By Pearl Chang Esau, Expect More Arizona
As states and districts focus on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, it is critically important that they turn their attention to building public awareness and support for the Standards.
As we transition to new standards and assessments, we know that school may be harder for some and future test scores may be lower. We are positive that our students will rise to the challenge, but it will take the involvement and support of parents and the community – and partnerships with educators – to ensure that student learning is supported both inside and outside of the classroom.
Career Readiness Defined
A definition for what it means to be “career ready” recently emerged with the release of “Building Blocks of Change: What it Means to be Career Ready,” by the Career Readiness Partner Council, which is coordinated by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium. An article in Education Week‘s – Global […]
Read More →The Importance of Early Literacy and Third Grade Retention
Research shows that students who do not read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who are proficient readers. (For more, see here.) As states work to improve student achievement, a focus is being placed on third- grade literacy skills. This emphasis has resulted in several different efforts connected to early literacy and third-grade retention.
Read More →The Common Core: Helping to Blur the Lines
By Jan Bray, Executive Director, Association of Career and Technical Education
The Association for Career and Technical Education officially committed support to the Common Core in 2009 because, like many, we believe all states need to have the same rigorous academic standards and that a state-led, rather than national-led, initiative holds the best promise of succeeding. But, the Common Core also holds great potential to accelerate the removal of the imaginary wall that separates core academics from career and technical education (CTE), a factor that is just as important to students’ academic performance and their success after high school.
As the Common Core mission states, “The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.” Teaching must become more collaborative and engaging in order to meet this mission and an intentional focus on including relevance and real world connections should include career and technical education as the Common Core is planned and implemented. As the conversation about college and career readiness evolves, this connection becomes even more important.
Read More →“SCORE Prize Schools Show What’s Working”
On October 8, 2012 the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) awarded the SCORE Prize. The Hunt Institute is proud to be part of the selection process for the SCORE Prize which annually provides $10,000 to the elementary, middle, and high school and $25,000 to one district in Tennessee that have most dramatically improved […]
Read More →A Lesson from Kentucky on the Importance of CCSS Community Engagement
By Cherry Boyles, Instructional Supervisor, Washington County Schools
Throughout the country, there is much debate regarding implementation of the Common Core. Supporters believe this new set of standards will require educators to teach to a higher cognitive level enabling students to become better prepared for the global challenges they will face. Those opposed to the Common Core share concerns that not all students will be encouraged to reach their full potential because the Standards will become the “ceiling” of instruction.
With all due respect to the debaters, the truth is that both sides of this argument may be correct. States and local school districts have utilized standards-based instruction for years. In some cases, the standards were rigorous, but classroom instruction failed to maintain that level of expectation for all students. In other cases, the standards lacked rigor, and even though the majority of students were able to excel, the truly accelerated students failed to advance.
Read More →Working Together To College- and Career-Ready
By John Gomperts, President and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance
Most people who visit Nashville bring home Grand Ole Opry t-shirts or busts of Andrew Jackson. What my colleagues carried back from Tennessee last December was not as much fun – but it was a lot more important for making young people college- and career-ready.
America’s Promise went to Tennessee to continue our ongoing collaboration with Alignment Nashville. In this case we were co-hosting a full-day communications training to create stronger advocates for quality education.
Alignment Nashville is a great demonstration of the power of partnerships. It brings together political leaders, nonprofits, public agencies and the business community, pooling resources and developing initiatives that support Metro Nashville Public Schools and make children and youth the city’s top priority.
Read More →Today is World Teachers’ Day!
Teaching takes center stage at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) World Teachers’ Day in Paris today, as education leaders from around the world, including Ronald Thorpe, president and CEO of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and high school English teacher Dan Brown, debate the global challenges facing the teacher profession. Throughout the week Ron and Dan have been blogging about their experiences through Education Week’s Global Studies blog. Today’s entries include this compelling info graphic documenting the current teacher shortage throughout the world.
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