Key Takeaways: State Accountability Plans Under ESSA

Posted on May 11, 2017May 5, 2017 by coreeducation

Twelve states and the District of Columbia have submitted plans for implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. These states include Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Vermont. The U.S. Department of Education has already informed two of the states, Maine and Massachusetts, Read more about Key Takeaways: State Accountability Plans Under ESSA[…]

The Failure of the U.S. Education Research Establishment

Posted on May 10, 2017May 5, 2017 by coreeducation

Stanley Pogrow has produced a paper concluding that most education research is of little value to people in schools. Research validating programs to develop the reading skills of students born into poverty, for example, validates programs that are not effective in practice, he says. Pogrow’s paper analyzes in easy-to-understand language the validity of the gold Read more about The Failure of the U.S. Education Research Establishment[…]

How State Assessments Can Foster 21st Century Learning

Posted on May 5, 2017April 29, 2017 by coreeducation

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) opens up new possibilities for more meaningful approaches to assessing student learning and teacher and school success. The law broadens the concept of student learning, requiring that assessments measure “higher order thinking skills and understanding,” and explicitly allowing the use of multiple assessments – including “portfolios, projects, or extended-performance Read more about How State Assessments Can Foster 21st Century Learning[…]

April Issue Brief: Scheduling for Success

Posted on April 25, 2017April 22, 2017 by coreeducation

Time is one of the resources most valuable to educators, but school schedules do not always allocate time to the activities that our schools purport to value most. Schedules can be better designed to foster planning and collaboration, flexible instructional blocks to differentiate content to student need, and opportunities for small group instruction and student-directed Read more about April Issue Brief: Scheduling for Success[…]

How well are American Students Learning?

Posted on April 20, 2017April 7, 2017 by coreeducation

The Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings has released the 16th annual Brown Center Report (BCR) on American Education by Tom Loveless. The 2017 BCR investigates three issues that are relevant to the current dialogue on U.S. education. Part I analyzes the changing scores of American students on two international tests; Part II revisits Read more about How well are American Students Learning?[…]

WWC Review Finds Dual Enrollment Programs Have Positive Impacts on High School Students

Posted on March 16, 2017March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

Research shows that dual enrollment programs have positive effects on high school achievement and completion, as well as college access, enrollment and degree attainment, according to a new What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) intervention report. The Institute of Education Sciences recently released a report that summarizes research reviewed by the WWC on how dual enrollment programs Read more about WWC Review Finds Dual Enrollment Programs Have Positive Impacts on High School Students[…]

Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement

Posted on March 8, 2017March 4, 2017 by coreeducation

The Center on School Turnaround at WestEd (CST) has released the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement. This report was developed as a framework to assist states, districts, and schools in leading and managing rapid improvement efforts. The framework shares, in practical language, the critical practices of successful school turnaround in four domains, or areas Read more about Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement[…]

Providing All Students with a Well-Rounded Education through ESSA

Posted on March 7, 2017March 4, 2017 by coreeducation

The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) have released a new interactive tool for principals: Principals Action Plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Providing All Students with a Well-Rounded and Complete Education. Principals’ crucial voices are needed in ESSA planning. To support Read more about Providing All Students with a Well-Rounded Education through ESSA[…]

Coaching Roles That Achieve Their Potential to Improve Teaching and Learning

Posted on March 6, 2017February 22, 2017 by coreeducation

Despite decades of efforts to support teachers with coaching, most teachers still do not get the support they need in their own classrooms. Yet many teachers, including experienced ones, need support to continue to evolve professionally, hone their practice, and use new tools. Based on experience, the research base on coaching, and a forward-looking analysis, Read more about Coaching Roles That Achieve Their Potential to Improve Teaching and Learning[…]

Improvement is a Team Sport

Posted on March 3, 2017February 22, 2017 by coreeducation

Manuelito Biag recently reflected on educational improvement in the Carnegie Commons Blog, arguing that improvement requires a user-centered strategy. Excerpts of the article appear below: In education, knowing what works, for whom, and under what conditions requires deep understanding of individuals — their needs, concerns, and motivations — as well as the contexts they inhabit. Read more about Improvement is a Team Sport[…]

Getting to Teacher Ownership: How Schools Are Creating Meaningful Change

Posted on February 24, 2017February 16, 2017 by coreeducation

In the current climate of education reform, where one innovation is often quickly replaced with another, the concept of teacher ownership is critical. Those responsible for change must have a voice in creating and directing that change: teachers cannot be viewed as simply the implementers. The Annenberg Institute for School reform conducted a mixed-methods study Read more about Getting to Teacher Ownership: How Schools Are Creating Meaningful Change[…]

How Are Middle School Climate and Academic Performance Related Across Schools

Posted on February 17, 2017February 10, 2017 by coreeducation

Schools with a more positive student-reported climate had higher academic achievement in English language arts and mathematics than schools with a less positive climate, according to a new study from Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) West. While there is widespread consensus that positive school climate leads to higher academic performance, most of the research has compared Read more about How Are Middle School Climate and Academic Performance Related Across Schools[…]

Instructional Choice vs. School Choice

Posted on February 13, 2017January 30, 2017 by coreeducation

Julia Freeland Fisher has written an insightful piece for the Christensen Institute in which she cuts through the “charter vs. district” debate and explores the sorts of instructional innovations and choices, within and across school systems, that stand to bring more students into 21st-century schools. Excerpts of her article appear below: The next generation vision Read more about Instructional Choice vs. School Choice[…]

Five Key Trends in U.S. Student Performance

Posted on February 2, 2017January 27, 2017 by coreeducation

In 15 years of increasing average test scores, black-white and Hispanic-white student achievement gaps continue to close, and Asian students are pulling away from whites in both math and reading achievement. For the improving groups, these long-term trends may be a major educational success story. In stark contrast, Hispanic and Asian students who are English Read more about Five Key Trends in U.S. Student Performance[…]

Big Problems in How Schools Hire Teachers and How to Solve Them

Posted on February 1, 2017January 27, 2017 by coreeducation

Every year schools must hire new teachers to replace the nearly 15 percent who leave annually. But what if schools are doing it wrong? Matt Barnum digs through some surprising research which shows that many schools and districts don’t require prospective teachers to perform a single model lesson, aren’t actively recruiting teachers of color and Read more about Big Problems in How Schools Hire Teachers and How to Solve Them[…]

2017: The year we could come back together again

Posted on January 10, 2017January 8, 2017 by coreeducation

Michael Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, recently suggested that 2017 can be the year we come back together again. Excerpts of his post in Fordham’s Flypaper appear below: Let me suggest three principles we should all try to adhere to—and what they could mean for education reform in the months ahead. The Read more about 2017: The year we could come back together again[…]