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
The National Center for Education Statistics has released The Condition of Education 2016. Listed below are several interesting highlights in this data: 1. Kindergartners’ Approaches to Learning, Family Socioeconomic Status, and Early Academic Gains First-time kindergartners who demonstrated positive approaches to learning behaviors more frequently in the fall of kindergarten Read more
Urban schools have been the center of investment and concern in public education for the past two decades. Yet many suburban districts now rival urban districts in the challenges they face, having experienced dramatic population changes in just the past decade, with fast growing numbers of English Language Learners and Read more
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, the ticket to the American dream. But if educational opportunities are not offered equitably to all students, the American dream remains out of reach for youth. In this month’s issue brief, we explore new data on inequities in education, look at outcomes Read more
Teaching quality is recognized as the most powerful school-based factor in student learning. However, capacity and often commitment have been insufficient across states and districts to ensure all students have equitable access to excellent educators. Too often, students from low-income families and students of color experience educational “opportunity gaps,” meaning Read more
In the late 1970’s, education research was deemed a pseudoscience by many in the field due to a lack of clear data and results that pointed to effective practice. In response, researchers began designing field experiments to test the effectiveness of programs and practices. In recent years, as concern over Read more
Sean Reardon and colleagues at the Graduate School of Education reviewed more than 200 million test scores to spotlight communities with the nation’s worst achievement gaps. The results show almost every school district enrolling large numbers of low-income students has an average academic performance significantly below the national grade-level average. Read more
In the early days of the accountability movement, Jeb Bush’s Florida developed an innovative approach to evaluating school quality. First, the state looked at individual student progress over time—making it one of the first to do so. Then it put special emphasis on the gains (or lack thereof) of the Read more
A new OECD report, Supporting Teacher Professionalism, based on the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), examines the nature and extent of support for teacher professionalism across 34 countries. Teacher professionalism is defined as the knowledge, skills, and practices that teachers must have in order to be effective educators. The 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
Discovery Education, a leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, invites superintendents and curriculum leaders to attend a unique new series of professional learning events exploring critical topics in education leadership. This series, which launches on January 28 in Hershey, PA, will explore critical topics in Read more
The third and final phase of a new national survey released by Achieve – Rising to the Challenge: Are Recent High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work – shows that better communication between high schools and parents is needed to address the disconnect between parents and students, faculty, and Read more
A new longitudinal study highlights the stark reality in the U.S. that class matters far more than academic achievement up to grade 12 in terms of graduating from college. Simply put, even the lowest achieving rich students have a higher likelihood of graduating from college than do the highest achieving Read more
An analysis from Rebecca Sibilia (founder of a new group called EdBuild) looks at differences in how states allocate resources to the neediest districts. The findings are particularly striking because 41 states actually give their neediest students a smaller share of resources, spending more in wealthier districts than in high-poverty Read more
Last year, with much fanfare, the Obama administration declared that it would tackle the tricky issue of equitable teacher distribution, calling on states to revise their plans for making sure that high-poverty schools get their fair share of qualified educators. Now most states have answered the call, rewriting plans that Read more
New research published by the Upjohn Institute finds that non-black teachers have significantly lower educational expectations for black students than black teachers do when evaluating the same students. This is concerning, as teachers’ expectations likely shape student outcomes and systematic biases in teachers’ expectations for student success might contribute to Read more