Announcing Applications and Nominations for the TNTP’s 2015 $25,000 Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice. It’s the only national award exclusively for teachers in high-poverty public schools. TNTP is looking for the next set of winners. Last year, TNTP received thousands of nominations and over 820 applications from teachers nationwide. Read more
Recently, over 300 dedicated school and district leaders, from across the United States and Spain came together in Washington, D.C. for the Convening of World-Leading Schools. Each attendee represented a school or schools that exhibited impressive leadership by taking the PISA-based OECD Test for Schools to better understand how well Read more
As someone who cares about education, you may already know the value of The Nation’s Report Card – the nation’s gold standard for measuring student achievement. Whether or not you’re new to the report card – also known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – there’s a new Read more
A small group of Harvard students, backed by a national grass-roots student organization, has taken a very public stand against Teach for America. In a letter last month, they urged President Drew Faust to block TFA from recruiting on campus unless the group makes major changes – including repudiating key Read more
The PARCC ELA/literacy prose constructed response item rubrics have been updated with the help of educators across PARCC states to reflect lessons learned from the PARCC field test. A PCR item asks students to produce a robust written reply to a prompt. The rubrics are a voluntary resource, aligned to Read more
The Regional Education Laboratories offer a number of webinars that are of interest to education reformers. Below, you will find a list of recently recorded webinars as well an upcoming event of interest. Effective School Leaders This webinar explores the role of school leaders in fostering teacher effectiveness and discusses Read more
There is considerable variance in state performance standards, exposing a large gap in expectations between the states with the highest standards and the states with the lowest standards. Although this gap in expectations is large, many policymakers may not be aware of just how large it is. In general, the Read more
Matthew M. Chingos of The Brookings Institution has written a compelling new piece arguing that ending teacher tenure would have little impact on its own. Tenure for public school teachers is increasingly under attack, with the Vergara v. California judge ruling in June that “both students and teachers are unfairly, Read more
A new toolkit from REL West at WestEd helps educators productively engage students in school improvement efforts, including generating and analyzing data. The Speak Out, Listen Up! toolkit offers strategies for eliciting student voice, or perspective, about education challenges — a perspective that is beneficial in rethinking policies and practices. Read more
School leaders are critical in the lives of students and to the development of their teachers. Unfortunately, in too many instances, principals are effective in spite of – rather than because of – district conditions. To truly improve student achievement for all students across the country, well-prepared principals need the Read more
Urban Teacher Center (UTC) together with 100Kin10 and dozens of partner organizations, announced the launch of “Blow Minds, Teach STEM,” a coordinated, co-funded campaign to inspire undergraduates and recent graduates with strong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to become teachers. The U.S. ranks 27th in math and 20th Read more
Chester E. Finn Jr., a veteran of the education policy wars in the United States over the last several decades, finds two main things to be pleased about in terms of school reform, but eight main things to be targeted as needed reforms for the future. Following are his two Read more
Earlier this summer, Achieve launched the Student Assessment Inventory for School Districts, a new tool to help school district leaders to take stock of how many assessments are administered throughout a school year and for what purposes they are given. Designed from a student perspective, the tool can be used Read more
According to the 46th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, the American public sees a need for change in how teachers are prepared, meaning a higher likelihood for the teacher “bar exam”. With stunning unanimity, the American public has concluded the nation must demand more of its future teachers and those Read more
The Council of Chief State School Officers is seeking feedback from the public on draft standards for education leaders that aim to ensure district and school leaders are able to improve student achievement and meet new, higher expectations. The standards detail the leadership skills and knowledge effective district and school Read more
This past July, the U.S. Department of Education released the Transparency Best Practices for Schools and Districts, a new set of guidelines created to improve relations between school districts and parents surrounding school districts’ collection, maintenance, and distribution of student data. The new guidelines seek to keep parents more informed Read more