Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states are allowed to include at least one non-academic indicator of school quality or student success within their accountability systems. The law lays out several possibilities: student engagement, educator engagement, student access to–and completion of–advanced coursework, postsecondary readiness, and school climate. In a new Read more
Robin Lake of the Center on Reinventing Public Education has offered six education policy ideas that just may get us through the presidential transition. Excerpts of her piece appear below: Polarization was the theme of 2016, and we’d be kidding ourselves to think that will be much different in 2017. Read more
As a new political and policy era dawns in Washington, the status of the nation’s schools remains stable, though still earning a grade of C from Quality Counts 2017, the 21st annual report card issued by the Education Week Research Center. The C corresponds to a score of 74.2, which Read more
Michael Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, recently suggested that 2017 can be the year we come back together again. Excerpts of his post in Fordham’s Flypaper appear below: Let me suggest three principles we should all try to adhere to—and what they could mean for education reform Read more
Researchers find that a teacher workforce that reflects the diversity of the student population is going to require exceptionally ambitious efforts, taking far longer than previously acknowledged. Racial parity is not possible by relying solely on school districts to recruit more minority teachers. A study released last week by the Read more
Dick Startz, in the Brookings blog, provides comparative information on teacher pay around the world. It turns out, the U.S. doesn’t look so generous. Following are excerpts from the blog: American teachers are underpaid. More specifically, American teachers are underpaid when compared to teachers in the nations we compete with. Read more
Writing for Education Week, Sarah D. Sparks uncovers the troubling issue of teacher absence: More than 6.5 million students in 2013-14 attended a school where at least half of teachers missed 10 days of school or more, according to the most recent estimate from the U.S. Department of Education. Now, Read more
Teachers often know best when it comes to helping their students achieve academic success, but districts and schools are not set up to capitalize on the wisdom of teachers. In this month’s issue brief from Core Education, we explore ideas related to increasing teacher professionalism, including changed teacher roles, teacher-powered Read more
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. We’ve all heard the phrase. It’s true, of course, and always has been, that who you know is important. But in today’s technology-driven, globalized world, what you know matters more than ever. The set of skills that is most rewarded in Read more
Heather McGowan has published an intriguing new article examining the need for a focus on learning, rather than knowing, in order to prepare students for the 21st century. A portion of her article is excerpted below: Students will have to be prepared to adapt and be more adept at critical Read more
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently released the 2015 report on State Teacher Policy. The report summarizes how the states are doing in developing policies that improve the teaching profession. The 2015 State Teacher Policy Yearbook provides a 360-degree analysis of every state law, rule, and regulation that Read more
A recent report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that the U.S. is sending a smaller percentage of students to college than at least 46 different nations. Additionally, enrollment in preschool has fallen in the U.S. and has exploded internationally. In fact: The more than 500-page Read more
How are America’s students really doing? We thought we knew, back when each state gave its own state assessments, but it turns out that proficiency rates were often highly inflated. Now we have some states collaborating in assessment consortia (e.g., PARCC and Smarter Balanced). Those common assessments will help provide Read more
Students in high-poverty schools lack the supports needed to become college ready, according to a report from CLASP. Course, Counselor, and Teacher Gaps: Addressing the College Readiness Challenge in High-Poverty High Schools analyzes the nation’s 100 largest school districts, focusing on “high-poverty schools” (where at least 75 percent of students Read more
One of education’s big problems is that the collective wisdom, insights, observations and experience of educators are pretty much squandered. That is to say, millions of educators have figured out important things about what and how to teach under different kinds of conditions — but no system exists for them Read more
Surely everyone’s list of the top 50 books for educators would be different, but Nick Grantham of Fractus Learning has come up with some pretty good suggestions. Summer reading season is here, and this list has some that you have probably already read, some that you have been meaning to Read more