial for strengthening evaluation systems, these studies can be challenging to design and can be costly. The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders offers two new resources to help Read more about What Can You Learn From Educator Evaluation Studies?[…]
Kevin Carey, director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation, has a new book out this month called The End of College. This book was recently featured in the Washington Post. Carey casts a sweeping, if perhaps idealistic, vision of higher education in the future. First and foremost, it is one that is Read more about The University of Everywhere[…]
Andy Rotherham of Bellwether Education has a new article out in the US News & World Report that calls out a little-considered issue in education: the people who are making the decisions about education reform are by and large those people who did well in and enjoyed school. This means that there is a tendency Read more about Education Reformers Have a Big Blind Spot[…]
This is Core Education’s one thousandth blog post. Through the experience of writing and responding to comments from 1,000 posts, we have learned some important things. Following are our top three: 1. Knowledge sharing is powerful. Our intent is to keep our readers informed about the most important research studies, reports, current events, and novel Read more about Blog Post #1,000[…]
Jane Best and Emily Winslow at McREL Education have released a new brief focusing on current challenges of working toward equity in education. Particularly in a post Vergara vs. California education climate, educator equity and how to effectively distribute teachers to all students it is an issue on education professionals’ minds. With increasingly diverse student populations, Read more about Educational Equity: Challenges for Educator Effectiveness[…]
The Center for American Progress recently released a new Education Resource Strategy report, which offers teacher salary redesign lessons from 10 first-mover districts. Effective teachers are the biggest in-school factor related to student success. Across the country, a diverse set of districts are pioneering innovative approaches to teacher compensation that reward their best teachers and Read more about Do More, Add More, Earn More[…]
For the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2015, the Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) will conduct 11 grant competitions in six program areas: Arts in Education, Charter Schools, Investing in Innovation, Opportunity Scholarship, Ready to Learn Television, and Supporting Effective Educator Development. Announcements of these competitions began last month and will Read more about Update on OII’s FY 2015 Grant Competitions[…]
Marc Tucker has some focused suggestions for those who truly want to use education to bridge income gaps and increase social mobility. This week on Top Performers: public schools were once the engines of social and economic mobility in the U.S., but that is no longer the case. In fact, the very design of our Read more about Inequality and Education[…]
States should focus more on setting high performance standards than on debating the content of their academic standards. This is according to a new report out from the American Institutes for Research. THE ISSUE Content standards, not performance standards, have been almost the sole focus of state policies and recent conversations about academic standards. Although Read more about Does the focus on Content Standards detract from rigor?[…]
A new Education Week special report explores the growing interest among many educators and school leaders in altering the conventional understandings around what teachers do. In particular, it looks at the ways districts, schools, and teachers themselves are transforming teachers’ positions—and the types of supports available to them—in order to drive organizational change, build capacity, Read more about Ed Week Special Report on Transforming Teachers’ Roles[…]