“I’m reaching out to some of America’s leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing especially tough odds to stay on track and reach their full potential.” President Barack Obama, January 28, 2014 President Obama is taking action to launch My Brother’s Keeper – a new initiative Read more about President Obama Launches My Brother’s Keeper Initiative[…]
U.S. corporations donate an estimated $3 billion to $4 billion a year to K-12 education. A new report argues that’s not enough. The report, published by Harvard Business School, the Boston Consulting Group and the Gates Foundation, aims to prod CEOs to move beyond “checkbook philanthropy” and push more transformative change on the public education Read more about Shedding light on the nexus of business and education[…]
A new report from the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder argues that the U.S. should consider adopting a European-style accountability system, where schools self-evaluate and then receive feedback from trained site visitors. The U.S. test-based accountability model holds schools and teachers accountable for student outcomes with little attention to school Read more about School-centered accountability vs. Test-based accountability[…]
Amidst all of the recent turmoil about Common Core, with some states changing the name of the standards, others considering pulling them, and others having already taken steps to pull back from the testing consortia, Kentucky stands out as a model state which has moved beyond any other state in piloting Common Core reform. We Read more about What Every Child Can Learn from Kentucky[…]
Is there a policy disconnect surrounding teacher evaluation? In a commentary published in Education Week, Stephen Fink, executive director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership, argues that how we use the new evaluation tools will determine whether we simply create the aura of accountability or actually help our teachers grow and improve Read more about Keeping Continuous Growth at Teacher Evaluation’s Core[…]
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[…]
State Education Agencies (or SEAs) are a crucial element in translating policy to schools. A new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, in coordination with the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center, “The SEA of the Future“, urges state education agencies to use performance management to support school improvement. Authors Paul Hill, Patrick Read more about The SEA of the Future: Leveraging Performance Management[…]
Public Impact has released a new report emphasizing the potential of the combination of good teachers with technology. If school districts can incentivize good teachers who make skillful use of technology, they will achieve what Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called the “best combination.” Hiring the right teachers is the start, but from there, teachers Read more about Schools Need State Policymakers’ Help to Enable a Better Blend[…]
In the current economic climate, with budget cuts a necessity and many states seeing their education budget battles going to state supreme courts, states and districts need help weathering the storm. DREAM hopes to help states and districts do just that with a “new way to explore school budgets.” DREAM was created by Education Resource Read more about DREAM: The Free Cost-modeling Tool for School Districts[…]
School administrators serve as instructional leaders and set the tone for the culture of a school. The principal’s influence is pivotal. In this month’s issue brief, we explore school leadership and recommendations for improving the preparation, selection and work of educational leaders. What are the qualities that make a great school leader? What essential skills Read more about March Issue Brief: School Leadership[…]
We know that principal leadership is crucial to success of schools and students, particularly urban ones, but the Wallace Foundation’s new report, Districts Matter, adds that school districts can cultivate that strong leadership and “ensure they have principals capable of boosting teaching and learning.” The new report “draws on a decade of foundation research and Read more about Cultivating Great Principals: The District Role[…]
In AEI’s Cage-busting Leadership and the Culture of Can’t, Frederick Hess argues that many district and school leaders operate under lore rather than legality. They believe their hands are tied, even when they are not, and implement restrictive policy simply because that is how it has always been done. Hess recommends that district and school Read more about “Cage-busting Leadership”: creative leadership for accelerated reform[…]
Last year, we posted about the emerging issue of whether or not teachers should be allowed to sell their lessons plans for a profit (https://www.coreeducationllc.com/blog2/should-teachers-be-allowed-to-sell-their-lesson-plans/). More recently, this issue has cropped up in the greater Washington DC area. Prince George’s County Public Schools has recently tabled a proposal designed to gain ownership of all material Read more about Could school districts own their students’ work?[…]
Yet another report on school reform has urged reform in the area of school leadership. This report, entitled, “Operating in the Dark: What Outdated State Policies and Data Gaps Mean for Effective School Leadership” and produced by the George W. Bush Institute and the Alliance to Reform Education Leadership. What stands out about “Operating in Read more about “Operating in the Dark”: Principal Preparation Reform[…]
In the first of what will be an annual report on leadership, Education Week’s Leaders To Learn From provides fifteen profiles on forward-thinking education leaders. The importance of effective educational leadership goes almost without saying: Some research suggests leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all the school-related factors that contribute to student learning. Read more about Leaders to Learn From[…]
A new partnership between the non-profit group New Leaders and Pearson Education seeks to improve the performance of school leadership through the use of technology-backed professional learning opportunities. New Leaders, the non-profit organization whose mission is to develop school leaders and promote system-wide conditions for student success, is partnering with the education services and technology Read more about Preparing School Leaders for Next Generation Learning[…]