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[…]
Two classic questions in education have been, “what do schools produce?” and “who are the workers in schools?” Education policy veteran John Merrow has some interesting answers to those questions: The familiar answers to those old questions are: 1) “Teachers are the workers,” and 2) “Their job is to turn out capable graduates.” Both answers Read more about John Merrow: What do schools produce?[…]
American Institutes for Research (AIR) has released a comprehensive study evaluating Deeper Learning opportunities and outcomes in high school. The combination of (1) a deeper understanding of core academic content, (2) the ability to apply that understanding to novel problems and situations, and (3) the development of a range of competencies, including people skills and Read more about Big Picture Learning report highlights value of Deeper Learning[…]
What students want: great teachers every year What teachers want: career advancement while teaching, collaboration, on-the-job development and leadership, sustainably funded pay increases, and the chance to help more students succeed What both need: Policies to make a statewide Opportunity Culture possible Public Impact shows states the essential policies to reach far more students with gap-closing, Read more about Seizing Opportunity at the Top II[…]
Members of the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of the Great City Schools said recently they will work to decrease the number of tests students take in elementary and secondary schools. The groups will form a task force to identify and eliminate unnecessary assessments. In a survey of its 67 member Read more about Do students take too many tests in their school career?[…]
The Aspen Institute and Leading Educators are out with a roadmap outlining paths teachers can take to assume more leadership roles in classrooms and schools. The Aspen Institute released Leading from the Front of the Classroom: A Roadmap for Teacher Leadership that Works, which provides practical guidance for designing effective teacher leadership opportunities. The paper Read more about A Roadmap for Teacher Leadership[…]
The Center for American Progress and the Council of Chief State School Officers are out with a new report looking at next-generation accountability concepts that states have implemented in lieu of zero congressional action on No Child Left Behind. Generally, the accountability reforms fall into 5 categories across the states: Measuring progress toward college and Read more about Next Generation Accountability Concepts[…]
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is making significant strides in guiding and supporting the implementation of Student Learning Objectives as part of a teacher and principal evaluation (TPE) system statewide. A new report from CTAC and WestEd prepared through the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center (MACC at WestEd), examines frontline educators’ overall perceptions of TPE and Read more about Real Progress in Maryland: SLOs and Teacher and Principal Evaluation[…]
According to a new Alliance for Excellent Education report, supporting great teaching is key to a positive school climate and academic success for at-risk students. With schools implementing higher academic standards that require engaging and effective teaching, a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education in partnership with the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign Read more about School Climate Change[…]
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 they are preparing their students Read more about America Achieves Launches Global Learning Network[…]
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 strategies they can use to Read more about Upcoming (and recorded) Webinars from the Regional Ed Labs[…]
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 difference between the standards in Read more about International Benchmarking: State and National Education Performance Standards[…]
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 tools, support, and culture that Read more about Great Principals at Scale: Creating District Conditions That Enable All Principals to Be Effective[…]
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 in science among industrialized countries, Read more about New STEM Initiative: Blow Minds. Teach STEM.[…]
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 positives: First, we now judge Read more about Finn: Eight of the Toughest Challenges Schools Still Face[…]
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 by education leaders to make Read more about Achieve Creates Tool to Help School Districts Track Their Use of Assessments[…]