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 →Talking to Parents Begins with Listening to Parents
By Paige Kowalski, Director, State Policy and Advocacy, Data Quality Campaign
In the current education space, there are suddenly numerous groups and spokespeople to “get the parent voice” out there in the debate. We have parent groups that want to see Common Core State Standards replaced, or student privacy better protected, or better teacher quality policies enacted. Parent voices are critical to listen to because they are voicing real concerns about their children education. But, as a parent myself, I wonder if it is truly possible for a single group’s voice to represent a body of such diverse individuals. After all, the only real thing that parents have in common is the single decision to become a parent in the first place. It is possible that the only parent voice that might be heard is simply the loudest and not the most representative of views. How can we better understand what parents really want? How can we make sure that we are using our communications opportunities to provide real, accurate, and clear information to parents about current education policies and practices?
Read More →Making The Case: The Importance of a Rigorous Science Education
By The Hunt Team
Innovation and ingenuity have long been hallmarks of the U.S.’ economy. Our competitive strength is built on the legacy of great innovators – from Alexander Graham Bell and Lewis Latimer to the Wright brothers and Steve Jobs. The U.S. has prized its status as a leader in developing creative thinkers and entrepreneurs, but by many estimates, it is losing ground.
In 2012, foreign companies filed more than half of U.S. technology patent applications, continuing a trend that first began in 2009.1 In addition, the U.S.’ share of high-tech exports is decreasing. Today, China is the single largest exporter of high-tech products.2
Read More →Why We Created Common Core
By Delaware Governor Jack Markell
As we approach the four-year anniversary of the Common Core State Standards, it is an appropriate time to remember why and how they were created. We should take this chance to look beyond the difficult but expected obstacles we face in getting the standards up and running, and remember the opportunity they present for children across our country if implemented well.
Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and I co-chaired the initiative to create the standards because we shared the concerns of lawmakers, teachers, school leaders, businesspeople, and parents that expectations for our students were not high enough to prepare them for life after high school. Although the effort was entirely voluntarily, 45 states ultimately adopted this set of fewer, clearer, and more rigorous standards in English language arts and mathematics. With the input of educators, policymakers and experts, we laid out the knowledge and skills students need to be prepared for college and career opportunities and set practical bars for them to achieve.
Read More →Sensible Compensation Policies That Add Up
By Brenda Welburn, Former Executive Director of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE)
Welburn was a moderator and resource expert on improving educator effectiveness through evaluation and compensation reform at The Hunt Institute’s 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat. (To learn more about this issue, see The Institute’s special re:VISION series on educator effectiveness here.) She served as the executive director of NASBE from 1994 until 2012 and is known as an association manager and legislative professional with more than 35 years of experience in policy development and analysis in education and human service issues. Below she shares her insight on teacher compensation.
The movement of tying teacher compensation to student achievement has gained momentum throughout the nation, but not without serious debate on how to achieve the goals of the movement without adversely affecting the teaching profession and the learning environment.
To some it seems like a simple premise; those who perform at the highest level should receive the highest rewards. Yet for years policymakers have wrestled with the dilemma of how to support accountability plans that measure proficiency, while acknowledging the significance of student growth and progress among those students with the greatest deficiencies. To do this in a way that rewards milestones in progress – without impeding the goal of genuine student competency – is no easy task. One teacher’s class may have higher test scores, while another’s shows more measurable growth. The idea that student achievement in isolation can be the sole determinant of a teacher’s effectiveness, and thus their compensation package, does not reflect the reality of practice.
Read More →If Tests Aren’t Working for Teachers and Families, They’re Not Working
By Aimee Rogstad Guidera, Executive Director, Data Quality Campaign
Guidera was a panelist and resource expert on testing and assessments at The Hunt Institute’s 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat. (To learn more about this issue, see The Institute’s special re:VISION series on educator effectiveness here.) She is also the founder of Data Quality Campaign and leads the efforts to encourage policymakers to increase the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement. Below she shares how effective student assessments are crucial to improving student outcomes and educator effectiveness.
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