High-Quality College and Career Ready Assessments

By Michael Martin, Standards and Accountability Specialist, The Hunt Institute

As debate heats up in Washington, D.C. over the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), testing has taken center stage – particularly the number of tests required by the federal government under the current law. While some lawmakers are considering doing away with the annual grade-level testing requirements of ESEA in favor of grade-band testing (testing once in elementary, middle, and high school), many civil rights groups and others education advocates strongly support continuing annual testing. The issue is challenging. Critics raise concerns that testing influences schooling in outsized and sometimes problematic ways (for example, narrowing curriculum and increasing student stress), but the measures of achievement and growth that annual testing provide are part of current state accountability systems and give educators and parents vital information. Complicating the matter, federal policy isn’t the only factor influencing time spent of testing. District assessments contribute significantly to student testing load.

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06
Feb 2015
AUTHOR Michael Martin
COMMENTS No Comments

Inside the Instructional Materials Taskforce (Part 1)

By Lisa Goldschmidt, Digital Director, Student Achievement Partners Representatives from six districts from across the United States are embarking on a project that will culminate in their ability to support an instructional materials selection process that trains reviewers to identify alignment to the key shifts of the Common Core State Standards. It can be a […]

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28
Jan 2015
AUTHOR Lisa Goldschmidt
COMMENTS No Comments

Economic Outcomes Depend on Educational Achievement

By The Hunt Team

“Too often we neglect a key ingredient of our nation’s economic future – the human capital produced by our K-12 school system. An improved education system would lead to a dramatically different future for the U.S., because educational outcomes strongly affect economic growth and the distribution of income.” ~ George P. Shultz and Eric A. Hanushek, The Wall Street Journal, 2012.

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21
Jan 2015
AUTHOR The Hunt Team
COMMENTS No Comments

Innovation in Nashville: How Community Partners Connect Schools with Parents

By Gini Pupo-Walker, Executive Director of Family and Community Partnerships, Metro Nashville Public Schools

On a recent Sunday, two dozen Latino parents and their children gathered at Casa Azafrán, a community center located in the heart of the immigrant community in Nashville, TN. They came to celebrate the close of another successful semester as facilitators for Padres Comprometidos, an outstanding series of parent workshops developed by the National Council of La Raza to empower and inform Latino parents across the country. Through the Padres Comprometidos class, these parents learned about adolescent development, role-playing parent-teacher conferences, and planning for college. Upon graduation from the class, parents often volunteer to be trained as facilitators, suddenly and improbably becoming leaders and trusted resources in their community.

According to a 2009 report from the Pew Hispanic Center, 89 percent of Latino parents believe that college is important for success in life, yet 40 percent feel they have the knowledge to help their children prepare for college. The reality is that in Nashville, and the country, Latino parents are often ill equipped to support their child’s learning, or to come to the school with questions or concerns. Metro Nashville Public Schools offer programs, like Padres Comprometidos, in partnership with a local nonprofit – Conexión Américas – so that Latino parents can learn from one another, and bolster their sacrifices and hard work with information and strategies that are concrete, often complex, and always focused on empowering parents to fulfill their role as the first teacher and primary influence of their children.

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State Leaders Support Standards for All Students

By Chris Minnich, Executive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers

Four years ago, when states set out to create rigorous standards to ensure each student graduates college- and career-ready, they meant all students. We knew all students would face challenges, whether it was an advanced high school junior or a classmate who struggled with English. This was a foundational consideration, albeit it a daunting one.

Still, as state leaders, we refused to set low expectations for any child.

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Teachers Leading the Way

By Andrew Amore, Associate Director of Campaigns for Education, Center for American Progress

Preparing our students for life in the 21st century requires a rethinking of teacher roles within schools and districts. And as teachers and advocates have said for some time, the Common Core has the best opportunity to successfully prepare our students when teachers have a meaningful voice in its implementation. Understanding this potential, more than two-thirds of districts are now utilizing teachers to solve the critical problem of finding quality curriculum aligned to the Common Core, according to a recent report by the Center on Education Policy.

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21
Nov 2014
AUTHOR Andrew Amore
COMMENTS No Comments

The Common Core Referendum That Wasn’t

By Karen Nussle, Executive Director of the Collaborative for Student Success

As election results piled in last week, it was evident early that Tuesday was going to be a good night for Republicans. Perhaps instinctively, commentators readied their pens to describe the lashing Common Core Standards had surely suffered. After all, over the past 18 months vocal critics had assured us this election cycle was a referendum on, and a likely death knell for, the high education standards.

Except that it wasn’t.

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12
Nov 2014
AUTHOR Karen Nussle
CATEGORY

Commentary

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Improving Quality Teacher Prep Programs in Mathematics

By Dr. William Schmidt, Michigan State University Distinguished Professor, Director of the Center for the Study of Curriculum, and Co-Director of the Education Policy Center

There are few topics in education policy that attract more attention than teacher preparation. Whatever resources we devote to education, and however many policy changes we enact such as the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics, at the end of the day it is teachers that are expected to play the essential role. It is of the utmost importance that we be able to identify what makes a good teacher, and more importantly, that we figure out how we can make people into better teachers. This brings us to the rub: Despite the sincere efforts of many researchers, we still lack a clear-cut understanding of what makes for a high-quality teacher preparation program. The evidence to date is mixed at best that traditional metrics of teacher quality – such as certification scores, higher degrees, experience, etc. – make a difference.

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28
Oct 2014
AUTHOR Dr. William Schmidt
COMMENTS No Comments

On the Road to Success with Higher Standards and an Aligned Assessment in Tennessee

By Cicely Woodard, Mathematics Teacher, Nashville Public Schools

“Will this test be multiple-choice?” I heard a student ask as I passed out an assessment to the class. “No. Why do you want a multiple-choice test?” I responded. “Because multiple choice tests are easier,” he said.

I thought about the student’s response, and it was more than merely wanting a simpler test. He knew that in our math class, high level thinking on assessments was an expectation. On assessments, students in my classes were asked to create tables, equations, and graphs that modeled real, relevant situations. They may have been invited to select from responses, but an explanation eminently followed. They would get the opportunity to construct answers on their own. Students knew that they would justify their thinking and critique the reasoning of others. They knew that they would get a chance to problem solve, analyze, reason, and write. My student’s definition of easy was simply bubbling in the right answer and remain in the easy comfort zone of a low-level, multiple-choice test.

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23
Oct 2014
AUTHOR Cicely Woodard
COMMENTS No Comments

Common Core Math Is Just Good Math

Boston College Mathematics Department Chair Solomon Friedberg is totally against fuzzy math. In the USA Today article, “Common Core Math is Not Fuzzy,” Dr. Friedberg provides a straightforward explanation about how the Common Core State Standards provide the foundations for students to get a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts and sets higher expectations for teachers and what students learn.

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17
Sep 2014
AUTHOR The Hunt Team
CATEGORY

In The News

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