Bruce Baker writes about Checker Finn’s recent Fordham Institute editorial on “Why Private Schools are Dying Out.”

Walt Gardner furthers a previous discussion on the impact of Bill Gates' latest quest to videotape teachers' lessons. (Also read Part 1). Gardner has reservations about the proposal and offers caution to those who place too much hope in the latest education reform pushed by Bill Gates. Gardner's blog concludes with, "So what's the takeaway? It's tempting to assume that strategies helpful to practitioners in other fields will work in education. But this is not necessarily the case. Remember merit pay? It was supposed to motivate teachers to even greater effort. But experience has shown that has not happened. That's why I urge caution before placing too much hope in Gates's plan. Teaching is far more complex than non-teachers can possibly comprehend."

Morgan S. Polikoff, Assistant Professor in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, and Matthew Di Carlo discuss the need to progress cautiously with new teacher evaluation reforms.

Rachel Baye provides information on the proposed Nexus Academy of DC, which will attempt to teach non-tested subjects virtually or in a blended format.

Gary Rubinstein continues his discourse with Matt Barnum (Part 3). (See also Part 1 and Part 2). Matt is a TFA alum who is now in law school.  He has written several articles in various newspapers about the complexity of improving education. Also worthy of a read is Barnum's "It’s time for Teach For America to fold — former TFAer."

Ken Bernstein, (aka Teacherken) urges his readers (in search of understanding the 'real' challenges of education) to read a recent piece by Deborah Meier. Meier is currently engaged in a dialogue with Michael Petrilli of the Fordham Institute. You can read Meier's original piece here. Here is a link to Petrilli's response.

"Problem vs. Solution: A Response" by Deborah Meier.

Originally published at California Watch, Jacki Mader looks closely at teacher examinations for pre-service teachers. The discussion includes dialogue on PACT (Performance Assessment for California Teachers), taken at the end of a preparation program, and CalTPA (California Teaching Performance Assessment), taken at different times throughout teacher preparation programs. "In California, there is general consensus that the performance assessment, which encourages students to focus on how they would teach a variety of students, has at least created more thoughtful teachers, even if the research isn’t clear that the tests are improving the quality of the teaching force."

NEA Today spoke to author and scholar Byron E. Price, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and professor of public administration at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn, New York, and and co-editor of Prison Privatization: The Many Facets of a Controversial Industry.

June Kronholz explores the evolution of leadership at Teach For America (TFA) as Wendy Kopp hands over duties to Elisa Villanueva Beard and Matt Kramer. Kopp becomes TFA’s board chair and remains chief executive of Teach For All.

Gov. Jerry Brown [CA] on Tuesday proposed a revised budget that would send an extra $2.9 billion to California schools as part of his education funding overhaul, including $1 billion in one-time funding to help districts implement more rigorous academic standards.

Pasi Sahlberg, director general of Finland’s Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation and has served the Finnish government in various positions and worked for the World Bank in Washington D.C., debunks several myths about education competitiveness in America and highlights the key distinctions in Finland. Would Finnish teachers survive the American system?

Valerie Strauss tackles the question: What is the most important problem facing American children today? Poverty.

Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner discuss the 'opportunity gap' in American schools. Policymakers cheat our children when they seek out magic beans and silver bullets instead of the quieter but much more meaningful investments in the sort of deeply engaging teaching and learning that will produce vibrant, intellectually curious young people in all communities.

Gary Rubinstein writes about Geoffrey Canada's recent TED talk entitled ‘Our failing schools.  Enough is enough.’  Canada, president and CEO of The Harlem Children’s Zone and star of the film ‘Waiting For Superman,’ claims that his school graduates 100% of its students. Rubinstein digs into the data from HCZ and finds that graduation rates (as claimed by Canada) just don't add up when the data is dissected.

Joseph Stiglitz addresses the problem of soaring debt for American college students. "The crisis that is about to break out involves student debt and how we finance higher education. Like the housing crisis that preceded it, this crisis is intimately connected to America’s soaring inequality, and how, as Americans on the bottom rungs of the ladder strive to climb up, they are inevitably pulled down — some to a point even lower than where they began."

Stephanie Rivera, Rutgers student & a future teacher, addresses the term 'education reformer' and why she does not want to be labeled a 'reformer.' "Because unfortunately, the term education reformer–as I see it–has become synonymous to people and groups who want to dismantle public education and turn schools into a business. Which is a load of [bologna]." She cites groups like SFER (Students for Education Reform) and the Walton Foundation along with Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee for examples of people associated with the term.

Matt Di Carlo has reviewed a recently released brief by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). Di Carlo finds that the report is useful, but offers advice and caution in how salary schedules are interpreted and calculated.

Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, shares his thoughts on a documentary, The United States of ALEC, featuring Bill Moyers. Regarding ALEC's agenda and power, Van Roekel had this to say, "So the core of ALEC's education agenda is about vouchers and privatization. Of course, since educators have unions that resist vouchers and privatization, they will do anything in their power to weaken our unions and silence our voices."

Mike Petrilli, executive vice-president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, is the latest to exchange views with Deborah Meier on her Bridging Differences blog. Petrilli discusses a recent panel discussion on the "opportunity gap" with professors Sean Reardon and Prudence Carter.

You can read her response here.

Stephen Sawchuk updates his readers on the publicly available information regarding teacher evaluations.

Andrew Rotherham discusses recent comments made by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Weingarten has called for a moratorium on common core testing.

Michele McNeil discusses Indiana's shifting education climate and a bill passed by the state legislature to "pause" implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board offers their opinion on Gov. Scott Walker's plan to expand the school voucher program currently in place in Milwaukee.

"We [also] remain deeply skeptical of the move by the Legislature two years ago to open up the program to lower middle-income families. If there is any justification for the voucher schools, it's to give impoverished families a "choice." We have long supported choice for the poor and believe the program should be limited to those families. Republicans essentially are advocating a shadow school system. Why not work harder to adequately fund and hold accountable the system we have?"

The Great Lakes Center funded Think Twice reviews of the Milwaukee School Choice Program. For more information click here.

"Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card," co-authored by Bruce Baker (Rutgers), David Sciarra (Education Law Center), and Danielle Farrie (Education Law Center), received the Outstanding Policy Report Award from the Education Policy and Politics Division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The award was given at the association's annual meeting in San Francisco.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) issued a new report titled: Prevention of Bullying in Schools, Colleges, and Universities: Research Report and Recommendations. "The report results from the work of a blue-ribbon AERA task force mandated to prepare and present practical short-term and long-term recommendations to address bullying of children and youth."

Sara Neufeld discusses new evaluations in Chicago Public Schools. Will the new evaluations prove a valuable tool or simply another drain on educators’ already stretched time? *Also published in the Atlantic.

The Hechinger Report has been taking an in-depth look at efforts to improve teacher effectiveness, find more information here.

Lydia Lum shares remarks from a session, “A Dialogue with Deans of Education at HBCUs,”  on Historically Black Colleges and Universities at the annual American Education Research Association conference. 

Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, launched a new book "Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance." The book was co-edited with Stanford University Professor Prudence Carter. "The book’s authors explain how some schools and communities are currently addressing these inequities. And they also explain how those experiences could be the foundation for critically needed change in our educational system." Find more information on the NEPC website.

Stephanie Hirsh, Executive Director of Learning Forward, writes about shifting the dialogue on teacher evaluation and effectiveness. 

Stanley N. Katz, who teaches public and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton and is president of the American Council of Learned Societies, shares the expansion of new large foundations and their impact on public education policy.

Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), examines the extent to which teacher education has moved away from the rigors of specific training in favor of ambiguous personal and social goals that leave new teachers unprepared. Read the report, 21st-Century Teacher Education, Ed schools don't give teachers the tools they need.

Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst shares his recent thoughts on value added evaluations for teachers.

Nelson Smith prepared a review of the Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD), a state-level "turn around" school district for the Fordham Institute, a right-wing advocacy group which has promoted expansion of such districts. Similar plans have been implemented in both Michigan (Education Achievement Authority or EAA) and Louisiana (Recovery School District or RSD).

President Barack Obama honored 2013 Teacher of the Year Jeff Charbonneau and all the State Teachers of the Year at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, thanking them on behalf of the country for their tireless dedication.

Matthew Di Carlo shares recent research on NCLB and the shortcomings of accountability systems. He shares the findings of a paper, co-authored by Elizabeth Davidson, Randall Reback, Jonah Rockoff and Heather Schwartz, which was presented at an annual conference of The Association for Education Finance and Policy. Regarding accountability systems, he concludes, "when it comes to the design and implementation of these systems, details matter."

Tarsi Dunlop interviews Dr. Mandy Stewart, who is the winner of this year's PDK International Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award for her work on Latino/a immigrant students and literacy. Stewart's research focuses on out-of-school literacies to support the English Language Learning (ELL) population.

Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, offers commentary on twelve different approaches charter schools use to structure their student enrollment.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) will now require non-credentialed Teach For America (TFA) teachers and other intern teachers to receive more training in how to teach English learners and to get weekly on-the-job mentoring and supervision.

Julian Vasquez Heilig's most recent blog includes a top ten list of evidence from the 'choice' movement that money does matter.

Chris Andrews covers Michigan's path to the common core and attempts by the GOP to eliminate key requirements. This discussion is taking place nationally in states where lawmakers are pushing back against Common Core State Standards. The Michigan legislature is also considering removing key provisions of the Michigan Merit Curriculum.

Bruce Baker further discusses a report published by Ball State University on charter school spending gaps. His blog links to a study on charter school spending, funded in part by the Great Lakes Center and the Shanker Institute.

A new book out by Milbrey McLoughlin and Rebecca London looks at the Youth Data Archive, based at the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University. From the website: "This book is a welcome guide for educators, civic leaders, and researchers looking for ways to leverage data to identify the most effective policies, interventions, and use of resources for their communities." Read more about the book here.

John Spencer discusses why students should become teachers. "You will have impact in [sic] the lives of students. You will get a shot at being a relevant, authentic, profound voice. You will get to be the indie artist in the midst of mainstream pop. If you're up for that kind of gig, I say go for it. Even in broken systems, kids need good teachers."

Jal Mehta, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, looks at factors that professionalize teaching and the false debates in education reform. "The changes needed to professionalize American education won’t be easy. They will require money, political will and the audacity to imagine that teaching could be a profession on a par with fields like law and medicine. But failure to change will be more costly — we could look up in another 30 years and find ourselves, once again, no better off than we are today."

