Improving the Quality of Teachers and Principals
By The Hunt Team
“This is an excerpt from the overview of a five-part re:VISION special series on improving the effectiveness of the nation’s teachers and leaders. The Hunt Institute’s re:VISION focuses on critical issues in education policy – highlighting key research for policymakers and prompting discussion of solutions within states and across the nation. The ‘teacher effectiveness series’ is intended to provide state-level policymakers with a digest of existing research and current state efforts around teacher preparation, evaluation, compensation, and school leadership. Each of the briefs in this series will provide a deeper exploration of the challenges states are facing in the area of educator effectiveness reform and offer considerations for policymakers.”
A talented, well-trained, and committed workforce is the life-blood of any enterprise. Ask any successful business or military leader. The most successful companies spend considerable time, energy, and resources to identify, recruit, and hire the best and brightest; then they work at keeping them through optimal working conditions, incentives, and pay.
The military invests mightily in developing and honing the skills of its members; it pays for additional education and it invests in talent. The security of our country depends on it.
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 →Quality Resources to Implement the Mathematics Common Core Standards
By Ellen Whitesides, Illustrative Mathematics
One of the greatest challenges right now in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics is determining the quality of resources, materials, and professional learning that claim to be aligned to the standards. Illustrative Mathematics is a website and growing community focused on illustrating the standards with high quality tasks reviewed by a math expert as well as a classroom expert. Illustrative mathematics is building a community of expertise that writes and reviews tasks, discusses tasks and standards, and works together to better understand strong mathematics instruction.
The idea of Illustrative Mathematics came from the writing of the Common Core Standards. The author team envisioned example tasks to clarify the meaning and nuances of standards but these examples were not finished in time for the publication of the standards document. These examples became the basis for Bill McCallum’s project, The Illustrative Mathematics Project. The project aimed to illustrate the standards with tasks, and at the same time give recognition to the difficult art of task writing and reviewing. The community worked together to determine the necessary pieces of a good task, and formulated criteria for task reviews. As tasks were discussed, reviewed, edited, and revised expertise developed within the community, and The Illustrative Mathematics Project grew into its current form, Illustrative Mathematics. Illustrative Mathematics images a world where people know, use, and enjoy mathematics and we are collaborating together as a community to create that world.
Read More →NBC News Unveils Parent Toolkit
In an effort to aid parents understanding of the new Common Core State Standards, NBC News’ Education Nation team created an easily accessible parent toolkit to help parents participate in their children’s academic success and personal growth. This free resource is a one-stop-shop for parents as a website and mobile app, and includes:
Read More →Refining Educator Learning Through Effective Resources
By Joellen Killion, Senior Advisor, Learning Forward
As states and districts move toward full implementation of the Common Core Standards, developing educators’ understanding of the standards and building their capacity to revamp instruction to incorporate deeper and authentic application of learning is critical. Yet, despite educators’ call for professional learning, policy and decision makers repeatedly question the impact of professional learning and its ability to produce deep change in educator practice and student achievement. One reason for these questions is a commonly held misconception that all professional learning is equivalent in quality, regardless of its length, design, and alignment with educator and student outcomes.
Read More →Turnaround Offers RTT-D Blueprint for School Districts
By Pamela Cantor, M.D., President and CEO Turnaround for Children
Through the Race to the Top – District (RTT-D) competition, the federal government is again promoting and prioritizing efforts to accelerate student achievement through the development of personalized models of teaching and learning. To win, districts must present a clear vision and high-quality plan for establishing fortified learning environments equipped with strategies, practices, and supports to address the social, emotional, and academic needs of all children.
Read More →‘Sunny Days’ for Sesame Street as it extends its focus
In the last four years, there have been sunnier days for Sesame Street as it has extended its programing to include more scientific ideas and methods for children. An article in The New York Times, “Sesame Street Widens Its Focus,” by Elizabeth Jensen, explains that Sesame Street set a goal to introduce to its preschool audience a variety of concepts – such as math, science, and problem solving.
Read More →The State Role in Addressing Student Data Privacy Concerns
By Paige Kowalski, Director, State Policy and Advocacy, Data Quality Campaign
Like a house supported by its foundation, the success of nearly every education reform from measuring college and career readiness, to supporting great teaching, to turning around schools, and improving accountability systems, rests on a foundation of high-quality data. States have been working for over a decade to create their own state data systems to collect and use the education data needed to answer critical stakeholder questions.
However, along with the power of data comes the responsibility to protect student privacy and implement good data security and data governance. States are rising to the occasion by making important investments in new and updated privacy and security policies that supplement federal student privacy laws (FERPA). Oklahoma recently passed a bill delineating roles and responsibilities around the collection, sharing, and use of education data. And, Louisiana created a task force with the goal of better understanding data needs and available solutions to recommend state policy improvements to ensure student privacy. It is imperative that state policymakers act now to:
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