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.
Read More →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 […]
Read More →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.
Read More →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.
Read More →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.
Read More →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.
Read More →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.
Read More →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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