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)released a report taking an international perspective on evaluation and assessment. How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? Find a link to the report here.

[About the release] Andreas Schleicher, Advisor to the Secretary-General of the OECD on Education Policy and Deputy Director for Education and Skills, said: "At a time when schools need to assume more responsibility for managing their affairs and embrace more diverse student populations, building effective systems for evaluation and assessment has become absolutely critical for helping students learn better, teachers to teach better, and schools to work more effectively."

Sharon Robinson, President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), shares the thoughts of Alison Hilsabeck, dean of the National College of Education at National Louis University, in response to the question: "What do we know about teaching teachers?"

Bruce Baker breaks down the misapplication of the Gates MET Project by state education officials, specifically education officials in New Jersey who cited the MET project as evidence on the use of growth percentiles (SGPs). Baker also shares a link to a recent paper he co-authored, which outlines the teacher evaluation systems being adopted nationwide and questions the use of SGP.

Baker's blog includes the response of USC professor Morgan Polikoff, who worked on the MET project. Polikoff had this to say about VAM and SGP: "The MET results cannot speak to the differences between SGP and VAM measures, but there is both conceptual and empirical evidence that VAM measures that control for student background characteristics are more conceptually and empirically appropriate. For instance, SGP models are likely to result in teachers teaching the most disadvantaged students being rated the poorest. This may result in all kinds of negative unintended consequences, such as teachers avoiding teaching these kinds of students." Read more about SGP by Baker here.

Meredith Liu, a visiting fellow at Innosight Institute, discusses the impact online learning is having on teacher education programs.

Matthew Di Carlo takes apart a recent 'myth/fact' sheet produced by the advocacy group Students First, headed by Michelle Rhee. "In summary, the design and implementation of teacher evaluations is complicated, and there are few if any cut-and-dry conclusions that can be drawn at this point. Suggesting otherwise stifles desperately needed discussion, and it is by far the biggest myth of all."

Gary Rubinstein further discusses his trip to a KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) school. "It seems to me that the whole charter school movement, at which KIPP is at the forefront, has benefited the small percent of students who make it through the KIPP program — they have a lot of attrition — and also benefits ‘the adults’ like the teachers and the administrators there, but that benefit has come at a much much larger cost, the destruction of neighborhood schools and displacement of unwanted students."

Tim Walker covers a recent panel discussion hosted at the Center for American Progress. The panel discussion was on recruiting the next generation of 'smart' teachers.

Andrew Ho, HarvardX research director, shared his thoughts with the Harvard Gazette about a new report published last week. The study found that interspersing online lectures with short tests improved student performance. Read the full interview with Ho here.

Robert G. Smith, a former superintendent of the Arlington (VA) Public Schools and an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, investigates recent findings about teacher induction.

Ken Bernstein shares the thoughts of Paul Horton, who teaches history at the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago. Bernstein says this, "I think what Horton says is worth our attention as we consider how we should shape educational policy."

Bernstein has two more worthy reads this week, highlighting the work of Bill Ayers and Eugene Robinson (Note: Robinson's work is also listed as a Worth A Read). Bernstein, also known as teacherken, is a retired social studies teacher and a voracious reader of education related work.

Jeff Bryant discusses contradictions that limit the development of quality charter schools and the overall "reform" movement in schools. Bryant shares his thoughts on the struggle to create more charter schools and, at the same time, protect the quality of public schools. Can charter schools expand exponentially and maintain high-quality options for parents?

Andrew Rotherham has a similar post (on contradictions in education policy) over at Eduwonk.com, Washington Post Op-Ed Page Previews The Future?

Meanwhile, Katie Ash at Education Week's Charters and Choice blog shares details of Mississippi's new charter legislation. Mississippi, which currently has no charters, is proposing reasonable limitations on charter school growth. Something for other states to replicate?

Deborah Meier begins another Bridging Differences dialogue, this time with Elliott Witney a former KIPP educator. Meier shares her experience visiting a KIPP school and how her opinions on schools vary from the model she saw. You can read Witney's response here.

USA Today published an Op-Ed on KIPP schools this week. Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, shared his findings on KIPP schools: Charter schools possess no magic formula: Opposing view. You can also read the USAToday opinion here -Charter school experiment a success: Our view.

Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Eugene Robinson opines about the cheating scandal that has enveloped the Atlanta Public Schools. Former superintendent Beverly Hall, once lauded as "National Superintendent of the Year," and a host of district officials and teachers have been indicted on racketeering charges in an alleged cheating scandal. Robinson cautions against creating situations like the one created in Atlanta, where officials pressured district employees to alter tests.

Worthy of a read, Washington Post education blogger Valerie Strauss has also commented on the Atlanta scandal: Atlanta's former schools chief charged law used against Mafia.

She has this to say: "Reformers keep pushing their bankrupt test-based accountability system — with help from two presidents — despite overwhelming evidence that it has failed to improve schools and made a mess of school districts and communities. The saddest thing: There’s no end in sight."

Larry Cuban shares his new book, Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice. You can find more information about the book over at Harvard Education Press.

Emily Richmond, Education Writers Association, covers the looming prospects of state takeovers in Maryland and Ohio.

John Wilson addresses the growing debate over the issue of Common Core State Standards. Wilson discusses the “mixed” bag of state standards that exist, and background for the implementation of the standards. He concludes, “Debate on the Common Core Standards should be encouraged, but that debate, however heated, should never cause us to give up on state-shared standards and the larger goal of having states work together to do things more efficiently and effectively.”

Julian Vasquez Heilig finds it ironic that American ‘reformers’ often cite Finland as an example of what the U.S. education system should strive to replicate. In his blog, he cites an article in the Atlantic from 2011. From the article, Heilig points out that Finland has no private schools, that they don't have the quantity of standardized tests we do, that teacher quality is nurtured and respected, that nearly 100% of the teachers are unionized, and that the Finns promote cooperation over competition and equity over choice.

Also read: What Americans Keep Ignoring about Finland's School Success

Sam Rubin, a 19-year-old high school graduate with autism, discusses his difficulties with testing. Rubin's experiences have led him to work as a singer, actor, filmmaker and author. He created a film called "The Math Test," which won three awards. You can watch his public service announcement on YouTube here.

Joe Mazza, principal of a highly-diverse K-6 school outside Philadelphia, is leading a group of doctoral students from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate school of Education on a tour of Finland. Mazza's blog post, highlighted here, focuses on the role of pre-service teachers and the supports recognized as necessary by Finnish educators. “New teacher preparation is absolutely vital to the future of education in any country. We must constantly be in search of innovative ways to provide as much support to these students as possible. I’m certainly interested in exploring this model further, and feel it might offer a deeper level of ongoing support to pre-service teachers.”

Anne O'Brien, deputy director of the Learning First Alliance, profiles Ryan Imbriale, principal of Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts in Baltimore. Imbriale shares his thoughts on how school leaders can promote digital learning.

Jeff Bryant investigates the struggle in Chicago over public schools and the ongoing fight over school closings. Bryant suggests that Mayor Rahm Emanuel's attempt to close schools breaks away from the Democratic Party's past. “Once upon a time, the Democratic Party had this reputation for promoting policies that were supportive of educating African American children. It was left-leaning factions of the Democratic Party that led efforts to desegregate schools, use Title I funds to ensure some equity of funding for schools that poor kids attend, and push for the rights of teachers working in those schools to have some say in ensuring school children were well served.”

In his final blog post with Deborah Meier, Eric Hanushek tackles the issue of teacher pay and pay differentiation. “It is simply politically difficult to pay appropriately large salaries to ensure that there are effective teachers or teachers in shortage areas such as math and science if the same higher pay has to go to ineffective teachers or teachers in surplus areas such as elementary school teaching.”

Rick Hess shares his recent discussions on professional development. "Perhaps the most damning indictment of PD is the fact that even teachers themselves regard it with contempt."  Hess also discusses his recent book, Cage-Busing Leadership.

Sarah Sparks shares recent analysis by the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy. The analysis is of recentTIMSS and PIRLS Scores.

Gary Rubinstein addresses a series of videos from an organization called RESET in Minnesota. TFA (Teach For America) is a partner with RESET.

Rubinstein concludes, "The main takeaway I got from these videos is that the RESET people don’t really have any special knowledge about how kids learn which would enable them to, as TFA says, change life trajectories, through just higher expectations and ‘effective’ teaching.  By implying that ‘other’ schools don’t also do the very basic things they describe, it fuels the idea that regular teachers are a bunch of morons."

Walt Gardner addresses the issue of accountability in schools and the role of student accountability. He begins with an investigation into the obsession that 'reformers' have for teachers.

Jeff Bryant shares his thoughts on progressives and their views on education policy. "People calling themselves “progressives” have tended to unite with conservative Republicans in this consensus – even while they chose to fight tooth-and-nail on other issues."

The Shanker Blog shares a recent piece by Stephen Lazar, a teacher at Harvest Collegiate High School in New York. Lazaraddresses the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the issues that local school districts face in implementing the Common Core. "All teachers working in Common Core states are currently engaging with the changes demanded by the Common Core. In too many places, this is happening without sufficient time and supports, but it is happening very quickly nonetheless." Lazar's thoughts are also available on the Answer Sheet blog.

Cheryl Williams discusses the Learning First Alliance (LFA) and their current project to gather data on public attitudes and perceptions of public education. Williams concludes, "So, as we commit to attracting the best young people to become educators, let’s not forget that academic rigor and love of learning are important, but just as important is the ability to communicate effectively that caring."

In a recent report, Linda Darling-Hammond and Frank Adamson investigate the resources that are currently spent on student testing, which (in their findings) could support much higher quality assessments, including performance tasks that include critical thinking and problem solving skills – as called for by the Common Core and other 21st century learning goals.

Barnett Barry (#ISTP2013 Travel Log: Teaching at a Crossroads) discusses the International Summit on the Teaching Profession. Specifically he responds to a piece by Michael Usdan and Art Wise about the teaching profession.

Usdan and Wise call for a merger of AFT and NEA, the two teachers unions in the United States. "Teachers' unions are at a crossroads in their history. Would a merger of the NEA and the AFT strengthen the profession?"

