Recently, Chester Finn reflected on a new study which finds that achievement gaps have not closed in the last 50 years and educational improvements have not been seen at the high school level. Excerpts appear below: An ambitious, important new piece of analysis in Education Next concludes that young Americans Read more
The nonprofit Collaborative for Student Success has launched Assessment HQ, a unique online platform that takes the guesswork and risk of misinformation out of understanding state annual assessments by providing transparency on student proficiency and state testing decisions. Assessment HQ highlights state-reported student performance results in mathematics and English language Read more
For those wondering what ESSA’s Innovative Testing Pilot might bring, look no further than New Hampshire. The Obama administration granted New Hampshire a first-of-its-kind waiver in 2015, allowing a subset of school districts to try out new exams made up of “complex, multi-part tasks that ask students to apply what Read more
The Meadows Center at the University of Texas at Austin has released a piece outlining 10 evidence-based policies and practices for high-quality assessment in schools, along with the research supporting them. These policies/practices include the following: School leadership ensures that teachers have a shared understanding of the curriculum and standards Read more
New data from researchers at Stanford, based on some 300 million elementary-school test scores across more than 11,000 school districts, reveals the school districts where children are showing the most growth. The results do not follow conventional wisdom. Districts with high growth are scattered across the country, in contrast with Read more
With the spring 2017 PARCC administration season set to begin in March, the consortium has made a wealth of resources available to help parents, teachers, and students all prepare for this year’s testing. Over the past two years, more than 1,300 authentic released items from PARCC assessments have been published Read more
Achieve has partnered with the Center for Assessment to release a new brief to help state policymakers identify key action steps to consider as they make decisions about high school assessments. The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives states a new opportunity in how they approach high school Read more
Below, two articles are excerpted that come to very different conclusions about the recent NAEP results for high school seniors. Education Week author Liana Heitin writes: High school seniors have lost ground in math over the last two years, according to the most recent scores on a national achievement test. Read more
In a recent opinion piece in Education Week, David Gamberg, superintendent of both the Southold Union Free School District and the Greenport Union Free School District, reflects on what makes a good school. Below are excerpts from his piece: Words matter. Of course, brick and mortar are only a small Read more
The availability of high-quality and aligned instructional materials is central to successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Achieve is proud to make publicly available the 150th set of instructional materials found to be of high quality and aligned to the CCSS by the Educators Evaluating the Quality Read more
A recent survey by the Association of American Educators asked its members about how they felt about education reform. The survey asked its members about current issues in education including School Choice, Virtual Education and Technology, Testing and Assessments, Teacher Preparation and Leadership, and the 2016 Presidential Election. The results Read more
A recent blog by Third Way examines several issues in education policy and reveals the outdated logic and arguments that are being used to debate modern issues. This stagnation in conversation not only threatens our ability to move forward with the best policies for our nation’s students, but it also Read more
Policymakers currently face major challenges when it comes to assessments. Are the assessments aligned to the state’s standards? Are students spending too much time taking tests? Should new assessments be used in school performance ratings? These questions, among others, loom large when states tackle the subject of assessment-related policy. A Read more
A recent study conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools, based in Washington and representing the nation’s largest urban school districts, gauges the scope of tests being administered to students. The findings are that the tests are, according to Denisa Superville from Education Week: redundant, misaligned with college- Read more
A recent response to the Nation’s Report Card results by the Obama Administration calls for a reduction of redundant tests, in order to improve the nation’s scores in reading and mathematics. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, believes that this action is “an unfortunate and tragically oversimplified response Read more
New results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), or Nation’s Report Card, show a slowing or drop of both fourth-grade and eighth-grade students scores for 2015. This is the first recorded decline in scores since the assessment started being administered in 1990. The new results Read more