The Education Commission of the States (ECS), a national, nonpartisan education organization, has released a report detailing the issues the Commission believes will be center stage in education policy debates this year. The report is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all pertinent education issues, but rather aims to “stimulate thinking around how Read more about 12 for 2012: Issues to Move Education Forward[…]
Last week the GE Foundation, the charity associated with General Electric, announced they intend to donate $18 million to support the implementation of the Common Core. Though some critics are expected to be up in arms over a private corporation getting involved in education reform, Time’s Andrew Rotherham believes the gift will put into sharp Read more about Can GE Bring Common Core to Life?[…]
In a commentary piece for Education Week, Alan Blankstein of the HOPE Foundation and Pedro Noguera of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education detail their concern at “the approach prescribed by the US Department of Education” for school turnarounds. While they agree that the approach is “well intentioned,” it is also “misguided.” Due to the Read more about Department of Education Has it Wrong on School Turnarounds[…]
A new Wallace Perspective was released by the Wallace Foundation last month, titled “The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning.” The Perspective highlights the most important role of the school principal: creating the conditions in which the other variables known to improve student outcomes can come together and “reach critical Read more about The School Principal as Leader[…]
Education First and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center have released a joint study on the progress of implementation planning for the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Forty-seven states have adopted the standards so far. Not only did the study look at curriculum realignment to fit the new standards, but also at how teacher Read more about A National Perspective on CCSS Implementation Planning[…]
For the fourth year running, Maryland’s public schools have been ranked number one in the nation by Education Week. In “2012 Quality Counts,” the annual report that ranks state public school systems, Maryland received an overall grade of B+ (raw score: 87.8). The national average grade was a C, with a raw score of 76.5. Read more about Maryland Schools Ranked #1[…]
Roland Fryer and Will Dobbie, researchers at Harvard University, have released a new study that claims “what happens inside New York City charter schools is more important than their ideological affiliations in determining academic success.” The paper, Getting Beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City, consists of in-depth case studies at Read more about New Study Attempts to Isolate What Works in Charter Schools[…]
The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) released a sweeping proposal last month to transform the state’s education system to better “place the ‘learner’ at the center of all strategy and action.” CAPSS identifies a set of complex problems, such as international and racial achievement gaps, low levels of student engagement and motivation, limited Read more about CAPSS Releases Proposal to Transform Connecticut’s Education System[…]
In a recent article for The Atlantic, Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, reflects on wages and education. Using examples like Japan, Finland, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Tucker claims that until the U.S. finds a way “to educate our future work force to the same standards…wages in the United Read more about Why Innovation Can’t Fix America’s Classrooms[…]
Last month, the Center for Education Reform (CER) released The State of Charter Schools: What We Know—and What We Do Not—About Performance and Accountability, a report analyzing the nation’s charter schools. The report found that historically, charter schools have a 15% closure rate. Charter school closure is usually the result of a failure to meet Read more about The State of Charter Schools[…]
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) has taken action to “help restore the professional autonomy of teachers,” in exchange for agreeing to accountability measures. Earlier this month, MFT became the first teachers union in the country to open a charter school authorizer. “Conventional wisdom suggests that the interests of teachers unions and charter schools are Read more about Teacher Union Launches Charter School Authorizer in Minnesota[…]
In a recent blog post for The Huffington Post, Jack Jennings of the Center on Education Policy reflects on the current “business” of education reform. Benchmarking, once used only in top performing companies, has tricked its way down to education, the most prominent example being the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS were written Read more about Have We Gotten It Wrong on School Reform?[…]
The Fordham Institute released a report focused on teachers in the digital age, particularly on the issue of if, in the near future, traditional teachers could be replaced by full-blown digital instruction delivered online. The authors claim that as digital learning become more widely used, “solid instruction in the basics will eventually become ‘flat’—available everywhere Read more about A Vision for Teaching in the Digital Age[…]
Last month, Gretchen Rhines Cheney and Jacquelyn Davis of the Center for American Progress released a study that looked at school leadership from the ground up. Research shows that principals account for ¼ of a school’s total impact on student learning; moreover, there is a growing base of research that “clearly defines the disposition, skills, Read more about Gateways to the Principalship[…]
Old Dominion University and Johns Hopkins University recently released a study of the National Institute of School Leadership’s (NISL’s) Executive Development Program (EDP), a program established to provide professional development to school leaders to improve school performance. The primary goal of the program is to ensure that school leaders have the knowledge, skills, and tools Read more about NISL Executive Development Program Shows Promise[…]
We have all heard the polls—while most people think their local/neighborhood school is great, they have a poor opinion of other schools across their states and the nation. Recently, a group of past and present state Teachers of the Year took part in a three-day intensive discussion about the public perception of the teaching profession Read more about Teachers of the Year Discuss Public Perception of Teachers[…]