In a recent commentary piece for Education Week, Brad C. Phillips and Jay J. Pfieffer reflect on data and how it is (mis)used in education. “Factions are setting up camp at two extremes: one for those who believe data is the Holy Grail, and the other for those who shun it,” they write. Phillips and Read more about Dear Data, Please Make Yourself More Useful[…]
The Center for American Progress (CAP) has released a report that analyzes how states can use the results of their teacher evaluation systems in a meaningful way. In other words, “what kinds of strategies should they adopt to increase the amount of measured effectiveness in the teacher workforce over time?” In October 2011, the National Read more about Movin’ It and Improvin’ It[…]
A new paper from the Center for American Progress takes a look at the increasingly talked about “wraparound services” for children in low-income communities, and the connections to teacher efficiency. Wraparound services generally refer to non-classroom services such as health care, family involvement programs, and food assistance. There is research on the potential benefits Read more about Lightening the Load: How Community Schools Can Support Effective Teaching[…]
Last month, Wendy Kopp of Teach for America and Dennis Van Roekel of the National Education Association discussed their thoughts on ways to improve the teaching force in the US in an article that appeared in USa Today. “As [education] leaders…we know from experience that great teachers are made, not born…Unfortunately, not all teachers are Read more about Three Ways to Improve America’s Teachers[…]
John Tyler of the Center for American Progress released a report last month focused on the challenges of developing evaluation systems for high school teachers, and possible solutions. Tyler believes that special attention should be paid to high school educators for three reasons: 1) high school student performance lags behind performance of students with similar Read more about Designing High Quality Evaluation Systems for High School Teachers[…]
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its report State of the States: Trends and Early Lessons on Teacher Evaluation and Effectiveness Policies late last month that offers a closer look at what is being done across the nation with regard to teacher assessments. While admitting that it is too early to assess which Read more about State of the States: Teacher Evaluation & Effectiveness Policies[…]
Education writer Andrew Rotherham speculated in Time this week about the current data analysis “trend” that is sweeping the education reform movement. He reflects on Michael Lewis’ 2003 book Moneyball, which “traces the rise of new methods that the Oakland A’s used to identify undervalued baseball players so the team could win more games with Read more about ‘Moneyballing’ Education[…]
n the August 31, 2011 issue of Education Week, former educator Ama Nyamekye reflects on the controversy surrounding high-stakes testing. In college, she was active in protesting these types of tests and thought that “good teachers should be left to their own devices.” She writes, “ I was certain that I was a good teacher. Read more about A Teacher Finds Good in Testing[…]
In an op-ed piece that appeared in the August 28 issue of the New York Daily News, well-known education scholar and author (and self-identified union critic) Frederick M. Hess blasted the recent decision by the New York state appellate court that will allow New York City to release student achievement data disaggregated on a teacher-by-teacher Read more about Keep the Teacher Data Private[…]
The Teachers of the Washington New Millennium Initiative, an institute part of the Center for Teaching Quality, released a report this week focusing on how to create a results-oriented teaching profession. The group’s recommendations are: 1. A two-tiered assessment system with improved national- and state-level standardized tests. Student assessments must be changed to evaluate their Read more about How Better Teacher & Student Assessment Can Power Up Learning[…]
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[…]
There are many things we can’t predict about the future of education, but happily, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has allowed us to look into the future of education statistics. For example, postsecondary enrollment rose by 34 percent between 1994 and 2008; NCES projects that it will increase another 17 percent by 2019. Read more about CES releases “Projections of Education Statistics to 2019”[…]
The Data Quality Campaign’s (DQC) sixth annual state analysis, Data for Action 2010, reveals that states have made unprecedented progress collecting longitudinal information but have not taken action to ensure data are used to improve student achievement. When the DQC launched in 2005, no state had all 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems. Read more about Data for Action 2010[…]
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a web site providing convenient and transparent access to key national and state education data, highlighting the progress being made at every level of the education system and encouraging communities to engage in an informed conversation about their schools. This first version of the U.S. Education Dashboard (http://dashboard.ed.gov/) Read more about National Dashboard Release[…]
U.S. News & World Report and the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) today announce the launch of a landmark survey of more than 1,000 schools of education across the country. Unprecedented in its scope and comprehensiveness, the project will rate the quality of teacher training programs currently producing over 200,000 teachers every year. The Read more about Teacher Preparation Ranking[…]
The 15th edition of the Quality Counts Report was released today. Quality Counts 2011 contains in-depth coverage investigating persistent concerns over the halting economic recovery and emerging opportunities for innovation, as state and local officials attempt to move forward despite depleted budgets. It also provides a 50-state update in critical areas of education policy and Read more about Quality Counts 2011: Uncertain Forcast – Education Adjusts to a New Economic Reality[…]