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
A new literature review from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) explores research available on arts integration activities and finds 44 that could qualify for ESSA funding (10 studies met Tier I-III evidence standards for strong, moderate or promising evidence, while 34 met the Tier IV standard for having a Read more
Achieve has released an online tracking tool that summarizes components of states’ accountability plans as submitted to the U.S. Department of Education under the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The tool also allows for users to compare states’ accountability metrics. As part of ESSA, every state was Read more
Against a backdrop of the opportunities provided by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the challenges for education posed by the new federal administration, the Annenberg Institute for School Report has released an issue of Voices in Urban Education (VUE) and an online supplement that proposes performance assessment as Read more
While the importance and impact of school and teacher leadership has been widely understood by policymakers and practitioners, the field has lacked a comprehensive, research-based analysis to identify the specific elements of school and teacher leadership that can increase student achievement. Through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the New Read more
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that each state meaningfully differentiates its schools based at least on the following indicators: Academic achievement; Another academic indicator (growth and/or graduation rates); English Learner Language proficiency; and An indicator of school quality or student success – The indicator of school quality or Read more
Recently, in Fordham’s Flypaper, Michael Petrilli reflects on the outcomes we should be seeking as a result of school reform. He asks if parental satisfaction is really enough. Excerpts from the article appear below: If parental satisfaction is all we’re after, it shouldn’t be terribly hard to achieve. Polls find Read more
Writing for EdSurge, Winnie O’Leary offers an overview of how to utilize data to build student agency while also holding students accountable. Excerpts from the piece appear below: A few years ago, Harvard’s Achievement Gap Institute conducted a study on teaching and student agency. The study recognized agency as potentially Read more
A new study finds that using retired educators to mentor and support new teachers can be a cost effective strategy to improve math achievement. Regional Educational Laboratory Central worked with Aurora Public Schools in Colorado to conduct a randomized controlled trial study in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years during Read more
Marc Tucker of Education week comments on college readiness for students across the nations, and the different definitions of being ready for different groups of students. Does this nationwide difference drive inequality? Excerpts of his commentary appear below: The rapidly increasing social class and racial isolation of the last four Read more
If you spend more on education, will students do better? For many years, research on the relationship between spending and student learning has been surprisingly inconclusive. Many other factors, including student poverty, parental education and the way schools are organized, contribute to educational results. Teasing out the specific effect of Read more
What does it mean to be really ready for college, work, and life? The staff at Getting Smart worked with Apex Learning to publish Really Ready: Preparing ALL Middle and High School Students for College, Work and Life. The report finds that there is a direct connection between increasing graduation 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
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 Read more
A new working paper from Transforming Education highlights important findings regarding non-cognitive skills, specifically self-control and social competence in students. The paper is organized around nine “headlines;” these are conclusions that the authors suggest are justified by the research literature. These headlines concern the relationship of non-cognitive skills to academics, Read more
Teachers know that motivation matters. It is central to student learning; it helps determine how engaged students are in their work, how hard they work, and how well they persevere in the face of challenges. Though we hear mostly about the “achievement gap” between demographic groups, researchers have also identified Read more