Five Thoughts About NCLB on its Tenth Anniversary
The federal law that everybody loves to hate turns ten on Sunday. Here’s what to think about it…
The Accountability Plateau
In Texas and across the nation, high-stakes testing regimes produced real gains for a few years, then flat-lined
In Texas and across the nation, high-stakes testing regimes produced real gains for a few years, then flat-lined
Grinding the Antitesting Ax
More bias than evidence behind NRC panel’s conclusions
More bias than evidence behind NRC panel’s conclusions
When the Best is Mediocre
Developed countries far outperform our most affluent suburbs
Developed countries far outperform our most affluent suburbs
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View the Global Report Card
View the Methodological Appendix
Evaluate Teachers on How Much Students Have Learned
On Tuesday, Nov. 1, a group of parents and taxpayers sued the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to make the district follow the law, by evaluating teachers based on how much their students have learned.
NAEP 2011: The Reading First effect?
Last night was fun for the kids, but today is every education wonk’s favorite holiday: NAEP release day!
The Past, Present, and Future of Common Standards
A new book explains in depth the content of the standards, what they expect of students, and how the assessment of student results is going to be carried out.
Poor Results for High Achievers
New evidence on the impact of gifted and talented programs
New evidence on the impact of gifted and talented programs
A Teacher’s Response to Mike Petrilli’s Article, Accountability’s End?
Mike Petrilli’s article was probably my favorite article ever about accountability. To be fair, it doesn’t have much competition. Many articles about the subject are so one-sided they leave me too frustrated to even try to respond.
A progressive school finds some accountability religion
I was prepared for a rant against all things reform when I started reading the New York Times Q & A interview with Maria Velez-Clarke, the principal of the Children’s Workshop School in Manhattan’s East Village, about the school’s C-grade from the City.
Why Not Have Open Tests?
A more complete integration of testing, accountability, and teaching would be superior to dealing with the integrity of testing in isolation. Let’s put the tests out in the sun instead of trying to lock them up in more and more secure rooms.
Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?
The latest on each state’s international standing
The latest on each state’s international standing
Cheating and Other Deceptions About Students’ Learning
If the USA Today allegations are true, then the adults who changed students’ answers did much more than just cheat on a test. They also cheated those students, by allowing them — and their families — to think that they had learned material they clearly hadn’t.
Mandating Betamax
Once the Gates-Fordham-AFT-USDOE coalition settles on the details of nationalizing standards, curriculum, and testing, it will become extremely difficult to change anything about education.
And the Answer Is? (Shh! We Can’t Tell You!)
Though nothing that most educators didn’t know, Jennifer Medina’s front-page story in the New York Times this morning is worth reading—if you like reviewing, in slow motion, the tape of a train wreck.
State Standards Rise in Reading, Fall in Math
Most state standards remain far below international level, with Tennessee, a Race to the Top Winner, at the very bottom
Most state standards remain far below international level
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View the Underlying Data
Will the Common Core Standards Prove Safe and Effective?
Even though they still haven’t seen the light of day in draft form, much less been joined by any assessments, the evolving “common core” standards project of the National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is already being laden with heavier and heavier burdens. This is enormously risky and, frankly, hubristic, since nobody yet has any idea whether these standards will be solid, whether the tests supposed to be aligned with them will be up to the challenge, or whether the “passing scores” on those tests will be high or low, much less how this entire apparatus will be sustained over the long haul.
Atlanta Grades
A story last week in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that fully 191 schools in the state of Georgia, 10 percent of the total number of elementary and middle schools, are up for investigation for altering test answer sheets. The next day’s story put the count at one in five Georgia public schools.
Straddling the Democratic Divide
Will reforms follow Obama's spending on education?
Will reforms follow Obama’s spending on education?
Quality Counts and the Chance-for-Success Index
Narrowing its scope to factors schools can control would give the measure greater value
Narrowing its scope to factors schools can control would give the measure greater value
Studies Find No Effects
Podcast: Education Next’s Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk this week (Jan. 7) about whether randomized field trials in education should be abandoned, since they so rarely find that the treatments have any effects.