Julian Vasquez Heilig covers a recent article by Linda Darling-Hammond and the public discourse on "zip code should not determine destiny" memes. According to Heilig, "The reasoning is — if we ignore the giraffe driving down the highway (poverty), it won’t exist or matter. The challenge with treating the symptoms of a disease rather than the causes, is that the outcomes remain inconsistent."

You should also read Darling-Hammond's piece, Teachers Make Handy Scapegoats, But Spiraling Inequality Is Really What Ails Our Education System.

Andreas Schleicher, Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), discusses a recent report and education summit of education ministers and union leaders from the world's top performing education systems on teacher appraisal and evaluation. Read Teachers for the 21st Century Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching on the OECDwebsite.

Michael Kirst, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University; President, California State Board of Education, discusses the full implementation of Common Core. You can read the accompanying report and watch his video.

Eric Hanushek, Deborah Meier's latest sparring partner, looks at testing and offers his thoughts. Hanushek envisions building massive test banks, publicly available, to help alleviate problems associated with test-based accountability.

Anthony Jackson, vice president for education at the Asia Society in New York, offers commentary on school quality and equity. His commentary is taken from Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools.

Matthew Di Carlo offers a smart look at a recent Mathematica report on KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter schools.

Julie Mack shares recent findings on the Kalamazoo Promise. The Kalamazoo Promise is a pledge by a group of anonymous donors to pay up to 100 percent of tuition at any of Michigan's state colleges or universities for graduates of the public high schools of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Seven years later, Kalamazoo is beginning to move the needle on student achievement, based on an in-depth analysis of test scores and graduation data. Click to find more information about the Kalamazoo Promise and Kalamazoo Public Schools.

Stan Karp, director of the Secondary Reform Project for New Jersey’s Education Law Center and an editor of Rethinking Schools magazine, discusses the history of charter schools, the current reality, and the future of charter schools in America.

Stephen Sawchuk looks at California's credentialing board and their plans to change the rules governing intern teachers - alternative certificate teachers. The changes involve the way interns are trained on how to teach English-language learners (ELL).

Tim Walker shares the recent results of a study produced by the National Education Policy center with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. "Richard Milner of Vanderbilt University points out, certain so-called education “reforms” that enjoy a good deal of public support, not to mention sycophantic media coverage, are doing exactly the opposite – de-professionalizing the teaching profession." You can read the full report on the Great Lakes Center website www.greatlakescenter.org.

Valerie Strauss suggests to her readers, "Take six minutes and 12 seconds to watch this. Jon Stewart continues to be the best critic of silly education thinking with this “Daily Show” piece about the stupidity of some of the criticism of the idea of government support for high-quality preschool for all kids, an idea President Obama advanced in his State of the Union speech." You can watch the clip via The Answer Sheet Blog.

Shane Lopez, co-director of the PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools has a new book out, Making Hope Happen. Lopez reveals the results of revolutionary research on the psychology of hope. In addition to providing a guide for mobilizing the energy and power of hope, he also tells the inspiring stories of real people — parents, educators, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders — who create hope and who transformed their own lives and changed their schools, workplaces, and communities.

Linda Jacobson discusses recent research on frequent school transitions and student mobility. Mobility has been associated with "higher rates of high school dropout." The article points to transitions employed by the U.S. military, where families move frequently.

Sarah Sparks writes about a recent paper on teacher effectiveness. A working paper by a team of resarchers suggests the most-and least- effective elementary teachers can be identified early in their careers. Read the working paper here.

Gary Rubinstein discusses Wendy Kopp's replacements at Teach For America (TFA) - the new co-CEOs will be Matt Kramer and Elisa Villanueva-Beard. "I hope that the new CEOs do a good job with TFA and that they make some changes that make me want to wear a TFA T-shirt again.  I’m not going to sit by the phone waiting for them to call me for advice, but if they do, I’ll be happy to offer it."

Katie Ash writes about Alabama's new effort to push forward with a "school flexibility" bill. The bill allows parents of students in failing schools to receive a tax break of up to 80 percent of the per-pupil cost of education to be applied to private school tuition. The Alabama affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers has called the bill "a direct assault on public schools."

Julian Vasquez Heilig shares an excerpt from Jeff Bryant's piece, which originally appeared on the Education Opportunity Network.

Nancy Flanagan shares her thoughts on education problems in Detroit and the global implications of reform. This is the third in a series about Detroit, we recommend reading all three (part 1 and part 2).

Flanagan concludes: "Detroit matters to the entire nation. If we can't solve problems with flagship businesses like the auto industry, or the problem of educating kids in deep poverty, we're in trouble. If the gap between haves and have-nots continues to increase, we're in danger. If we haven't gotten past old "us vs. them" human divisions, we haven't moved into the 21st century. And if more states decide that abolishing democracy is the best solution to our economic woes, we all lose. Big-time."

Gary Rubinstein shares his thoughts on a visit at a KIPP high school in NYC. This is his second blog on the topic. This one focuses on his visit to special education classes.

Jose Vilson takes a look at the recent MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Challenges for Student Leadership. Vilson discusses an improved school culture, among other things that can promote teacher leadership.

Catherine Gewertz writes about a study by the EPE Research Center that found teachers are feeling the pressure of newly created Common Core State Standards. "More than two-thirds said they were not well enough prepared to teach the standards to English-language learners or students with disabilities. More than half said they were not yet ready to teach them to low-income students or those considered at risk of academic failure."

Bruce Baker shares his thoughts on the latest CREDO study, this one on New York City. Previous studies have been released on Indiana, New Jersey, and Michigan (by CREDO, at Stanford).

Baker concludes: "As I noted in a previous post, it’s time to get beyond these charter vs. district school pissing match studies and seek greater precision in our comparisons and deeper understanding of “what works” and what is and isn’t scalable."

Barnett Berry discusses the recent MetLife study and the emerging role of hybrid teachers or teacherpreneurs (teacher leaders who work part-time in a dual role). Says Berry, The latest poll has found that 23 percent of America’s teachers—or about 700,000 of them—are “extremely” or “very interested” in serving in a hybrid role as a teacher and leader. (And about half are at least “somewhat interested” in such an assignment.)

Susan Ohanian deconstructs the Common Core State Standards and a national movement of parents opting their children out of standardized testing.

Jeff Bryant shares the results of a report issued by an independent commission chartered by Congress to advise the US Department of Education. The report concludes: "the federal government must take more seriously its profoundly important responsibility."

Also read more about the report: "For Each and Every Child: A Strategy For Education Equity and Excellence," over at Education Week ~ "Federal Commission Urges Bold Steps to Boost Education Equity," by Michelle McNeil. According to McNeil, "The report hangs its hat on many ideas, however, that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives oppose—such as new programs and protected funding streams for at-risk populations. So it's unclear just how much traction these ideas would have."

David Cohen, InterACT, discusses the evolving role of teacher leadership in school improvement. "The change that I’m most excited about is the potential for a shift towards teacher leadership in schools and school systems. I’m not naive enough to believe it will be a linear or rapid shift, but I’m confident in the long-term growth of teacher leadership because it provides a common ground for stakeholders to achieve their goals, because it’s replicable and scalable, and because it’s working already."

Jeff Bryant addresses the topic of early childhood education and responds to President Obama's State of the Union speech. Bryant picks up on President Obama's call for us to "do better." Among the items discussed: Sandy Hook Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Yes, “we can do better.”

Education Rethink's Chad Segersten makes the case for creativity as an essential literacy for education.

Aaron Pallas discusses the stalemate that resulted from negotiations between NYC school teachers and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Department of Education. "Neither side is likely to agree to an evaluation system that gives the other party too much control over who gets fired. Perhaps the current standoff wouldn’t be intractable if the two sides could at least agree on some bounds for the number of teachers who will be judged “ineffective” and subject to termination. But what’s the magic number?"

The CAEP Commission on Standards and Performance Reporting released for public comment its draft recommendations for the next generation of accreditation standards for educator preparation. Comments will be accepted at http://standards.caepnet.org February 22– March 29, 2013.

Read more about the report over at Education Week by Stephen Sawchuk: Overhaul of Teacher-Prep Standards Targets Recruitment, Performance.

Jeff Selingo writes about President Obama's State of the Union address - and suggests that the president discuss the purpose of our higher-education system.

Janet Bagnall investigates the issue of teacher retention in this recent post from the Montreal Gazette. “Across North America, nearly half of all new teachers leave the field within five years,” said Jon G. Bradley, associate professor of education at McGill University.

Matthew Di Carlo writes about a recent presentation that Jeb Bush gave at an event in Virginia. Di Carlo finds some of the data presented to be misleading.

David Cohen discusses recent and upcoming teaching conferences being sponsored by the California Teachers Association (CTA). Cohen writes about CTA, "talking and working with teachers dedicated to improving our profession, and seeing our union as instrumental to that improvement."

Eric Hanushek writes about the need to dramatically reform teacher compensation.  "The only way that efficiency will be significantly improved is by strengthening the relationship between salaries and performance. Currently, we dramatically underpay our best teachers while dramatically overpaying our worst. Efficient policies imply paying significantly more to the best teachers—not just giving small, temporary bonuses for student achievement—to keep them in the classroom longer." Originally published in Education Week, Vol. 32, Issue 20, Pages 28-29, 31.

Barnett Berry, Center for Teaching Quality, discusses a recent Ed Week article by Stephen Sawchuk on the new wave of teacher evaluation systems. Berry discusses some historical research on teacher evaluation systems and recent attempts to create fair and reliable ratings systems. Berry argues that there needs to be a larger discussion about teaching conditions: "What none of these analyses suggest is how teaching conditions must change before we can design and implement a valid and reliable evaluation system."

Teach For America (TFA) alum Emma Lind offers her thoughts on the mission of Teach for America. Lind is a public charter high school teacher in Brooklyn; completing her fourth year of teaching (she was previously a 2009 Teach For America Mississippi Delta Corps Member). Lind writes about the disconnect between what TFA reports as their successes and the real results, which paints a picture of mixed results. The study she discusses is "Teach For America: A Review of the Evidence" by Julian Vasquez Heilig and Su Jin Jez, which was funded by the Great Lakes Center in 2010.

Lind says: "There is some limited statistical evidence that TFA can be at least marginally impactful. But so few TFA teachers stay in the classroom beyond three years (more than 50 percent leave after two years and more than 80 percent leave after three), that the potential positive impact of TFA is rarely felt by the people who matter most—the students."

