Using financial analyses, Public Impact shows how redesigned teacher roles that extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students free funds to pay those teachers up to 130 percent more, within current budgets. Multi-classroom leadership can pay teachers up to about 130% more Elementary subject specialization can pay teachers up to 43% more Swapping Read more about Financial Analyses of Redesigned Teacher Roles[…]
Last week, Nancy Flanagan of the “Teacher in a Strange Land” blog for Education Week reflected on her recent experiences reviewing books on teacher leadership. She became disturbed as she realized the implicit assumption of many books focused on teacher leadership is that it is school leaders who nurture teacher leadership. But what about the Read more about 7 Suggestions for Teachers to Make Their Leaders More Effective[…]
An analysis of reforms in the Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) finds that the district has come a long way in a short time in terms of improving student achievement, granting schools more autonomy, and creating an environment friendly to innovators and new school providers. Baltimore and the Portfolio School District Strategy, a new report Read more about Progress and Promise with Baltimore’s Portfolio Reforms[…]
In a recent article for The Education Gadfly, Michael J. Petrilli offers his take on how we should proceed with education reform, particularly as it concerns teachers. Excerpts from his article are below: For all of its victories over the last couple of years, including Scott Walker’s on Tuesday night, the school reform movement finds Read more about How to Push for Reform Without Alienating Teachers[…]
On May 30, the Fordham Institute released a new report evaluating the potential cost of implementing the Common Core, the first in a wave of such evaluations. This report addresses three key questions: What are the short-term costs of moving to the Common Core? In other words, what will be the initial expenses (instructional materials, Read more about Putting a Price Tag on the Common Core[…]
The Center on Education Policy at George Washington University has released a series of papers examining the role of student motivation in current reform efforts. The summary paper, Student Motivation: An Overlooked Piece of School Reform, pulls together the research from six background papers, each addressing different aspect of student motivation. Each report in the Read more about Student Motivation: An Overlooked Piece of School Reform[…]
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined seven fellow national education leaders last month in signing a shared vision for the future of the teaching profession during the opening 2012 Labor Management Conference in Cincinnati. “Lessons and best practices from talented teachers is the driving force behind this shared vision for transforming the teaching profession,” Read more about Shared Vision for the Next Generation of Teaching[…]
The National Center for Education Statistics released The Condition of Education 2012 last week, an annual publication mandated by Congress. The report summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 49 indicators on the status and condition of education. The indicators are grouped under three main areas: (1) Read more about The Condition of Education 2012[…]
In a recent op-ed piece for the Huffington Post, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discusses his views on how to improve the teaching profession by sharing conversations he’s had with educators across the country. He captures a sentiment common among educators: they “love teaching though they wouldn’t mind a little more respect for their challenging Read more about Duncan: Ask the Teachers[…]
In a recent post for the Shanker Blog, Matthew Di Carlo discusses the current policy focus on teacher quality as a way to improve schools. He observes that “some (but not nearly all) components of this all-hands-on-deck effort are perplexing to the many teachers, and have generated quite a bit of pushback…what drives it is Read more about The Allure of Teacher Quality[…]
The US Department of Education kicked off Teacher Appreciation Week by initiating a dialogue on improving teaching profession, as well as the public perception of America’s teachers. A vision document for reforming the teaching profession created by active classroom teachers working temporarily for the U.S. Department of Education was posted for public comment on the Read more about National Dialogue on Strengthening and Elevating the Teaching Profession[…]
Andrew Rotherham weighed in on this question last week. Although polls show that 67% of voters in swing states said education was “extremely important” to them, President Obama and Mr. Romney haven’t talked much about education. Why? Rotherham believes it is because “education reform doesn’t fit well with the overall argument either candidate is making Read more about Why Aren’t Obama and Romney Talking About Education?[…]
Finland, with its high-achieving public schools, has been held up as a standard for the US as we slog down the path of education reform. However, are there things we can’t learn from Finland’s model? Pasi Sahlberg, author of Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland?, recently wrote an article Read more about What the U.S. Can’t Learn from Finland[…]
Mass Insight Education (MIE) has launched a multi-month Turnaround Forum, consisting of weekly blog posts, biweekly email blasts, and monthly issue briefs on topics of importance in the turnaround field. MIE invites all stakeholders interested in school turnarounds to subscribe to the new and improved blog, “In the Zone,” for regular updates on their work. Read more about Mass Insight Education Launches the Turnaround Forum[…]
A new report from Education First and Policy Innovators in Education (PIE) details how state advocacy groups are working with state policymakers to advance education reforms. To compile the report, PIE and Education First worked closely with Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas to get greater insight into Read more about Seizing the Opportunity[…]
In a recent opinion piece for Education Week, Arthur Wise of the Center for Teaching Quality writes that current mainstream ideas on how to improve American public schools will result in “at best, a marginal improvement for small numbers of students.” Teacher effectiveness is worthy of increased research, but the proposals for value-added evaluation measures Read more about The “Tyranny” of the Self-Contained Classroom[…]