It sounds simple—award credit based on student learning. But as more schools and districts begin to develop competency-based pathways, questions have arisen about the best way to go about implementing these models. Complexities related to student grouping, curriculum design, scheduling, assessment, and grading abound. In this month’s issue brief, we Read more
Edgar Sanchez and Yan Zhou, writing for the ACT policy brief, have examined the effects of two different models on estimates of teacher effectiveness. When using value-added models to estimate teacher effectiveness, one key consideration is whether or not to include school effects such as available resources into the model. Read more
This is Core Education’s one thousandth blog post. Through the experience of writing and responding to comments from 1,000 posts, we have learned some important things. Following are our top three: 1. Knowledge sharing is powerful. Our intent is to keep our readers informed about the most important research studies, Read more
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) released a set of sample assessment items and performance tasks online yesterday. Developed in collaboration with educators and content experts, the sample items and tasks are meant to help teachers, administrators, and policymakers better understand the Common Core State Standards and prepare for Read more
As teachers head back to their classrooms, a prevailing question is how to implement the Common Core and prepare students for the associated exams—which aren’t ready yet. Two consortia tasked with developing common assessments to support the Common Core (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) have begun to work with private vendors Read more
School districts across the nation are gearing up for full-scale implementation of the Common Core, in anticipation of new assessments. What are the best practices in Common Core implementation? What kind of professional development is needed for teachers? What will the assessments look like? How much will it all cost? Read more
What does it mean to be “college ready?” This is the question that became the center of debate at the June meeting of leaders from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the consortia tasked with creating assessment systems for the new Common Core. Read more
In 2010 and 2011, the US Department of Education awarded five grants to consortia of states to support the development of new assessment systems. The two comprehensive assessment consortia are well-known—Smarter Balanced and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)—but the other three (two alternate assessment Read more
If you have not yet signed up for our newsletter, you missed Core Education’s first Issue Brief. This month’s Brief focuses on Principal Effectiveness, including: Best practices in preparing school leaders Current thinking about principal evaluations What makes a great principal Resources that may guide our thinking on these issues Read more
American Education Week (AEW) began in 1921 as a joint project between the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Legion. Ninety years later, the event still focuses on generating public support for education and “informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure Read more
Looking for a change of pace from academic reports and scholarly articles? Chloe Jon Paul, retired educator, has just released a novel detailing the experiences of four educators, Vera Harriss, Deidre Fletcher, Mark Pettingill, and Stu Martel, over the course of a single academic year. What causes Vera, who is Read more
The announcement of regulatory flexibility for No Child Left Behind from Washington has caused quite a stir. Bipartisan critisims of the Duncan plan and critique from education reformers and special interest groups abound. Some object to the Department of Education infringing on law-making responsibilities that belong to Congress, others object Read more
This is an interim year for NCTQ’s State Teacher Policy Yearbook, but since there have been so many significant policy changes in the last year (as a result of the Race to the Top competition), the organization has released state-by-state Blueprint for Change reports with 2010 updates. The Blueprint for Read more
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) announces its public review period for Literacy: Reading-Language Arts Standards for early and middle childhood teachers. Practicing teachers fill a majority of seats on standards committees with other members representing districts, states, and higher education. NBPTS Standards reflect the Five Core Propositions Read more