The Aspen Institute’s Education & Society Program and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) have released a new report, Advancing Equity through ESSA: Strategies for State Leaders. This framework is designed to help states make the most of the opportunities provided in ESSA to advance eight equity priorities Read more
In May, a new organization called Learning Heroes released a survey with a startling finding: 90 percent of parents believe that their children are performing at “grade level” or higher in their schoolwork. Setting aside the debate over what “grade level” even means, by any reasonable definition many of these Read more
The Obama administration has unveiled its long-delayed final regulations governing teacher preparation programs. Key provisions of the new regulations include: Providing transparency around the effectiveness of all preparation programs (traditional, alternative routes, and distance) by requiring states to report annually – at the program level – on the following measures: Read more
To ensure that the public education system delivers on its promise of great outcomes for all kids, we need a shared understanding of the facts to help us assess the system, identify challenges, and develop viable solutions. A new report by Bellwether Education Partners, titled The Learning Landscape, presents a Read more
Much will change in practice and policy as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaces the law, regulations, and guidance established through NCLB; but two elements of the new legislation stand out: the shift away from federal mandates toward greater state and local authority, and the emphasis on evidence-based school Read more
Nicholas Papageorge, Seth Gershenson, and Kyungmin Kang have released a discussion paper, titled Teacher Expectations Matter, that uncovers teacher expectations that differ by racial groups in a way that puts black students at a disadvantage, exacerbating racial achievement gaps. The authors recently wrote about their findings in Brookings blog: We Read more
No Child Left Behind meant well, but it had a pernicious flaw: It created strong incentives for schools to focus all their energy on helping low-performing students get over a modest “proficiency” bar. Meanwhile, it ignored the educational needs of high achievers, who were likely to pass state reading and Read more
According to Achieve, over the past few years, nearly all states have made significant changes to their mathematics standards in an effort to better align with college- and career-ready expectations. At the same time, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), seen as the “nation’s report card,” continues to play Read more
Against a statewide backdrop of sliding student achievement levels, widening education inequities, and high levels of teacher dissatisfaction, the CLASS Project—an Oregon nonprofit initiative—has made sharp gains in all of these areas while simultaneously improving the working relationships between various education system stakeholders. But what exactly IS the Creative Leadership Read more
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) released a new study recently on the validity of evaluation ratings using an instrument adapted from a well-known teacher observation tool, the Danielson Framework for Teaching. The findings of the study, by Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) West, support the use of a single summative Read more
A recent article by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) investigates whether STEM teacher candidates who score better on licensure tests are also more effective at improving student performance once they enter the teaching workforce. After replicating earlier findings that teacher basic-skills licensure test 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
A recent report from Thomas Toch at Georgetown University analyzes the national teacher-evaluation reform movement and finds that it has been far more beneficial than its many critics would suggest. In a growing number of states and school districts, new, more meaningful evaluation systems have focused principals’ attention on instruction, 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 recent article by Education Next examines the correlation between poverty and mediocre test scores in the United States. At a time when the national conversation is focused on lagging upward mobility and yawning income inequality, it is no surprise that many educators point to poverty as the explanation for Read more