You can read the full study by Heilig and Jez here.

Motoko Rich writes about a recent Senate education committee hearing on ESEA reauthorization and federal waivers for NCLB.

David Kirp writes, "What would it really take to give students a first-rate education?" Kirp discusses Union City, N.J. in this opinion piece from the New York Times.

Kate Ash discusses a recent statement by the Center for Education Reform about a recent Stanford CREDO (Center for Research on Education Outcomes) study. The Stanford study found that charter schools' academic success or failure during their first year of operation is a strong indicator of how they will perform in subsequent years.

Jeff Bryant discusses the marketing behind Michelle Rhee's recent skip through our media markets. Bryant chastises "journalists" who accept marketing hype and attempt to sell it as "journalism." He concludes, "One day, there will be a popular awakening to the big lies being sold to us about our nation’s public schools and the education policies being implemented in them. That will be a news event truly worth taking on tour."

Philip Elliot covers a recent Center for American Progress proposal, which provides a road map for how the Obama administration could move forward with pre-kindergarten programs for all 3- and 4-year-olds. *Early education play a prominent role in the President's State of the Union.

Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman take on the issue of standardized testing in this recent New York Times Magazine story.

Anthony Cody shares his thoughts on the Common Core State Standards and the opposition to those standards. Cody discusses the opposition as it crosses all sides of the political spectrum.

Stephen Sawchuk writes about a new review from the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) on the Measures of Effective Teaching project. This review was funded by the Great Lakes Center as part of the Think Twice think tank review project.

In this New York Times editorial, the Times calls for greater charter school accountability - in response to a recent report from CREDO. 

You can read Anthony Cody's response here.

Jeff Bryant, Campaign for America’s Future, provides a review of the week that was in education reform. "Events this week revealed how market-driven education policies, deceivingly labeled as “reform,” are revealing their truly destructive effects on the streets and in the corridors of government."

Diane Ravitch writes for the NY Review of Books on the problems with 'Race to the Top' and other federal education policies that demand teachers be judged by students' standardized test scores.

Anne Foster, executive director of Parents for Public Schools, advocates for parents and community members to support and become engaged education partners. "Schools and parents can build powerful alliances that improve results for schools and students."

Kevin Drum discusses a recent education reform controversy, where San Jose (California) acknowledged that the district overstated its accomplishments. "It turns out it was all a crock."

Over at the Shanker Blog, Matthew Di Carlo follows up with his response here.

Anthony Cody discusses "School Choice Week" in his latest blog. "Advocates of public funding for private, parochial and charter schools have declared this week School Choice Week." 

He poses a final question: "What do you think? Is school choice "serving strivers" and ditching the rest? Is there a better way?"

Marc Tucker discusses the federal role in K-12 education. "It's time to have a conversation about the issue before we find that the executive branch, or even the entire federal government, has become our national school board." Tucker is president and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy.

John Thompson discusses the Gates Foundation's Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) research and the reverse methodology of passing laws regarding teacher evaluations before the findings of this massive project.He poses some intriguing questions: "Why would we have gambled so recklessly on value-added evaluations before thinking through their policy implications? Wouldn't it have been nice to read an analysis of the MET research that did not have to be shoe-horned into predetermined conclusions?"

Andy Smarick discusses the political realities of implementing the Common Core State Standards. He cites several issues that will give us clues on the success of the standards: rising costs, complicated evaluation systems, falling test scores (fall off a cliff), and the overall "new reality" of the CCSS. More importantly, he questions the political viability of the standards as leadership in state offices change.

Fredrick Brown, director of strategy for Learning Forward, discusses the importance of principal leadership and school conditions.

Whiteboard Advisors released their findings from the January Education Insider survey. Take a look at the full survey here.

Matthew DiCarlo discusses a recent paper by Joshua Cowen and Marcus Winters that looks at teacher turnover in Florida, which attempts to look into comparable data between charters and traditional public schools. DiCarlo concludes: "We’ll see whether the findings discussed above are corroborated by future work using data from other charter markets (particularly those in which charters perform well). In the meantime, they might serve as yet another reminder that much of the received wisdom – on all 'sides' of the education debate – consists of still-unanswered empirical questions, and that it’s usually wise to keep an open mind no matter how certain you might feel."

A new report from the Department of Education shows that high school graduation rates are at their highest levels since 1974. This blog discusses the findings.

On the heels of a new report from the Center for Michigan, Nancy Derringer (Bridge Magazine is published by the Center for Michigan) looks at teacher evaluation developments in Michigan. She discusses the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness and the need to establish "a fair, transparent, and feasible evaluation system for teachers and school administrators."

In another Teaching 2.0 report from AEI, Timothy Knowles investigates new career pathways for teachers, and opportunities for innovation. "If we are serious about significantly improving academic outcomes for children in America, teaching must focus on student learning, and schools must offer teachers opportunities to teach, lead, and innovate throughout their careers. Taking pragmatic steps at each stage of the pipeline and leveraging existing resources can help us get there."

Kim Farris-Berg, a Senior Associate with Education Evolving, writes this guest post for the Eduwonk Blog. Farris shares ideas from her new book, Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots. "Teachers could be the social entrepreneurs we need for K-12.  So why not open the opportunity for interested teachers to show us how they would run schools?"

Rick Hess takes a detailed look at the Measures of Effective Teaching project from the Gates Foundation.

Read his conclusion: "MET has made an enormously valuable contribution. Even when the results are mundane, they're useful. After all, the finding that nothing predicts value-added scores nearly as well as value-added scores shouldn't unduly surprise, nor should the sparse evidence on the value of observational protocols (much like professional development, I think observation has long been more impressive in concept than practice.) But, more than anything, I hope that we resist the temptation to narrow our conception of good teaching to a handful of things we can conveniently measure, and instead make smart use of the MET findings while also seeking ways to more robustly gauge teacher performance."

Andy Smarick writes about the winners and losers in the Gates funded MET Project. This piece was originally posted on the Fordham Institute's Flypaper blog. According to Smarick, "POTENTIAL BIGGEST WINNER: Whoever uses these findings to figure out how to identify potentially great teachers and how to train teachers to become superb."

Gene Glass writes about the Gates Foundation report from the MET Project. "Any attempt to evaluate teachers that is spoken of repeatedly as being 'scientific' is naturally going to provoke rebuttals that verge on technical geek-speak. The MET Project's "Ensuring Fair and Reliable Measures of Effective Teaching" brief does just that." Read more.

In a new EPI report, What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance?, Martin Carnoy and Richard Rothstein disaggregate international student test scores by social class and show that "the commonplace condemnation of U.S. student performance on such tests is misleading, exaggerated, and in many cases, based on misinterpretation of the facts." According to Carnoy and Rothstein, "ours is the first study of which we are aware to compare the performance of socioeconomically similar students across nations."

Francesca Duffy summarizes the recently released Gallup Student Poll. The poll showed: "A majority of elementary school students—almost eight in 10—qualify as engaged, the poll found. By middle school, however, that number drops to six in 10 students. And when students enter high school, it drops to four in 10." The poll surveyed approximately 500,000 students from 37 states in over 1,700 public schools in 2012. Find the full results from the poll here.

Eric Klinenberg and Caitlin Zaloom, both of New York University, write about the need to recruit, retain, and mentor America's teachers. "New teachers face high-pressure demands, with little support, such that more than half leave the profession within the first five years. These teachers need to see opportunities for career advancement, better compensation, and meaningful evaluation and professional development."

Mike Klonsky summarizes Richard Kahlenberg's "provacative" in American Educator (Winter 2013).  American Educator is a publication of the American Federation of Teachers. "Kahlenberg takes on those who exaggerate the effect of "high-flying, high-poverty schools" or those [like Michelle Rhee--m.k.], who consider poverty to be mainly an 'excuse' made by bad teachers who fail to produce high standardized test score results in poor, segregated schools."

Tom Loveless attempts to break down the key differences between international tests. "The scores dispelled the myth that all international tests are the same. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) are quite different. TIMSS is curriculum-based, reflecting the skills and knowledge taught in schools. PISA assesses whether students can apply what they’ve learned to solve “real world” problems. PISA tests an age-based sample (15 year olds)."

Julian Vasquez Heilig looks into the research behind school vouchers in his recent blog. "Student voucher advocates promised that school vouchers would boost academic achievement for the economically disadvantaged and students of color. Yet, voucher proponents rarely cite independent, peer-reviewed, and scientific research purporting increased academic achievement from school vouchers. However, according to Ravitch (2011), studies of voucher programs in Washington, DC, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and other areas demonstrate that vouchers have negligible effects on student academic achievement. Simply put, school vouchers fail to deliver on improving student achievement significantly or consistently for targeted students who made the choice to move from public to private schools."

Andrew Rotherham, www.eduwonk.com, discusses an article published in the Washington Post by Emma Brown on charter school expulsion rates in D.C. D.C. charter schools expelled 676 students in the past three years, while the city’s traditional public schools expelled 24, according to a Washington Post review of school data.

Cheryl Williams, Executive Director Learning First Alliance (LFA), writes about changing the dialogue of school 'reform' - a term she described as being 'hijacked.' She shares her organization's mission for 2013: "This year the Learning First Alliance is launching a messaging campaign to frame the conversation about our public schools in a way that reaffirms the importance of the publicly-funded universal education opportunity and highlights work underway and strategies for working together to implement change. Our work is based on the core value statement: Strengthening our public schools is the best way to ensure our children's future success and our country's prosperity. Our key messages are: All children have the right to a public education that prepares them for college, careers and citizenship; Quality public schools build the knowledge and skills young people need to succeed in a global knowledge-based world; Communities are stronger and schools are better when we all work together to support public education."

The Learning First Alliance is a partnership of 16 education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools. We share examples of success, encourage collaboration at every level, and work toward the continual and long-term improvement of public education based on solid research.

Adam Bessie responds to a recent PBS NewsHour report by John Merrow. John Merrow is currently Education Correspondent for PBS NewsHour and President of Learning Matters. Merrow argues, in this recent piece, that public education needs to find its 'Model T' - a mass-produced, cost-effective education system. Bessie counters that schools are already being forced to conform to factory-like standards because of the Global Education Reform Movement (G.E.R.M). "Mass-production is a problem for education  – indeed, it is now the problem."

