Teaching is a profession that gets a lot of lip-service respect, but is generally dismissed as a career for academic lightweights–mediocre students who get easy As in lackluster education colleges and then struggle to pass basic skills tests. That’s why a credential that rewards excellence and intellectual rigor is an important recognition for accomplished teachers who deserve to be respected… Read more →
To be considered “proficient,” Illinois juniors will have to “earn a higher score on the SAT than the one that’s correlated with college readiness,” writes Catherine Gewertz in Ed Week. The state board of education’s policy doesn’t affect students’ grades or graduation, she explains. But their high schools will lose points in the new accountability system if 11th graders score below 540 in English or… Read more →
I found Illinois’ accountability plan woefully inadequate and full of holes–especially when it comes to protecting vulnerable groups of students–so imagine my surprise when my state was awarded a “perfect score” by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Fordham analyzed the plans submitted by all fifty states and the District of Columbia under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). and scored them… Read more →
Our most recent publication, Walking Together, explores what’s possible when schools, families, and communities become true partners. Here we’re featuring A Parent’s Bill of Rights, outlining what parents are entitled to expect from schools and districts, as well as a downloadable list of questions to ask of your child’s educators. As parents, we want what’s best for our children, both inside and outside of school. We… Read more →
I have a friend who was looking forward to her first and only parent-teacher conference of the school year. She had some concerns about her son’s academic focus and wanted to talk honestly with her son’s teacher about strategies. But it was not to be. Instead it was a parent PLUS student teacher conference. And while she appreciated watching her… Read more →
One of the secrets of Success Academy schools’ success is “holding parents to account for honoring the agreement they signed when enrolling their children,” writes Robert Pondiscio. The high-scoring charter network — with mostly low-income black and Hispanic students — requires parents to get kids to school on time and in uniform, avoid unexcused absences and monitor homework and reading logs. “We’ve… Read more →
If you want to know what happens when you give school districts a chance to grade themselves on their own accountability report cards, look no farther than Texas. As the Houston Chronicle recently reported: All but one out of 1,201 Texas school districts say they’re successfully engaging their students and community, according to results of mandatory self-evaluations released Monday by… Read more →
SAT scores are way up this year, the College Board reported this week. And that might be cause for celebration, if you wanted to ignore these three facts. The test is easier than it was a year ago. The achievement gap between students of different races and parental education levels is just as entrenched as ever. And fewer than half… Read more →
The Every Student Succeeds Act—the federal education law that required all states to define what success looks like for 100,000 public schools and 50 million public school students nationwide–will go into full effect this year. But you’d never know that from asking everyday parents and educators about the accountability law. No one is talking about it. No one is paying attention to what… Read more →
If you want a peek at where our educational priorities might land in about 10 years, take a look at this poll. Here are a few hot-button findings that jump out from “Education in America: The Views of Millennials:” Millennials support school choice, both charters and vouchers, especially if the vouchers help low-income families afford private school. Millennials think there… Read more →