The Obama administration recently approved eight California school districts (Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, San Francisco Unified, Sanger Unified, and Santa Ana Unified) for a one year district waiver from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in exchange for locally developed plans to prepare all students for college Read more about Waivers for States, Waivers for Districts?[…]
Schools are now being expected to implement comprehensive and complex reforms. What systemic supports exist for this transformational change? Recently, reformers have turned their attention to the governance structures that support or stand in the way of meaningful reform. In this month’s issue brief, we explore the topic of Education Governance. How should education systems Read more about August Issue Brief – Education Governance[…]
A new report from Ed Money Watch explores the use of student achievement data to improve classroom instruction. The paper, Promoting Data in the Classroom: Innovative State Models and Missed Opportunities, highlights examples from two states, Oregon and Delaware, of federally funded, state-driven efforts to equip teachers with the tools they need to utilize student Read more about Report Explores Opportunities to Promote Data in Classrooms[…]
Marc Tucker, of the National Center on Education and the Economy, was recently commissioned by the Center for American Progress to write a report in which he would outline his plans for education reform in the United States. Tucker, a veteran voice in American education debates, has long studied the similarities and differences between the Read more about Governing American Education: Marc Tucker’s Opus[…]
The goal of ConnectEd: connect 99% of America’s public schools to high speed Internet in 5 years. The Obama administration hopes that accomplishing this feat will enable schools and teachers to take advantage of educational technology and software that will allow for more rapid evaluation of student progress. Furthermore, the administration’s plan, based on elements Read more about Obama touts ConnectED Initiative to Bring High Speed Internet to Schools[…]
The U.S. Department of Education has decided that due to ambitious timelines for the implementation of college and career-ready standards, new assessments aligned with those standards, and new teacher and principal evaluations, states may request waivers to ensure that there is sufficient time to prepare teachers for implementation of the new standards before stakes are Read more about A Waiver from the Waivers[…]
Originally signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) technically expired in 2007. On several occasions over the last few years, various attempts have been made by both political parties in Congress to rewrite the law, but they ultimately fell short. Since 2012, President Read more about The ESEA Rewrites in the Works[…]
Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently gave a speech to the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. His remarks addressed the issue of testing, specifically with Common Core implementation becoming ever more imminent. Here are some excerpts from the speech: Introduction: With federal support, 44 states plus DC are part of two Read more about Choosing the Right Battles: Secretary Duncan’s speech at AERA[…]
A new report from four researchers associated with Columbia University suggests that arcane rules, not any sort of objective and standardized measure of AYP (adequate yearly progress), drive outcomes under NCLB. Matt Di Carlo at the Shanker Blog posted recently about this important new report: “Fifty Ways to Leave a Child Behind: Idiosyncrasies and Discrepancies Read more about Reflecting on NCLB: Are States playing by the same rules?[…]
New America’s education experts have deciphered the 2013 and 2014 budget actions, with a particular view to how they affect education. In the report, “Federal Education Budget Update: Fiscal Year 2013 Recap and Fiscal Year 2014 Early Analysis,” Jason Delisle and Clare McCann explore congressional budget actions over the past year and describe the effects Read more about Federal Education Budget Update[…]
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released a detailed report outlining revenues and expenditures for public elementary and secondary school districts for School Year 2009-10 (FY 10). In addition to providing data with breakdowns by students, states, and districts as well as breakdowns adjusted for median income and inflation, the report revealed the Read more about Education Spending Data from FY 2010[…]
Anne Hyslop at the New America Foundation has pointed out the new partisan tone of debate that has emerged around the Common Core Standards. Hyslop makes clear that the Common Core state initiative is just that—a state led initiative. While the Obama Administration has indeed supported Common Core and has tied its Race to the Read more about Threats to the Common Core[…]
Chester E. Finn, Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute believes that Smarter Balanced and PARCC, the two federally-backed Common Core assessment consortia, will lose their place over the next few years to the comprehensive testing apparatus of College Board/ETS and ACT/Pearson. In a new opinion piece for the Fordham Institute’s education blog, the Flypaper, Read more about Will the Common Core assessment consortia wither away?[…]
After two-plus years of work, the Gordon Commission recently released a public policy statement designed to “stimulate a productive national conversation about assessment and its relationship to teaching and learning.” The Gordon Commission believes that now is a “remarkable opportunity to re-conceptualize the purposes of educational assessments.” The Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment Read more about Assessments for the 21st Century[…]
The Department is currently seeking applications for the Advanced Placement (AP) Test Fee Program and the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program. The AP Test Free Program awards grants to states to enable them to pay all or a portion of AP test fees on behalf of low-income students. Applications are due June 3. The Read more about Education Department seeks Applications for Student Test Fee Waivers[…]
Two years ago, active classroom teachers working temporarily at the U.S. Department of Education launched a national dialogue with their classroom colleagues to talk openly and honestly about the challenges and aspirations of America’s teachers. The Education Department engaged more than 5,700 educators nationwide to develop and refine a vision of teaching and leading that Read more about RESPECT: The Obama Administration’s new Blueprint for Teaching[…]