Adam Bessie is a community college English professor, essayist (Truthout, Project Censored), parent, and co-author comix ed reform report: http://bit.ly/edrefcomicorder

Who should pick school board members – mayors or voters? The new education "reform" fight is over who chooses school boards: the mayor or the people. Josh Eidelson writes about an effort in Bridgeport, Conn. to retain control of the school district by a locally elected school board.

Josh Eidelson covers labor as a contributing writer at The Nation, Salon and In These Times.

Walt Gardner, in response to a New Yorker piece on homework, urges for a common ground on what schools should look like. "Public schools have a vital role to play in the new world economy. Yet they won't improve unless we can first agree on what they should look like."

The Hechinger Report shares 13 of their top stories from the past year. "These stories provide insight into some of the most staggering problems facing U.S. public education today, and look at promising strategies for solving them."

Paul Thomas, a professor at Furman University, writes about the need to be skeptical - "the need to be skeptical about media and political analyses of data, the danger of assigning causation to any data without careful analysis, and the essentially distorting effect of large data points that blur the nuance of more detailed data." Missing from the education reform debate is caution for news that is too good to be true, and blame for "failures."

Education writer Chastity Pratt Dawsey tackles the growing percentage of students with disabilities in Detroit's public schools. Combined with declining enrollment and charter school skimming, Detroit now has more than 9,000 (roughly 18%) students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). "The higher proportion of special-education students has led to shortages in some services and reassignments of students to larger classes, some parents said. Special-education regulations and many students' IEPs require low ratios of students to teachers. Severely disabled students require an aide to accompany them all day."

Jack Jennings, former president Center for Education Policy, writes about the flaws of using value added for teacher evaluation. Jennings argues that there is a "gap" between what the research shows and how policy is being implemented. "We have ignored the advice to mind the gap for too long. The way we educate our children and treat our teachers should be based on facts, not on impulses."

Libby Nelson highlights a recent study by Robert Kelchen and Sara Goldrick-Rab of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which found that guaranteeing a Pell Grant to students who qualify for free school lunch in the eighth grade could increase retention rates in college. Guaranteeing Pell Grants to all students receiving free lunch in the eighth grade would increase the cost of the program (apprx. 4%) to $1.5 billion - "but the researchers argued that the economic benefits of more college graduates would outweigh the costs."

Read the study here.

Matthew Di Carlo addresses The New Teacher Project's (TNTP) report (The Irreplaceables) on teacher effectiveness. Using teacher data reports from New York City, DiCarlo points out the diffculty in using VAM (value-added).

Tarsi Dunlop discusses the power of collaboration as the "best kept secret in education reform." She concludes, "As education professionals well know, collaboration and stakeholder involvement are key components for any attempts to reform.  However, even beyond the context, and the process, a greater cultural shift must happen across the country.  Teachers need to be more comfortable with observation, and evaluators must commit to using the data first for professional development and improving student learning – removing teachers from classrooms is a last resort. Reform, when done with input and buy-in from an entire community, means that everyone has ownership in the effort to change. Success and failure rests upon everyone’s shoulders, a reality that the Studyville story highlights to great effect."

Tarsi Dunlop is the Program and Operations Manager for the Learning First Alliance, a partnership of 16 leading education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools. We share examples of success, encourage collaboration at every level, and work toward the continual and long-term improvement of public education based on solid research.

Jackie Zubrycki writes about a new research paper by Jason Grissom (Vanderbilt) and Demetra Kolgrides and Susanna Loeb (Stanford) which examines several possible methods of using test scores to evaluate principals.

Read the report here.

Jay Matthews writes about Virginia's attempt to increase the rigor of math tests. Matthews addresses the concerns of a Virgina teacher who worries about non-college bound students. "What of those who looked forward to staying close to home in jobs such as carpentry or cosmetology that couldn’t be exported to Bangalore?"

The authors (William Howell, Martin West, and Paul E. Peterson) respond to the sixth-annual Education Next-PEPG Survey.

You can read the full survey here.

Matthew Di Carlo discusses and responds to a recent Washington Post article (by Jay Matthews) on two important teacher surveys. In response to the Education Sector survey of U.S. teachers, Di Carlo had this to say: "This is a valuable resource. Like other teacher surveys, it shows that educators’ attitudes toward education policy are diverse." As with other surveys, there seems to be a split between younger and older teachers. Read the rest of his response here.

Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, writes about school choice. Welner recently co-edited "Exploring the School Choice Universe: Evidence and Recommendations" which was based on research funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. In this Huffington Post piece, Welner writes "There can be a true value in parental choice -- matching, for example, a child's interests with the focus of a school. But in making policy we shouldn't assume school choice has some magical power."

Checker Finn reviews a recent book by Bill Schmidt (Michigan State University) and Curtis McKnight (University of Oklahoma). Finn calls the work, "a distinctive, deeply researched, and amply documented plea for full-scale implementation of the Common Core math standards. The authors reach that destination after taking readers on a fascinating curricular journey." Originally published on the Fordham Institute's Flypaper blog.

Stephanie Simon writes about a new push from states to "free" students from the "burdens" of traditional public schools. Louisiana, Utah, and Michigan all have plans to "unbundle" education funding and revolutionize public schools. The ultimate choice program. Anywhere, anytime.

A recent article over at Huffington Post highlighted a new study published by Richard Ingersoll and Lisa Merrill of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education. The report identifies seven major trends and changes shaping the teaching profession. Data was collected from six cycles of the Schools and Staffing Survey and the Teacher Follow-Up Survey.

Bruce Baker follows up on recent posts to further criticize consultants to the State of New York on the misuse of data in the New York State Teacher Evaluation System.

On his Eduwonk Blog, Andy Rotherham discusses a recent proposal by AFT president Randi Weingarten to create a "bar exam" for teachers, supported by the National Board certification process.

Also Worth a Read: Checker Finn's Bar Exam for Teachers? and Lyndsey Layton's Union proposes 'bar exam' for teachers.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) released a report on the “underutilization crisis” in the Chicago Public Schools system, a crisis that has been manufactured largely to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools by privatized charters. The study, titled The Black and White of Education in Chicago’s Public Schools, analyzes the mechanisms and effects of CPS schemes that masquerade as educational policy.

In this EdMedia Commons post, Glen Baity shares resources from a one-day seminar for journalists on the topic of teacher training. EdMedia Commons is a product of the Education Writers Association.

Jackie Mader addresses the changing face of teacher evaluations in the United States. At least 30 states are launching new systems to evaluate teachers using more rigorous criteria about what makes a good teacher, but so far there is little consensus on what the criteria should be. The Hechinger Report is a nonprofit news organization that is focused on producing in-depth education journalism.

Douglas N. Harris, associate professor of economics and University Endowed Chair in Public Education at Tulane University in New Orleans, shares work from his book, Value-Added Measures in Education. It provides an excellent, accessible review of the technical and practical issues surrounding these models. This was originally printed in the Washington Post.

Originally published in the Journal of African American Males in Education by Richard Reddick and Julian Vasquez Heilig (both of the University of Texas at Austin), this article focuses on the state of African American males in the Central Southwestern region of the United States, regarding population distribution, education, and incarceration rates. The authors propose mentoring as one potential intervention to address the generally negative educational and correctional trends for African American males. Read more about it on Heilig's blog here.

Eric Hanushek discusses his new study that measures how much principals contribute to student achievement. His study, “School Leaders Matter,” was co-authored with Gregory F. Branch and Steven G. Rivkin.

Matthew DiCarlo discusses absolute performance ratings of schools. "My point, accordingly, is to suggest that we stop trying to reduce schools to a single grade. Insofar as different people make different decisions with the data, it seems poor practice to risk cloaking the individual measures in one aggregate rating that cannot possibly serve well in diverse contexts (if any at all)."

Andy Smarick discusses the new contract and reforms in Newark, New Jersey. He suggests "If the district fails now, we must eliminate it." Smarick is the author of "The Urban School System of the Future" and the former deputy commissioner of education for New Jersey.

Gary Rubinstein has started a series of posts, Open Letters to Reformers I Know. His first letters are to Whitney Tilson, Dave Levin, and Mike Feinberg. Read more here.

Valerie Strauss shares an excerpt from a book titled “Educational Courage: Resisting the Ambush of Public Education,” which profiles people working in support of public education against a tide of school reform that has turned out to be more destructive than helpful. The book of essays by different authors is the brainchild of Nancy Schniedewind & Mara Sapon-Shevin.

Michael Brick, a former New York Times reporter, shares his thoughts on grading schools, teachers, President Obama's education policies, and market-based competition in schools. "So far, such competition has achieved little more than re-segregation, long charter school waiting lists and the same anemic international rankings in science, math and literacy we’ve had for years."

Alyson Klein discusses the release of data by the US Department of Education on School Improvement (SIG) funding. "Over all, the analysis paints a mixed picture of the first year of the supercharged SIG program, which received $3 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the largest federal investment in school turnaround in history." The release of this data follows a speech by Secretary Duncan before the Council of Chief State School Officers. You can find the data here. You can read Duncan's speech here. The Great Lakes Center funded an earlier brief reviewing the SIG program, read it here.

Pedro Noguera discusses the "profound inequity" in learning opportunities caused by racial segregation in under-resourced schools. Additionally, Noguera reminds his readers of the original intent of ESEA and the complex issues of equity, affirmative action, and segregation.

Paul Thomas discusses Obama's victory and how educators have much to lose in a second Obama term. "As long as accountability remains the education law of the land, students are bound to lose out." Thomas grades the President's education agenda: F. Thomas concludes: "The only change that would return a political victory to educators is a shift away from an accountability paradigm, and toward an education reform agenda driven by the quest for equity and opportunity."

Jay Mathews discusses questions faced by D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. 1) Will the chancellor transfer the top-performing teachers to low-performing schools, where they are needed the most? and 2) Will (she) require principals to do all they can to keep their best teachers?  Read more.

A new report out by the Fordham Institute investigates student mobility in school districts in Ohio. According to the report, persistently mobile students do less well in school than their non-moving peers. Read more.

The Center for Action Research on New Orleans School Reforms (Research on Reforms) released a review of the Recovery School District in New Orleans, La. "The 2012 achievement results for the RSD-NO show that after 7 years of operation, it still ranks among the lowest of the 71 Louisiana school districts; 83% of its schools were labeled with a "D" or "F"; and 79% of its students attended schools labeled as a "D" or "F". Is this the type of school district that use be elevated as a model for other cities?"

