The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has released its anticipated State Board Insight database, a platform for tracking trends in state boards’ agendas and actions each month. With timely analysis, detailed data, and spotlights on state strategies, State Board Insight is a resource for board members, researchers, Read more
Paul Lingenfelter, president emeritus of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, recently reflected on the impasse between policymakers and educational practitioners in the Carnegie Commons blog. Excerpts from his piece appear below: Educators and policymakers together have failed to develop the capabilities needed to achieve the higher levels of Read more
In April and September, states will file comprehensive plans for how they will spend federal funding under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Although state education agencies (SEAs) have the primary responsibility for developing and filing the state plan, many state boards of education have statutory authority for carrying out Read more
The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has launched a helpful new resource hub, the ESSA Co-Pilot, designed for anyone interested in ESSA state plans. This website includes resources organized by ESSA topic, plan section, and state; the latest news and ESSA events, including links to the new template for consolidated Read more
The stakeholder engagement provisions in ESSA (the Every Student Succeeds Act) will fundamentally alter how education policy is made. If implemented as intended, it will ensure that the expertise of the parents, educators and other leaders working with, and on behalf of, students every day informs the development of state Read more
The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) presents states with an opportunity to broaden their visions of college and career readiness by including multiple measures of accountability that better recognize the multiple pathways to college and career readiness. A new resource from the College & Career Readiness & Success Read more
To succeed in today’s economy, organizations must invest in the skills, knowledge and abilities of their staff – i.e. human capital – to maximize their performance. Ranging from talent recruitment, to creating workplace practices and environments that encourage employees to develop and stay, these tactics are being used by organizations Read more
Chester E. Finn, Jr., distinguished senior fellow and president emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, recently reflected on the illusion of college readiness for National Affairs. Excerpts from his piece appear below: Our K-12 education system has a transparency problem, and our higher-education system is complicit. While some American Read more
Robin Lake of the Center on Reinventing Public Education has offered six education policy ideas that just may get us through the presidential transition. Excerpts of her piece appear below: Polarization was the theme of 2016, and we’d be kidding ourselves to think that will be much different in 2017. Read more
States create annual aggregate report cards for the public about education statewide. But can people easily find and understand these reports? In many cases, the answer is no. In summer 2016, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) set out to discover what information it could easily find on state report cards Read more
Michael Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, recently suggested that 2017 can be the year we come back together again. Excerpts of his post in Fordham’s Flypaper appear below: Let me suggest three principles we should all try to adhere to—and what they could mean for education reform Read more
The Obama administration’s final accountability rules for the Every Student Succeeds Act give states greater flexibility on school ratings, schools with high testing opt-out rates, and in other areas than an earlier draft version, released in May. But, with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in January, the regulations Read more
Every three years, half a million 15-year-olds in 69 countries take a two-hour test designed to gauge their ability to think. Unlike other exams, the PISA, as it is known, does not assess what teenagers have memorized. Instead, it asks them to solve problems they haven’t seen before, to identify Read more
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires state and district leaders to consider the evidence behind school improvement practices before adopting or implementing them. The evidence-based provisions of ESSA are intended to support school improvement and result in better student outcomes. Guidance encourages state and district leaders to consider multiple Read more
David Griffith and Michael Petrilli have put their minds together to produce an ideal ESSA accountability system as a model for state education agencies. Below are excerpts from their recent blog post: States are now putting pen to paper on their accountability plans and many of them want advice about Read more
Marc Tucker recently penned a letter to President-Elect Trump, outlining the importance of education to the American economy. Portions of it appear below: Dear President-Elect Trump, People are counting on you because you told them that you can restore their jobs and their incomes, and, most important, their pride and Read more