In the American Youth Policy Forum, Jennifer Brown Lerner writes a thoughtful piece about the terminology that the education sector is using to refer to ESSA’s fifth indicator, the “non-academic” indicator. The language in the legislation names student engagement; educator engagement; access to and completion of advanced coursework; postsecondary readiness; Read more
Eight states are now on track to develop new statewide social and emotional learning (SEL) standards and policies – thanks to a new partnership with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). That two-year partnership is being funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. On April 11, 2016 Read more
A recent paper titled Not another meeting: How performance management routines help education systems deliver on their goals for students asks what data from the field can tell us about the ways in which leaders keep their systems focused on their goals through regular conversations about progress. This paper considers Read more
Helen Ladd writes in the Brookings blog about an alternative to school accountability – an inspection and review system for schools: Inspection and review systems use professional inspectors to make periodic visits to schools – and ideally also to districts. The inspectors review school documents, talk to school leaders and Read more
Previously, this blog introduced readers to the work of California’s CORE Districts. Now preliminary evidence is out, and we are able to look more closely at the use of self-report surveys of non-cognitive skills as a potential element of school accountability systems. Analysis of data from the CORE field test Read more
Over the past 15 years, a national consensus has slowly coalesced around one of the most enduring and contentious debates in education circles: how to hold schools and districts accountable for improving outcomes. The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, is in many ways the culmination of the movement towards Read more
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was passed by Congress in December, and the law affords states much more flexibility to develop innovative educational systems and accountability processes. Now is an incredible opportunity for the transformation of American education, state by state. In this month’s issue brief, Core Education explores Read more
As states work to finalize plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) by the 2017-18 school year, Education First asks, what is your state’s North Star and how can you use ESSA to help you chart a course to reach it? When a state has an education North Star Read more
For more than a decade, Achieve has issued an annual 50-state report on each state’s adoption of college- and career-ready (CCR) policies as reflected in state standards, graduation requirements, assessments, and accountability systems. Having the right policies is necessary to ensure that students graduate academically prepared for college and careers, Read more
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Angela Duckworth, founder and scientific director of the Character Lab and the author of the forthcoming book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, recommends against using the results of character surveys for school accountability. A short excerpt from Mrs. Duckworth follows: Read more
A recent article in Education Week, written by Evie Blad, examines how select California school districts, collectively known as CORE districts, are measuring school effectiveness with criteria that extends beyond academic success. As discussions about school accountability begin to focus more intently on factors beyond standardized-test scores, educators and policymakers Read more
Under the newly enacted Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states now face the challenge of creating school accountability systems that can vastly improve upon the model required by No Child Left Behind. To help spur creative thinking about how they might do so, and also to inform the Department of Read more
Now that Congress has reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and given states control over their own accountability systems, what will states do with the new flexibility? Pretty much the same thing they have been doing for the past four years, says a report released by the Council of Read more
The 2016 edition of Education Week’s Quality Counts report—Called to Account: New Directions in School Accountability—examines how new state and federal strategies are transforming the assessment of school performance and reshaping the consequences for poor results. In addition to the special focus on accountability, Quality Counts 2016 features the report’s Read more
In the last several years, state policymakers have enacted a dizzying array of new policies on education issues ranging from assessment and accountability to cursive-handwriting and citizenship exams. Within states, education policy-making isn’t led by one person or entity, but many — state legislatures, state education agencies, state and local Read more
With the Obama administration’s signature education initiative, Race to the Top, concluded, states and districts should resist the temptation to try new reforms and should focus on improving implementation of the initiatives adopted to increase student success and close achievement gaps. A new report by Education First, a national education Read more