Stephen Sawchuk writes about the Memphis Teacher Residency Program. "The Memphis Teacher Residency produces teachers that outperform the average veteran teacher in Tennessee with students in grades 4-8, and in math and science specifically, according to an analysis of teacher-preparation programs released last week by Tennessee's higher education commission."

Anthony Cody explores seniority issues in his latest blog for Education Week. Cody addresses several key questions in response to a debate started on Twitter. 1) What are the benefits seniority provides? 2) What does "quality-blind lay-offs" mean? 3) How about "rigid, factory-era pay systems"? 4) What do you think? Is seniority good or bad for students? 5) How about using test scores or VAM ratings to determine who is laid off?

Nancy Flanagan shares the words of a Detroit teacher about the possible departure of Emergency Manager Roy Roberts. Roberts has sent a letter to Michigan's governor warning that if his power isn't restored by the election that he will leave the district.

Chester Finn and Michael Petrilli react to a recent report on the strength of teachers unions. "In the end, we learned a ton from it—about individual states, about national patterns, about unexpected relationships, and about surprising exceptions."

Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, discusses teacher evaluations as the primary tool being promoted to improve teaching. She describes a system of teacher evaluation that will drive the profession and improve it. "What we really need is the conception of teacher evaluation as part of a teaching and learning system that supports continuous improvement for individual teachers and the profession as a whole." Kappan is a subscription magazine, however this article is currently available to all (here).

Sociologist Aaron Palas writes about closing the achievement gap in his blog for the Hechinger Report. "Significant closure of the achievement gap may be beyond the grasp of educators who will be struggling simply to keep their heads above water in the next five years."

Sarah Sparks discusses several recent reports on the use of value-added in teacher evaluation systems. "Top researchers studying new 'value added' or 'growth index' models for measuring a teacher’s contribution to student achievement completely agree on only one thing: These methods should be used in staff-evaluation systems with more care than they have been so far."

Linked in the article is a preliminary study by Jesse Rothstein, Do Value-Added Models Add Value? Tracking, Fixed Effects, and Causal Inference.

Also worth a read - 'Value Added' Measures at Secondary Level Questioned by Stephen Sawchuk

Jonathan Raymond, Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent, takes New York Times writer Thomas Friedman to task for his praise of the Race to the Top federal education competition. Raymond calls into question the need to use student test scores tied to teacher evaluations, and offers his version of effective reform. "Race to the Top’s zealous and prescriptive focus on accountability, human capital and technology at the expense of capacity building, collaboration, teaching practice and social capital is like the game we sometimes see children play on a school yard."

Guest blogger Kimberly Shannon writes about a new Kentucky initiative, one aimed at giving districts flexibility from certain laws and regulations. "These 'Districts of Innovation' will operate much like charters." Kentucky state law does not allow for charters.

Robert Nemeth urges his readers to pay close attention to what he refers to as the Obama Core, which is just as "consequential for the country's future as Obama Care." According to his column, the Pioneer Institute estemated that "fully implementeing Common Core, over seven years, could cost $16 billion."

Jersey Jazzman, a widely read teacher blogger, writes about local control, Focus schools, Reward schools, and Priority schools in New Jersey. In his review of New Jersey's NCLB waiver process, he summarizes the policy as: "Let's state this plainly: if you are a school with a large poor or minority student population, the state wants to control you. If, however, your district is primarily white and non-poor, the state says you can govern yourself." Read more from Rutgers Bruce Baker here.

Paul Thomas creates a chart, which compares public school problems and their "no excuses" policy solution. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results."

This AISR study on college readiness shows that in spite of a decade of efforts in New York City to expand choice and ensure that the most disadvantaged students do not invariably attend the most disadvantaged schools, student demographics still stubbornly dictate destiny. Written by - Norm Fruchter, Megan Hester, Christina Mokhtar, Zach Shahn.

Education Next has released a study that "quantifies" the contributions of principals on student achievement. Authors Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin found that not only did principals have an impact on student achievement, but that principals were able to change the composition of schools - which has an impact on the school environment, more than just test scores.

Pedro Noguera, in his ongoing conversation with Deborah Meier, discusses the charter school debate and his desire to move onto more pressing issues in education. He concludes: "Deborah, we've got to find a way to shift the focus of reform away from distractions like charter schools and on to issues like inequality, racial segregation, and the need to improve schools that have been struggling for years and to create schools where children are intellectually stimulated."

Julian Vasquez Heilig addresses the profit motive with charter schools, hedge fund managers, and "profiteering."

Diane Ravitch writes her response to Andy Smarick's recent piece "Chartering the Future." "The post is a summary of Smarick’s new book; he argues that urban school systems are so broken that they should be eliminated and replaced by charters, lots and lots of charters." Ravitch issues the same challenge to Smarick that she offered to KIPP (charter schools) several weeks ago: "Take all the children. Open your doors to all. Do it in one place before imposing it on everyone."

Stephen Sawchuk looks at the results of a survey from Teach Plus, which points to a gap of opinions between younger, less experienced teachers and teachers with 11 or more years of experience.

Esther Quintero discusses the concept of data driven, what data driven decisions are, and her experiences as a student and a researcher. "Our blind faith in numbers has ultimately caused impoverishment in how (and what) information is used to help address real world problems. We now apparently believe that numbers are not just necessary, but sufficient, for making research-based decisions."

Anthony Cody discusses an essay by Ariel Sacks, a New York teacher, who investigates the "next stage" of teacher leadership. Cody builds on the essay by Sacks and asks some probing questions about what a teacher leader is, how being a leader can be manipulated, and what direction teacher leadership can or should go.

Julian Vasquez Heilig writes about a new report produced by the National Education Policy Center (Democracy Left Behind, How Recent Education Reforms Undermine Local School Governance and Democratic Education) with funding from the Great Lakes Center. The report inspired him to share a portion of an upcoming chapter in an Urban Education Handbook. His new idea? "Community-Based Accountability."

Anthony Cody has teamed up with education historian Diane Ravitch to organize letters for the Campaign for our Public Schools. This blog shares the letter of a principal to President Obama.

Pedro Noguera writes about a change in the education dialogue to "call for a concerted effort to build the capacity of schools to meet students' needs and expand opportunities to learn." Noguera calls on the NEA and others to help "re-frame" the debate from the "narrow focus on standards and acceptability"  to pointing out "the injustice of what is going on and then spell out an alternative strategy one that uses the example of successful schools."

Motoko Rich investigates the race to change teacher evaluations. 36 states and the District of Columbia have introduced new teacher evaluation policies in the past three years - mostly to comply with the Obama Administration's Race to the Top and other federal incentives (like waivers).

NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin broadcasted live from member station WLRN (Miami) and hostied a Twitter education forum on where the nation's schools now stand. Martin talked with Alberto Carvalho, Miami-Dade Public Schools, Sal Kahn - Kahn Academy, and Michelle Rhee, the polarizing national education reform advocate. Follow the Twitter dialogue with the hashtag #npredchat.

Pedro Noguera discusses Ted Sizer's view of charter schools and their potential for innovative practices that could not be easily implemented in traditional public schools. "The impetus for creating charters was not anti-union, at least not for these educators. The goal was to create schools where teachers would have greater say in how schools were managed, that could be less rigid with respect to curriculum and teaching, and more responsive to the learning needs of students."

Anthony Cody interviews Nikhil Goyal, author of One Size Does Not Fit All, A Student's Assessment of School. "This isn't 1920. We needed more standardized people back then to man the conveyor belts and equipment. Today, however, this country is craving for dreamers, problem solvers, trailblazers, and people who see things differently."

Alan Schwarz discusses the use of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs to low-income patients struggling in elementary school. The article profiles Dr. Michael Anderson, a Georgia doctor who regularly prescribes drugs to patients who may or may not have ADHD to aid in school behavior modification.

Cathy Rubin interviews former Secretary of Education Richard Riley about his thoughts on the Education Debate 2012. You can read more about her series "The Global Search for Education" here.

Matthew Di Carlo writes about New York City's new round of results from its school rating system. "All of this indicates that the city’s system is more focused on school rather than student test-based performance, compared with many other systems around the U.S."

Paul Thomas responds to an editiorial in the The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) and the twenty-year anniversary of charter schools in Minnestoa.

Gina Bella fante discusses language aquisition and astonishing differences between socioeconomic groups. Bellafante highlights the Hart/Risley studies and NYC's pre-school programs. "Obviously we want equal opportunity; we also want children to know what words like 'equal' and 'opportunity' mean."

Sean Cavanagh discusses Parent Revolution's opposition to Michigan's proposed 'parent trigger' legislation. Ben Austin, executive director, says that Parent Revolution is against using the 'parent trigger' to support for-profit charter school operators.

The Center on Education Policy released two reports related to NCLB and accountability systems approved through the waiver process.

Kristin Rawls takes on five destructive lies about public education in America.

Abby Rapoport writes about Diane Ravitch's recent trip to Texas and her evolution as an education historian.

Josh Boldt, a teacher of writing at the University of Georgia shares his thoughts on the value and dangers of the five-paragraph essay.

John Thompson review's Douglas Harris' Value-Added Measures in Education. Thompson calls it a "masterpiece. Even in the places where I believe Harris is mistaken, he identifies the core issues involved in using value-added for evaluations."

John Spencer tackles the issue of what works in schools and why we rarely see it talked about. His commentary dives into high-stakes testing and the dangers of teaching to the test.

Nancy Flanagan and Don Bartalo discuss the question: "What if education policy guidelines and political platforms were shaped by rank-and-file citizens?" Flanagan and Bartalo suggest that ED return to its original purpose. "ED was not established to make teachers accountable to the public, but to make the federal government accountable to the people."

Cassandra M. Cole, James N. Robinson, Jim Ansaldo, Rodney S. Whiteman, and Terry E. Spradlin take a closer look at Indiana's teacher evaluation system and discus policy in several areas. The brief covers a wide range of education policy with regards to teacher quality, teacher evaluation, and usefulness of evaluation training.

William H. Schmidt, distinguished professor at Michigan State University and co-director of the Education Policy Center, writes about three myths that "have distorted how we view education and comprised our efforts to improve it." Myths include: Everyone has an equal chance to succeed in school; It's only a problem for poor and minority students; There's nothing we can do about it. Schmidt says that the Common Core State Standards are a step toward equalizing opportunities to learn.

