This report, conducted by the Education Commission on the States, looks at the shifting assessment landscape and identifies the types of assessment being given, at what grade levels, and for what subjects. This information was compiled in an effort to keep states and policy makers up to date on the Read more
A recent study conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools, based in Washington and representing the nation’s largest urban school districts, gauges the scope of tests being administered to students. The findings are that the tests are, according to Denisa Superville from Education Week: redundant, misaligned with college- Read more
A recent response to the Nation’s Report Card results by the Obama Administration calls for a reduction of redundant tests, in order to improve the nation’s scores in reading and mathematics. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, believes that this action is “an unfortunate and tragically oversimplified response Read more
New results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), or Nation’s Report Card, show a slowing or drop of both fourth-grade and eighth-grade students scores for 2015. This is the first recorded decline in scores since the assessment started being administered in 1990. The new results Read more
Probably the most politically-charged issue in American education in recent years has been the Common Core State Standards. This blog has covered CCSS over that time, here and here and here and here, just as a few examples. This issue has again come to the fore because of the Presidential Read more
The Obama administration, this past week, asked the Education Department to review its policies and determine any places where it may have contributed to overemphasis on testing and the loss of instructional time. The key actions set forth by the Administration are as follows: Financial support for states to develop Read more
Does money matter in education? Isabel V. Sawhill of the Brookings Institution answers: Yes, education spending–and teacher salaries–affect student outcomes. Not only that, but the research shows that money matters even more for minority and underprivileged students, making the money issue an equity issue as well. Sawhill reviewed education policy Read more
President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently rolled out a new plan to make the FAFSA (the federal tax form needed to apply for federal student aid for college) quicker, easier, and more accessible to more students. Following is a brief outline, from the White House website, of some Read more
At a crucial moment with the best possibility of an ESEA re-authorization on the near horizon and with only about one year left before the end of the Obama administration, long-serving Education Secretary Arne Duncan has stepped down. It is unclear why, but we do know that the President wanted Read more
Deeper learning is a term being used more and more across the country, and state education leaders are being asked to create and implement aligned policies. A new report from Education Commission of the States serves as a primer for state policymakers seeking to modify instruction and assessment policies to Read more
You may have been hearing in the news about teacher shortages in various communities around the country. Looking a little bit more closely at these situations reveals that, while enrollment in teacher preparations programs has certainly declined in recent years, there does not appear to be an across-the-board problem with Read more
With so much recent emphasis on the importance of state governance in education, it is important to understand that states have widely varying ways of implementing governance structures. The Fordham Institute has categorized states based on the commonalities in their governance systems. Below is an excerpt from their taxonomy: We Read more
Anya Kamenetz at NPR News has put together an interesting article on American public opinion on testing. The reason for her article was two recent polls, (poll released Aug. 17 by EdNext) and (poll released Aug. 24 by Gallup/PDK). These polls vary slightly in the way that they ask respondents Read more
The UN gave only a third of the world’s countries a passing grade recently for efforts to provide universal basic education, but said most governments had failed on a pledge made 15 years ago, the Agence France-Presse reports. In 2000, 164 countries agreed at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Read more
As we continue to go forward with no ESEA re-authorization to replace No Child Left Behind and as states continue to make the news for their gripes with Common Core, Bellwether Education has a new plan to bring more bi-partisan support to education reform. They call it “Pacts Americana.” This Read more
As we move into the 2015-16 school year, the standards and assessments landscape is continuing to shift. State legislative and executive actions over the past year have resulted in changes to how, when – and in some cases, if – districts and schools will implement Common Core and aligned-assessments. An Read more