GreatSchools has released a first-of-its-kind award recognizing and celebrating high schools that excel in ensuring students are prepared for college based on school-level postsecondary data collected and shared by their states. The award also underscores the need to open up new sets of data so we can shine the light Read more
Last week the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave away over $34 million in grants to teacher-preparation programs across the nation. These grants were given to 5 consortia from about 40 applications representing some 500 programs in all. The three year grants were given to create “transformation centers” based on Read more
Shanna Peeples, recently named National Teacher of the Year, published on her blog a speech that she delivered in DC during her selection process. I don’t want to offend you, but I have to tell you that I will be talking about the f-word today. And that f-word is a Read more
Did you have a teacher who inspired you? One who changed your life? Is there a teacher you credit with helping you become the person you are today? Do you remember a specific interaction with your teacher that proved to be a moment of inspiration and transformation? Share your story. Read more
The GRAMMY Foundation and The Recording Academy are partnering to present their first-ever Music Educator Award. The award is open to U.S.-based music teachers from kindergarten through college, in public and private schools. Anyone can nominate a teacher, and teachers may nominate themselves. Nominated teachers will be notified and invited Read more
TNTP has announced the first-ever winners of their Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice. This prize was created to recognize excellent teachers across the country and because “we believe our best teachers deserve far more attention for their hard work, dedication, and extraordinary outcomes with students.” The winners will each Read more
On March 7, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the award of nearly $24.6 million for three grants to improve student achievement by increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals. Funded under the Supporting Effective Educators Development (SEED) program, projects are awarded to the National Writing Project, New Teacher Center, Read more
The US Department of Education recently released progress reports on the 12 Race to the Top winners, outlining their successes and failures in upholding the commitments they made in their grant proposals. So where do the winners now stand? Delaware: ($120 million) Delaware had to delay rolling out their teacher-evaluation Read more
The Center for American Progress released a report last week focused on the 12 first-round Race to the Top (RTT) winners’ progress on teacher preparation and accountability systems. RTT winners are required to meet several goals, such as linking student achievement and growth data to their teachers; tie this information Read more
Winners of the second round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant Program were announced Thursday, with 23 winners selected from a pool of 587 applicants. For this round of the competition, $150 million was available to applicants who are able to secure a private match for a portion of Read more
The time of reckoning has arrived: winners of the Race to the Top competition have entered the season where they must make good on their promises to link teacher evaluation with student performance. This process is not easy, given the volatile debates that are taking place nation-wide surrounding this issue. Read more
The Department of Education has invited states and schools who were awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG) to take some extra time to figure out the most crucial component: teacher evaluation. All of the schools and states eligible for the waiver are using the most popular, and arguably least rigorous, Read more