Tim Walker writes about a recent study published by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. "The Civil Rights Project is calling on the Obama Administration, state and local officials, and organizations around the country to take proactive measures to ensure that all students, regardless of race and wealth, have equal access to a successful education."

Pedro Noguera joins Bridging Differences, replacing Diane Ravitch, who is now focusing on her own blog. Noguera will continue the conversation with Deborah Meier. He is director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education in New York.

Wayne Au writes about the 'parent trigger,' and Walden Media’s propaganda based Hollywood film, "Won’t Back Down." Au provides links to resources about 'parent trigger.'

John Spencer writes about his distrust for what research 'says' as opposed to 'believing' in research. Spencer says that when someone says: "Research says…" his reaction is to ask the following questions: "1) Was it peer-reviewed? 2) Was there a viable commercial interest guiding the formation and analysis of the research? 3) What were the variables, control group, and how was the research constructed? 4) How large was the scope of the research, the sample size, any actual research conducted? 5) What does the raw data look like, how was it analyzed, what external factors were considered?" Critical voices missing in the education reform debate?

Dave Murray writes about a new study released by the National Education Policy Center with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. William Mathis (author of the brief) writes: "Care must be taken in selecting or designing a balanced evaluation system," he wrote. "Given the extensive range of activities, skills, and knowledge involved in teachers’ daily work, the system’s goals must be clear, explicit and reflect practitioner involvement. Effective teacher evaluation also requires an investment in sufficient numbers of qualified evaluators. Otherwise, the system will likely be irregular, uneven and ineffective."

Computer scientist and Coursera founder Daphne Koller takes a look at the future of education. This was shared from a TED talk. Education Next also shares several links about the implecations of Coursera for K-12 and higher education.

Les Leopold reports on a new international report demolishes several deeply held myths about our educational system. The report, from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), dispels several myths about our educational system. "Rather than thumping our chests, we should be going to school on how other developed nations, especially those in Europe, invest in education."

Eugene Robinson writes that "Teachers are heroes, not villains, and it's time to stop demonizing them." Robinson reacts to society's answer to every economic and education problem, "Beat up the teachers."

Alex Kotlowitz, author and producer of the documentary "The Interupters," discusses the interaction of 'top-notch' teachers and poverty - which remains "stubbornly high: one of every five children in America live below the poverty level." Kotlowitz reminds us that in cities like Chicago, where 87 percent of public school students come from low income families, that "teachers can't do it alone."

Gary Rubinstein finds even more flaws in value-added models for teacher evaluations that are based on standardized test scores. This is the sixth in a series of blogs written about 'value-added.' Rubinstein provides links to all his previous work on value-added.

Richard Rothstein discusses the Chicago teachers' strike. "The strike represents the first open rebellion of teachers nationwide over efforts to evaluate, punish and reward them based on their students’ scores on standardized tests of low-level basic skills in math and reading. Teachers’ discontent has been simmering now for a decade, but it took a well-organized union to give that discontent practical expression. For those who have doubts about why teachers need unions, the Chicago strike is an important lesson."

From NPR's All Things Considered, Tovia Smith discusses the use of high-stakes tests to measure the effectiveness of teachers. Despite unreliable data, standardized tests are being used to drive education reform decisions. "Reform advocates concede that some decent teachers may indeed be unfairly penalized. But, they argue, that's better than bad teachers not being penalized, with students paying the price."

Will Johnson looks at the broad education reform agenda, with specific references to Detroit and Chicago. Jacobin is a magazine of culture and polemic published quarterly out of New York City. Johnson also discusses his own experiences in New York. In response to the education reform agenda, Johnson concludes: "The goal of business-minded reformers is not to create “better” schools for children. It’s to create leaner schools for administrators to manage with greater ease. Parents and teachers must fight this process together, or student learning in public schools will continue to suffer."

Gabriel Spitzer, KPLU News-Seattle, addresses Baker (Tacoma, Washington) Middle School's efforts to certify the entire staff with National Board Certification, sponsored by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Instead of more drastic turnaround efforts backed by federal dollars and market-based ideas, Baker has sought to train its existing staff - other turnaround models require firing staff.

KQED's Joshua Johnson interviews Linda Darling-Hammond about a new report from a group of California's leading education experts, formed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, which calls for sweeping improvements to the way teachers are recruited, trained, brought into the profession, mentored, and evaluated.

The 90-page report, Greatness by Design: Supporting Outstanding Teaching to Sustain a Golden State, addresses the recruitment of new teachers, including the need to develop a diverse, high-quality workforce of teachers and principals. It also examines quality induction programs that can help teachers improve early in their careers—often the key to keeping promising new teachers in the classroom.

Ken Libby, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Stan Karp, director of the Secondary Reform Project for New Jersey’s Education Law Center and an editor of Rethinking Schools magazine, discuss The Broad Center and efforts to influence school reform initiatives driven by market-based ideology. Also included in the links within the piece is commentary by Becca Bracy Knight, The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.

Walt Gardner highlights the differences between two reports on how teachers are evaluated and the use of VAM (value-added model). EPI's "Problems With The Use Of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers" is contrasted with a new report by the Manhattan Institute, "Transforming Tenure: Using Value-Added Modeling To Identify Ineffective Teachers." The reports are at odds over the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers.

Paul Thomas discusses what he believes are President Obama's education agenda shortcomings, along with other commentary.  "It is time for those of us who still cling to the hope that our schools should dare to build a new social order to hold reformers and politicians to their rhetoric, but to remind them that in order for schools to change society, those schools must be different than that society. If we want to foster democracy, our children must live and learn democracy in our schools—not continue to experience the labeling and sorting of test-based education."

Rob Levine discusses the realities behind several test score miracles and charter schools. "One problem with radical test score gains, as many researchers have noted, is that miraculous improvements in test scores over short periods of time are more often the result of cheating, student skimming, or other test manipulation."

Gene Glass shares a video from Audrey Amrein-Beardsley and Clarin Collins of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. The video discusses the SAS Education Value-added Assessment System in the Houston Independent School District: Intended and Unintended Consequences - this study critically examined the effects of SAS® EVAAS® as experienced by teachers, in one of the largest, high-needs urban school districts in the nation -- the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

In response to report by a task force organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, Michael Roth shares John Dewey's vision of learning as freedom.

Truthout's Danny Weil discusses the Hollywood hype and school reform agenda behind the upcoming film "Won't Back Down." He describes the film as "the latest Hollywood illusion, "Won't Back Down," surrounds the issue of the parent trigger laws which, in California and a handful of other states (Texas, Ohio and Connecticut), permit parents to go after "bad" teachers and even overrule administrators in bottom-ranked schools." Weil investigates the production funding from Walden Media, which is backed by Philip Anschutz, a conservative billionaire. Weil also profiles two other education related films: "Detachment" and "The Cartel."

Kristina Rizga probes into a persistently low performing school in San Francisco. A profile of Mission High School. "Attendance: up. Dropout rates: plummeting. College acceptance: through the roof. My mind-blowing year inside a "low-performing" school." San Francisco's KQED (NPR affiliate) highlights the article and the school here.

Valerie Strauss writes about the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll, which has been conducted for 44 years. "A major annual poll on how Americans view public education shows divisions on vouchers, charter schools, evaluating teachers by standardized test scores of students and whether President Obama or Mitt Romney would be better for public education. Yet Americans largely agree that they trust public school teachers but want them prepared more rigorously." Find more on the poll here, here and here.

Read commentary by Rick Hess:
Public Edu-opinion-palooza: Results from the New PDK/Gallup Survey

In the latest from the "Dialogue with the Gates Foundation" series, Chris Williams from the Gates Foundation responds to Anthony Cody's recent piece on family poverty.  Find it on the Gates Foundation Impatient Optimists blog or on Cody's Living in Dialogue blog for Education Week - Teacher blog.  Chris Williams is the Gates Foundation's Global Press Secretary, Deputy Director External Communications and the communications lead for our education strategy.

Erin Richards looks at new systems being implemented in Wisconsin to explore pay for performance. "Research on whether performance pay translates to higher student performance is mixed - some studies show negligible effects, others suggest it's hard to create incentives for teachers with more money because they're already doing the best they can."

Christina Hoag looks into enrollment data in several major cities including Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Los Angeles and finds that as a result of school choice, the percentage of special education students in those districts has risen as school enrollment has declined. "Most charter, parochial and magnet schools serve children with disabilities, but they are often milder disabilities, leaving the brunt of students with significant needs in traditional district schools."

The LA Times reports on efforts to amend California's statewide teacher evaluation system. The bill would require negotiations with local teacher associations on the use of student data in teacher evaluations.

Linda Darling-Hammond, who directs the Stanford University Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, writes about teacher evaluation and edTPA, an assessment process designed by educators to answer the essential question: "Is a new teacher ready for the job?" The edTPA is built on the portfolio-based model teachers developed through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Colleges of education are field-testing the assessment. She says, "Unlike other professionals, teachers have historically had little control over the tests by which they are evaluated. This rigorous, authentic measure represents a healthy and responsible professionalization of teacher preparation." The piece originally appeared in InsideHigherEd.com.

Bruce Baker presents charter school data in Houston and New York City. Baker attempts to explain what he categorizes as: "astounding gaps in logic which are so pervasive in the current reform rhetoric which seeks to find policy solutions almost exclusively in charter schools and in changing teacher compensation and dismissal policies."

Anthony Cody continues his dialogue with the Gates Foundation. His topic this time is: "Can Schools Defeat Poverty by Ignoring It?" Cody further explores the following questions: "What is the role of education reform in relation to the problem of family poverty? What is the best way to achieve greater equity in educational and life prospects for children of poverty?" All responses in this series have been posted to our Facebook page, for more information click here.

Randall Garton discusses "college for all" and implications with career and technical education (CTE) in literacy and reading.  Garton further explores the importance of “multiple pathways to success.” Garton is Director of Research and Operations for the Albert Shanker Institute.

Amanda Paulson investigates new student achievement evaluations for teachers based on high-stakes standardized test scores. "Done right, say advocates, strong evaluation systems could be a game changer for both teachers and their students, reshaping the profession and pushing teachers to improve."

