American Teacher is a new full-length documentary based on the New York Times bestselling book Teachers Have It Easy, produced by co-authors Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari and directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth. The film seeks to shed light on the startling statistics of the teaching profession—such as, 46 percent of public Read more about The Teacher Salary Project presents “American Teacher”[…]
Several weeks ago renowned education journalist John Merrow began speculating on who might be the most influential educator in America. Of his four “nominees,” (Wendy Kopp, Big Bird, Arne Duncan and Joel Klein), Merrow settled on Joel Klein, former New York City School chancellor, for his “remarkable network of eleven protégés now influencing what happens Read more about Education Wars: Who is the Most Influential Educator?[…]
The Christian Science Monitor reported on July 5 that at least 178 teachers and principals in Atlanta Public Schools cheated to raise student scores on standardized tests, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). So far 82 teachers and principals have confessed to changing student answers and conspiring to cover-up the scandal. Since the Read more about America’s Biggest Academic Cheating Scandal Unfolds in Atlanta[…]
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) released its eighth annual National Educational Technology Trends Report, State Leaders Leveraging Technology to Transform Teaching and Learning. This annual report highlights innovative educational technology activities that are playing a crucial role in K-12 school improvement efforts in states and local communities across the country. The report includes Read more about Technology Trends[…]
Education|Evolving Founder Ted Kolderie has encouraged a strong look at the current management of schools. He explains, “Our deal with teachers has been that we don’t give you professional authority, and you don’t give us accountability. Cut a new deal: in exchange for real accountability we’ll give you real authority.” The premise is that when Read more about Education/Evolving’s National Inventory of Schools with Teacher Autonomy[…]
Last month, the American Enterprise Institute held a day-long conference on the Federal Role in education. Video highlights, panel discussions and links to white papers are available at http://www.aei.org/event/100357#doc. My favorite video clip is of Michael Petrelli discussing how the federal government can “do what it’s good at.” Instead of asking, What can the federal Read more about Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit: Sobering Lessons from a Half Century of Federal Efforts to Improve America’s Schools[…]
The fact that well-qualified teachers are inequitably distributed to students in the United States has received growing public attention. Studies in state after state have found that students of color in low- income schools are 3 to 10 times more likely to have unqualified teachers than students in predominantly white schools. In Speaking of Salaries: Read more about Speaking of Salaries: A Report from the Center for American Progress[…]
District-led, dramatic change efforts in failing schools-including turnarounds and school closures-often face strong resistance from families and communities. Resistance may be based on district-community tensions, failed past school improvement efforts, or a lack of understanding about what is possible in schools. In this new presentation by Public Impact, nine strategies are proposed to address these Read more about Building Family and Community Demand for Dramatic School Change[…]
Policy and practice at the local, state, and national levels should support the concepts of “deeper learning” to help all students meet higher expectations and be prepared for college and a career, according to a new policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The brief, “A Time for Deeper Learning: Preparing Students for a Read more about Time for Deeper Learning[…]
In a blog post written by Jack Jennings, Center for Education Policy’s president, Jennings discusses achievement gains of white, Latino, and African American students on the long-term National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The blog points out that while general trends show a mixed picture of achievement gains over the last four decades, Latino and Read more about Student Subgroups and NAEP[…]
Released by the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: An American Agenda for Education Reform explains why as the performance of students in one nation after another surpasses that of American students, and the states, in response, institute one reform after another, student performance remains stagnant. According Read more about Lessons Learned from Top-Performing Nations[…]
The National Association of State Boards of Education has posted a number of Power Point presentations from their 2011 Central Regional Conference and 2011 Northeast Regional Conference related to the Common Core. To download, click the title, or visit http://www.nasbe.org/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=category&category_id=23&Itemid=1125 A Systems Approach to Common Core: Critical Issues of Implementing the Common Core CCSSO, NGA Read more about Common Core Resources from NASBE[…]
Public Impact’s School Turnaround website contains many useful resources on developing leaders for School Turnaround efforts. You can download each of the resources described below at http://www.schoolturnarounds.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=4&Itemid=10 Using Competencies to Improve School Turnaround Principal Success This paper, produced for the University of Virginia’s School Turnaround Specialist Program, describes how using competencies that predict performance can Read more about Resources: Successful Leadership for School Turnaround[…]
The prospect of designing and implementing teacher and leader evaluations and the data systems necessary to link teachers with the achievement of their students is a daunting task. States and districts are only now confronting technical and logistical hurdles to creating new evaluations, writes Stephen Sawchuck in Education Week. In the coming months, states — Read more about Hurdles to Creating Teacher and Leader Evaluations[…]
At this writing, 44 states and thousands of districts are crafting summer and fall plans to support system-wide transition to the Common Core Standards. A high priority in every plan is to ensure principals are prepared to successfully lead their schools through this transition, and to ensure principals are equipped to support teachers, students and Read more about Developing Leadership for the New Common Core[…]
Scientific American is about to make connecting scientists and schools a whole lot easier, thanks to their new 1,000 Scientists in 1,000 Days program. They’re recruiting “scientists who are willing to volunteer to advise on curricula, answer a classroom’s questions, or visit a school—for instance, to do a lab or to talk about what you Read more about 1,000 Scientists in 1,000 Days[…]