Education Week is currently offering four free “Spotlight” collections for download. Spotlights are a collection of past articles from the publication focused on a particular topic. The four being offered gratis include collections on professional development, teacher evaluation, implementing common standards, and data-driven decision-making. Here are the highlights from each: Read more
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) has launched a new website called NCLB Waiver Watch. This website tracks current developments related to the new waivers that would relieve states from some of the provisions of NCLB. Given the very public and fast-paced nature of the issue, CEP has created an Read more
You won’t believe this, but MasteryConnect has just released a free app with searchable Common Core Standards for math and language arts. So now, if you’re in a long line at the grocery store and wondering what the standards are for reading informational text in 5th grade, you’ve got the Read more
The National Association of State Boards of Education has posted a number of Power Point presentations from their 2011 Central Regional Conference and 2011 Northeast Regional Conference related to the Common Core. To download, click the title, or visit http://www.nasbe.org/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=category&category_id=23&Itemid=1125 A Systems Approach to Common Core: Critical Issues of Implementing Read more
The Pearson Foundation has announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a complete, foundational system of digital instructional resources built around the Common Core State Standards. Over the next three years, the Pearson Foundation will develop 24 courses covering math for grades K-10 and reading/English Read more
Public Impact’s School Turnaround website contains many useful resources on developing leaders for School Turnaround efforts. You can download each of the resources described below at http://www.schoolturnarounds.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=4&Itemid=10 Using Competencies to Improve School Turnaround Principal Success This paper, produced for the University of Virginia’s School Turnaround Specialist Program, describes how using Read more
After a fantastic conference in Washington, DC with the National Center for Education Information and a nice holiday, I’m back. To ease back into things, I thought I’d have a little fun with educational jargon. Yesterday, John Merrow blogged about “The Joys of Jargon.” He listed the most annoying buzzwords Read more
Education Week is offering a free live webinar, Recalibrating Professional Development for Teacher Success, on Tuesday, April 12, 3 p.m., EDT. With school systems under pressure to boost achievement and improve human capital management, today’s education leaders recognize that effective teacher staff development is more important than ever. Yet teacher Read more
There are many things we can’t predict about the future of education, but happily, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has allowed us to look into the future of education statistics. For example, postsecondary enrollment rose by 34 percent between 1994 and 2008; NCES projects that it will increase Read more
The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality is pleased to introduce three new research & policy resources to assist districts and states in designing and implementing teacher professional development activities and evaluation systems. They are: Measuring Teacher Contributions to Student Learning Growth for Nontested Grades and Subjects was developed to Read more
The New Teacher Project (TNTP) announces the launch of The School Leader’s Toolbox, a new collection of resources used by the nation’s top charter schools to recruit, manage and support a high-performing teacher workforce. Effective strategies for building and managing teacher talent are singularly important in light of decades of Read more
The state of Maryland has released a new teacher self-assessment tool. It is available at http://pdot.marylandlearninglinks.org/ This free tool is designed to facilitate teacher reflection related to instruction of students wih special needs. Teachers log in and rate themselves on indicators in ten areas, using a five-point scoring tool. The Read more
The Center for Education Reform announces the launch of the Media Bullpen. This new virtual newsroom brings accountability to education news. Each day CER’s “umps” analyze the media on education and score who’s got it right — and who struck out. The Media Bullpen is a fun way to Read more
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a web site providing convenient and transparent access to key national and state education data, highlighting the progress being made at every level of the education system and encouraging communities to engage in an informed conversation about their schools. This first version of Read more
Pearson has launched a new Common Core Standards website. While much of the site is commercially based — selling the products and services of Pearson — there are several useful (and free!) webinars: Common Core: Math Standards – Implementation for Success As part of its commitment to help states transition Read more