Diane Ravitch responds to an inverview from CNN with former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. In her response, Ravitch discusses the importance of improving NAEP test scores, the role of poverty in our schools today, and problems associated with common education reforms such as merit pay. Ravitch concludes: "We can improve our schools. We can improve our society. We must work on both at the same time."

Esther Quintero discusses the long-term benefits of high-quality early childhood education among other things. The impact of poverty can have lifelong effects on learning and places children living in poverty at a disadvantage to their peers. Her piece includes data on disparities that exist before children enter school. Quintero quotes Dana Goldstein's piece on Universal Pre-K, which is also Worth a Read.

Tim Walker writes about a report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.  “Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century” was released in July. "The report describes the important set of key skills that increase deeper learning, college and career readiness, student-centered learning, and higher order thinking."

Paul Thomas writes about teacher quality and teacher education. "As with the charter school debate, seeking solutions to teacher quality and teacher education must start with clearly defined problems and conditions or the arguments slip into mere ideological advocacy." Thomas asserts the need to come up with real solutions to real problems.

Irvin Scott, Gates Foundation, responds to a piece written by Education Week blogger Anthony Cody. This response discusses the elevation of the teaching profession and a shared vision for education.

Barnett Berry discusses a recent paper by Roland Fryer, and University of Chicago colleagues Steven Levitt, John List, and Sally Sadoff.  A link to the paper is included in the text and was included in a previous Worth a Read by Larry Ferlazzo.

Al Baker writes about how New York is changing the way that new teachers are certified. The model for evaluating educators, known as Teacher Performance Assessment, was designed by Stanford University, with input from more than 600 educators, including university professors, across the country. "In New York, the system will be introduced in the fall at all 130 education schools and colleges that award teaching degrees." This comes afterstudents in Massachusetts refused to submit videos to Pearson, the company hired to evaluate the lessons.  Find more here.

Andrew Hacker discusses the role of math standards and sequences in schools today. "Making mathematics mandatory prevents us from discovering and developing young talent. In the interest of maintaining rigor, we’re actually depleting our pool of brainpower."

Maddie Fennell, former Nebraska Teacher of the Year and chair of the National Education Association's Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching, discusses teacher evaluations, measurements, and effectiveness.

Sarah Garland writes about the East Lake neighborhood of Atlanta, successful reformation of the neighborhood, and a recently integrated charter school. "In a former Atlanta slum, low  - and middle-income families now live side by side - and send their children to the same excellent school. Is this surprising model too good to be true?" The story was also published on the website of the Atlantic.

Researchers have found that student attendance serves as an effective predictor of future academic achievement as well as high school graduation.  An analysis of Indiana attendance data indicates a direct link between absenteeism and school achievement. This is based on a recently-released policy brief by Indiana University's Center for Evaluation & Education Policy (CEEP).

Anthony Cody begins an exchange of ideas with the Gates Foundation.  In his first attempt to engage the mammoth education foundation, Cody attempts to answer the following questions: How can educators create a strong professional culture in our schools? How do we build the teaching profession? The foundation will also respond to these questions.  You can also find information here.

Larry Ferlazzo writes about a working paper by Steven D. Levitt, John A. List, Susanne Neckermann and Sally Sadoff on 'loss aversion.' "The study claims they found that if they gave teachers several thousand dollars at the beginning of the year and told them they’d have to return it if their students didn’t do well on math tests, then students did better on those tests (there was no impact on score improvement for students of teachers in the group that were offered bonuses after the test -- the more typical merit page scheme).  The study only included teachers from nine schools and student scores were also not tracked past one school year."

Diane Ravitch shares a preview of a paper by David Berliner.  Berliner's paper explains the effects of poverty on young children, and how money spent on high-stakes testing for our children could be much better spent fighting the effects of poverty. Berliner's work will be a part of S.L. Nichols' book: Educational Policy and the Socialization of Youth for the 21st Century. New York: Teachers College Press. *Read the comments on Ravitch's blog and her follow up.

Teacher Ken Bernstein (@Teacherken) takes a closer look at a recently released policy brief by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC). Understanding and Improving Full-Time Virtual Schools: A Study of Student Characteristics, School Finance, and School Performance in Schools Operated by K12 Inc, was written by Gary Miron - Evaluation, Planning & Policy Analysis; and Jessica L. Urschel - a doctoral student at Western Michigan University. BONUS: Read Diane Ravitch's blog on the policy brief here.

Yong Zhao dives into the world of education doublethink.  Doublethink is a term used in George Orwell's dystopian 1984, "What brings great test scores may hamper entrepreneurial qualities."

Kevin Welner responds to a question posed by Fawn Johnson on the National Journal Education Experts Blog. Is Reading a Civil Right? The ACLU filed suit last week against Michigan's Highland Park School District and the state for failing to teach kids in the Detroit-area district to read.

Michele Molnar writes about a recent study from Michigan State University which found that Americans support local control of their schools.

Guest author Ed Fuller, an Associate Professor in the Education Leadership Department at Penn State University, discusses principal turnover. "In recent years, those seeking to improve schooling through efforts to increase teacher effectiveness and build teacher capacity have quickly realized that such efforts rely heavily on principal capacity and stability."

Stephen Sawchuk investigates a working paper by Zeyu Xu, Umut Ozek, and Matthew Corritore on the Portability of Teacher Effectiveness Across Schools, Working Paper 77.

John Thompson writes about Bill Gates' recent address to the Education Commission of the States in Atlanta.  You can read more and watch the speech here.

This Los Angeles Times editorial discusses  training our students to become better test takers at the cost of skills American students have long excelled, creativity and critical thinking. China is seeking to emulate America's schools - as Japan did during the 1990s.

Kate Jacobson investigates the explosion of online education.  Is it a good thing? There's little accountability in state's (Indiana, and others) fast-growing system. Indiana has no accountability rules specific to online schools.

Dave Murray writes about Richard Rothstein's May commencement speech to the School of Education of Loyola University-Chicago, where he "urged students to have the confidence to resist the now-conventional attack on public education and their teachers." His speech was shared on our Facebook Page in May.

Jim Horn, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Cambridge College (MA), discusses the national curriculum standards project known as the Common Core, a recent blog by Diane Ravitch, and high-stakes testing.

Jared Billings suggests increasing the TFA (Teach for America) commitment from two years to as many as four or five.  "TFA should sell the teaching profession to college graduates rather than the prestige they will gain from their brief stints as educators

Ava Wallace discusses the evolving view of class-size by politicians. The piece cites Leonie Haimson, Director for Class Size Matters.  Leonie Haimson believes large class sizes will “destroy public education.” Smaller class sizes, Haimson argues, is one of the only techniques that can truly improve students’ learning experience. *Project STAR and Wisconsin's SAGE are cited.

George Stranahan discusses poverty as an emergent phenomenon and asks about what kind of schools should be built for children in poverty. "In the meantime…we lean on our schools and blame them: 'Why haven’t you solved the poverty problem yet? Get rid of those bad teachers and get on with it.'" Stranahan is a retired teacher and administrator whose book, A Predicament of Innocents: Might the Schools Help?, will be published in August by People’s Press.

Diane Ravitch explores the "cannibalistic culture" that Microsoft uses in employment policies and practices.  Also known as "stack ranking" or "forced ranking."  Also visit Paul Thomas' blog that explores the destructive nature of the policy and this article on "Microsoft's Downfall" in Vanity Fair.

Sarah Sparks discusses Finland's move away from factory-style schools, with all classrooms and desks in rows, to contemporary campuses built to meet the pedagogical and social needs of their students and teachers

"School year 2013 will likely be harder on children and youth enrolled in public pre-K-12 education than the year they just survived." Jeff Bryant tackles state level funding cuts and their impact on public education. "At least 27 states cut per student funding by more than 2 percent. 19 states cut per student funding by more than 5 percent. 4 states -- IL, KS, TX, WI -- cut spending levels per student by 10 percent or more."

Carol Burris discusses the Relay Graduate School of Education, where "teacher education that balances research, theory and practice has been replaced by ‘filling the pail’ training." Burris discusses her own exposure to the teachings of  Madeline Hunter and the divergence between 'fill the pail' training (in the charter movement) and real educational research, which tells us "that learning happens in the mind of the learner…a lighting of the fire, which must occur for deep learning to happen."

Anthony Cody lends his Education Week blog to Chemtchr. "Gates' leveraged philanthropy model is a public-private partnership to improve the world, partly through targeted research support but principally through public advocacy and tax-free lobbying to influence government policy."

Diane Ravitch writes about the need to follow the money while investigating charter schools. "If you want to know why so many politicians think so highly of charters, there is a basic rule of  politics that explains it all: Follow the money."

Matthew Di Carlo investigates the controversial use of parent trigger policies.

Walt Gardner investigates education trends in the United States and China. "American students don't shine on tests of international competition, but when it comes to creativity and risk-taking, they make us all proud."

Mandy Zatynski has written about Education Sector's recent-released survey of teachers.  The survey finds: "teachers show increasing support for differentiated pay proposals based on factors that they can have more control over - working a high-needs school or teaching a STEM-related subject — and low levels of support for pay proposals based on factors they have less control over — like their students' test scores."

Nancy Flanagan investigates our ability to measure learning in the arts. "Isn't there room for change, growth and diverse methodologies in curriculum and assessment?"

Walt Gardner writes about an 'advertisement' by Deborah Kenny, founder of Harlem Village Academies, which makes bold assertions about charter schools.

Read Kenny's Why Charter Schools Work.

John Thompson reacts to Tom Kane's Op Ed in the Wall Street Journal.  The Op Ed ran with another piece by Linda Darling-Hammond. Thompson's critique includes information about Catherine Durso's review of the LA Times Value-added scoring, a review funded by the Great Lakes Center.

You can find a link to the original WSJ article here.

Find John Thompson's piece on Larry Ferlazzo's blog.

Matt Di Carlo takes on Colorado's Growth Model and questions why it is held up as a standard for other states to emulate. "Don’t get me wrong – I would still say Colorado’s growth-heavy system is far preferable to its counterparts in most other states, and actual growth scores are still the driving force in the system. But the double standard is a little perplexing."

Judy Rabin shares Dov Rosenberg's post from Facebook on high-stakes testing.  It is worth a read!

Bruce Baker looks at the cold data behind which states' schools are the least fairly funded for the largest number of low-income students.

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