Join REL Mid-Atlantic for an Ask An Expert online chat on Using Student Surveys to Monitor Teacher Effectiveness. Kim Marshall, a former teacher of the year and principal who now advises and coaches new principals, will lead the discussion. He teaches instructional leadership and publishes The Marshall Memo, a weekly newsletter. His most recent book Read more about Using Student Surveys to Monitor Teacher Effectiveness[…]
The Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) is pleased to release its new report, Measuring School Climate: Using Existing Data Tools on Climate and Effectiveness to Inform School Organizational Health. An increasing awareness of the relationship between school climate and student outcomes is evident in conversations in the national media about suspensions and safety, and schools Read more about The Baltimore Education Research Consortium Releases New Report[…]
A new report from Urban Teacher Residency United looks at the inner workings of two highly effective urban teacher residency programs, Aspire Teacher Residency in California and the Denver Teacher Residency. Building Effective Teacher Residencies is the most comprehensive look at the inner workings of successful residency programs to date, sharing findings from a year Read more about Building Effective Teacher Residencies[…]
Tenure and tenure reform are in the news of late given the Vergara decision in California and similar efforts challenging tenure laws in New York. Teachers unions argue that current statutes suffice for removing underperforming teachers. Some student advocates argue that these laws are not sufficient because students must endure underperforming teachers for too long. Read more about CALDER Conversations: Implications of Tenure Reform Lawsuits[…]
Let’s say you want to improve elementary literacy scores in your district. You might use a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis to compare which professional development program will most help your literacy teachers for the money invested. But is a new PD program even the best solution? You might see more ROI from recruiting and Read more about ROI: Making Every Dollar Count[…]
A coalition of 11 states will create comprehensive, high-quality, open educational resources (OER) supporting K-12 mathematics and English language arts aligned with state learning standards. This new partnership, The K-12 OER Collaborative, is being coordinated by a nonprofit, The Learning Accelerator (TLA). It aims to offer additional choice to local education agencies, significantly reduce the Read more about Coalition to Launch Effort to Create Free, Open-Source Materials[…]
Teacher Preparation Analytics has released a new report, Building an Evidence-Based System for Teacher Preparation. The report was commissioned by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). This report: Summarizes the research on our nation’s current ability to evaluate the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs; Identifies and develops a proposed framework and a Read more about Building an Evidence-Based System for Teacher Preparation[…]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is asking businesses to pledge their support for the Common Core State Standards in a new video. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has announced the release of its latest video in support of the Common Core State Standards, Make Their Minds Fly. This short video and corresponding infographic Read more about U.S. Chamber of Commerce Support of Common Core[…]
A new study shows that, despite the increased use of value-added data and other forms of teacher evaluation such as student or teacher surveys, first-hand principal observation of teachers remains the most trusted and used means by which decisions are made about teacher improvement. In other words, data are available, but not being used. The Read more about Study: Teacher Data Remain Untapped[…]
The Common Core is now front and center in classrooms across the country, and educators and policymakers are focused on getting implementation right. Education First has released a series of briefing papers and a short executive summary that offer guidance for how professional development needs to change to help educators succeed with the standards. The Read more about Education First releases series of briefs on PD for Common Core[…]
A new guide from Public Impact shows how districts can design teacher career paths that will keep excellent teachers in the classroom and extend their reach to more students, for more pay, within budget. When districts design career paths of this type, they create opportunities for excellent teachers to reach more students directly and by Read more about Teacher Pay and Career Paths in an Opportunity Culture: A Practical Policy Guide[…]
For implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to be successful, all educators need access to high quality and aligned instructional materials. Achieve launched the Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) initiative to build the capacity of educators to evaluate and improve the quality of instructional materials for use in their classrooms Read more about Achieve Posts 50th Common Core-Aligned Lesson through EQuIP Initiative[…]
Whiteboard Advisors have gathered the predictions of Education Insiders related to what will happen with education policy in the wake of the recent midterm elections. Education Insiders express slight optimism that both K12 and higher education policies will become higher priorities with Republican control of the Senate, though agreement between the President and Congress is Read more about What Do the Elections Mean for Education?[…]
For the first time in American history, a majority of students in public school this year are students of color. According to projections from the National Center for Education Statistics, 49.7 percent of students entering public schools this year are white, compared to 50.3 percent of students who identify as black, Hispanic, Asian or another Read more about Shifting Demographics in American Schools[…]
Melissa Junge and Sheara Krvaric of AEI Education have written an important report highlighting the need for education leaders to understand the complexity of education laws, and as a result, the need for lawyers to help bring about effective reform. Following are some key points from the report: — Given the myriad rules and regulations Read more about Managing the law in education[…]
Taking Stock of Personalized Learning is part of a series of special reports by Education Week that identifies high-priority topics in the K-12 world and examines them in significant depth. This report tackles the issue of personalized learning, one of the hottest topics in education, and a concept that raises all kinds of questions and Read more about Taking Stock of Personalized Learning[…]