A recent opinion blog, written by Michael J. Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, discusses the education sector’s exhaustion with policies on education reform. Mr. Petrilli writes: It strikes me, and several others with whom I’ve spoken in recent months, that education reform is at a turning point. It’s not just the new Read more about Policy Change is not the Only Path to School Reform[…]
A recent article from Education Week, by Marc Tucker, criticizes the way states are handling the implementation of ESSA. The hottest item at the recent meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers was ESSA, the new federal education legislation that replaced No Child Left Behind, but the big question on the minds of Read more about ESSA: Time for States to Seize the Initiative[…]
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 lowest-performing kids in the state. Read more about ESSA Accountability: Don’t Forget the High Achievers[…]
There’s lots of talk about getting more teacher voices into public discussions about education. As there should be. What we don’t talk about as often, however, is this: Just because someone puts a microphone in front of you doesn’t mean you’re ready to represent your profession – or even yourself – in a public forum. Read more about How to Make the Most of an Opportunity for Teacher Voice[…]
A recent blog by Third Way examines several issues in education policy and reveals the outdated logic and arguments that are being used to debate modern issues.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 has had the unintended consequence Read more about The New Normal in K-12 Education[…]
In the last several years, state policymakers have enacted a dizzying array of new policies on education issues ranging from assessment and accountability to cursive-handwriting and citizenship exams. Within states, education policy-making isn’t led by one person or entity, but many — state legislatures, state education agencies, state and local boards of education, the governor, Read more about Aspen Institute Releases Checklist for Education Policymakers[…]
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 — on a scale of Read more about The Nation’s Report Card shows U.S. Scores Slipping for Reading and Math[…]
Probably the most politically-charged issue in American education in recent years has been the Common Core State Standards. This blog has covered CCSS over that time, here and here and here and here, just as a few examples. This issue has again come to the fore because of the Presidential election season. Some Republican candidates, Read more about Common Core’s Surprising Conservative Roots[…]
With so much recent emphasis on the importance of state governance in education, it is important to understand that states have widely varying ways of implementing governance structures. The Fordham Institute has categorized states based on the commonalities in their governance systems. Below is an excerpt from their taxonomy: We don’t have one education governance Read more about A Taxonomy of American Education Governance[…]
As we continue to go forward with no ESEA re-authorization to replace No Child Left Behind and as states continue to make the news for their gripes with Common Core, Bellwether Education has a new plan to bring more bi-partisan support to education reform. They call it “Pacts Americana.” This project and report re-envisions federal Read more about Pacts Americana from Bellwether Education[…]
Michael J. Petrilli of the Fordham Institute has put together a very handy table showing us where things currently stand on ESEA re-authorization. Remember, the most recent version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (first passed during the Johnson Administration) is No Child Left Behind, which was passed in 2001. Typically, there is a Read more about The state of Play with ESEA, in a Single Table[…]
Michael Lewis’ book, Moneyball, which later became a motion picture starring Brad Pitt, details the transformation of baseball’s Oakland A’s through data analytics. The true story makes a compelling case that making decisions based on data is both cost effective and powerful. In this month’s issue brief, we explore the ways in which a Moneyball Read more about April Issue Brief: Moneyball for Education[…]
In honor of the fact that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed 50 years ago this month, Alyson Klein at Education Week has a lengthy article out describing its legacy and the current challenges related to passing a re-authorization of the bill (whose most recent version was passed in 2001-2002 as No Read more about ESEA’s 50-Year Legacy: Blending Idealism, Policy Tensions[…]
Forbes Education recently released their list of 15 key higher education issues for 2015. Many of these will be prominent this year as the Obama Administration nears the end of its eight year run. You can expect this blog to discuss these issues over the coming year: The arrival of a new year brings with Read more about Higher Education Issues: 15 for ’15[…]
Tenure and tenure reform are in the news of late given the Vergara decision in California and similar efforts challenging tenure laws in New York. Teachers unions argue that current statutes suffice for removing underperforming teachers. Some student advocates argue that these laws are not sufficient because students must endure underperforming teachers for too long. Read more about CALDER Conversations: Implications of Tenure Reform Lawsuits[…]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is asking businesses to pledge their support for the Common Core State Standards in a new video. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has announced the release of its latest video in support of the Common Core State Standards, Make Their Minds Fly. This short video and corresponding infographic Read more about U.S. Chamber of Commerce Support of Common Core[…]