eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Pennsylvania Intermediate Unit 8 (IU8) seeks to scale innovations that are evolving as local solutions to educational challenges in rural school districts. Consistent with its mission of creating customized solutions, IU8 seeks to make the innovations better, meaning more learner centered and community focused. IU8 is evolving the Getting Better Together (GBT) initiative that includes a process called Catalyzing Action for Responsive Education (CARE). Unfortunately, with its singular focus on “adequate yearly progress” in math and reading test achievement the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law devalued the role of public education in many rural communities. School and classroom doors became closed to key partners that traditionally reinforced the symbiotic relationship of mutual benefits shared between a rural school and its community. The local school lost… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In a decade, virtual education in its contemporary form of asynchronous, computer-mediated interaction between a teacher and students over the Internet has grown from a novelty to an established mode of education that may provide all or part of formal schooling for nearly one in every 50 students in the US. In a non-random 2007 survey of school districts, as many as three out of every four public K-12 school districts responding reported offering full or partial online courses. There can be little question that virtual courses in certain areas (e.g., math, English, social studies) produce tested achievement results on a par with those of their conventionally taught counterparts. Nor is it debatable that more complex areas of the curriculum (e.g., the arts) are beyond the reach… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper describes implementation of a Lesson Study project with third grade teachers in a small school district to study the development of the critical lenses (perspectives) necessary for meaningful lesson study work. Adapting the Lesson Study process to meet school system needs, two outside facilitators stimulated teacher thinking with math explorations and probing/what if questioning. Using a qualitative methodology and the group as the unit of analysis, data were coded for evidence of and change in the lenses. After one year, the 8 participating teachers showed a qualitative difference in two of the three lenses: the student lens and the curriculum developer lens. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.) Link til kilde
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Nationwide, states face declining or plateauing investments in education. These financial constraints, coupled with increased standards for student achievement through the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), create a heightened need for strategic resource use. However, districts are not currently using resources strategically, as research suggests that 40 cents out of every dollar are spent on practices not aligned with district or state priorities. Therefore, the role of the state today is not only to allocate resources, but also to ensure those resources are used effectively. The state of Georgia leads many others in addressing this issue, having engaged in a series of statewide reforms to grant Local Education Agencies (LEAs) greater flexibility over how they use district resources in exchange for greater accountability… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: District-Charter Partnerships (DCP) is an initiative that is part of the Equity and Excellence for All agenda established by Mayor De Blasio. Its goal is to support meaningful collaboration between the district and charter sector in order to increase educator capacity and student learning in all New York City public schools. The District-Charter Collaborative (DCC) is one of the principal programs under the DCP umbrella. Spearheaded by the NYC Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of School Design and Charter Partnerships and Office of Leadership, the program brings quads of schools (2 district and 2 charter) together to engage in structured collaboration through the creation of professional learning communities (PLCs). These PLCs aim to improve practice in one of the following Learning Focus Areas (LFAs): math instruction, supporting… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Tennessee Code Annotated 49-5-108 specifies that the State Board of Education “with the assistance of the department of education and the Tennessee higher education commission, shall develop a report card or assessment on the effectiveness of teacher training programs.” The State Board is directed to “annually evaluate performance of each institution of higher education providing an approved program of teacher training and other state board approved teacher training programs.” The performance is meant to “focus on the performance of each institution’s graduates and shall include, but not be limited to, the following areas: (1) Placement and retention rates; (2) Performance on Praxis examinations or other tests used to identify teacher preparedness; and (3) Teacher effect data created pursuant to Section 49-1-606.” Each teacher training institution and each… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: On August 14, 2010, the “Los Angeles Times” published the results of a statistical analysis of student test data to provide information about elementary schools and teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The analysis, covering the period from 2003 to 2009, was put forward as an evaluation of the effects of schools and their teachers on the performance of students taking the reading and math portions of the California Standardized Test. In Los Angeles, teachers were classified into one of five levels of “effectiveness” for their teaching in reading, math and a composite of the two. The decision by the “L.A. Times” to make these results publicly available at a dedicated web site, and to publish an extensive front page story that contrasted–by name–teachers… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Improving the quality of teacher preparation is an important national issue, because the quality of teaching plays such a large role in students’ learning. One key indicator of students’ academic success is the competence and capability of their teachers. However, the availability of well-prepared and effective teachers varies widely across the country, even within schools (Clotfelder, Ladd & Vigdor, 2007; Boyd, Grossman, Lankford & Wyckoff, 2006; Rivkin, Hanushek & Kain, 2005). Concerns about the highly variable quality of prospective teachers, coupled with teacher shortages, particularly in math and science-related fields, have generated both alternative pathways for entry into teaching and programs aimed at recruiting talented individuals to become teachers (e.g., Teach for America, Boston Teacher Residency, New York City Teaching Fellows, and the New Teacher Project). This… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: It’s a woeful fact: Few students with special needs achieve a high (or even modest) level of academic proficiency. The latest (2011) National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results show, for example, that 62 percent of eighth graders with disabilities fell below the “basic” level in reading, as did 64 percent in math. This study is intended to open some windows and encourage some fresh breezes by examining three key questions: (1) How much variation in special education spending exists among districts?; (2) What can we learn from school districts that spend less on special education, yet achieve the same or better outcomes than demographically similar but higher-spending counterparts?; and (3) What savings might be realized if the special education field focused on outcomes rather than inputs?… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers’ incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Math experts have developed formative assessment lessons (FALs) that teachers can incorporate throughout the year’s curriculum. The Foundation has asked RFA to study teachers’ early adoption of the FALs, focusing particularly on their response to and use of the lessons. The lessons were piloted in urban, rural, and suburban school districts in four states and two national networks of schools during the 2010-11 school year, which is referred to as Year 1 in this booklet. This booklet is a synthesis of what the authors learned from practitioners over the course of the pilot year, 2010-11. It… Continue Reading →
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