The Elusive Talent Strategy

"The root cause cause of the nation’s failing educational system is now widely recognized as the lack of well-prepared, high-performing teachers, especially in high-poverty areas. This is one area where federal policy, state policy, and public opinion coincide: making sure that every student has a great teacher is everyone’s top priority," wrote Carnegie Corporation of New York officials in a Boston Globe op-ed. Carnegie issued a challenge calling for an excellent teacher for every student in every school. Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Carnegie Corporation, February 2011

Student Teaching Across the Nation

Student teaching serves as a capstone experience for nearly 200,000 teacher candidates each year. In an effort to understand how to get student teaching "right," the National Center on Teacher Quality embarked on an ambitious effort to measure student teaching programs nationwide, assessing the degree to which they have the right pieces in place necessary for delivering a high quality program. Julie Greenberg, Laura Pomerance and Kate Walsh, NCTQ, July 2011

Speaking of Salaries: What It Will Take to Get Qualified, Effective Teachers in All Communities

The fact that well-qualified teachers are inequitably distributed to students in the United States has received growing public attention. By every measure of qualifications—certification, subject matter background, pedagogical training, selectivity of college attended, test scores, or experience—less-qualified teachers tend to be found in schools serving greater numbers of low-income and minority students. Frank Adamson ahd Linda Darling-Hammond, Center for American Progress, May 20, 2011

Review of Learning About Teaching

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Measures of Effective Teaching” (MET) Project seeks to validate the use of a teacher’s estimated “value-added”—computed from the year-on-year test score gains of her students—as a measure of teaching effectiveness. Jesse Rothstein, National Education Policy Center, Jan. 16, 2011

Learning About Teaching: Initial Findings from Measures of the Teacher Effectiveness Project

In most public school districts, individual teachers receive little feedback on the work they do. Almost everywhere, teacher evaluation is a perfunctory exercise. In too many schools principals go through the motions of visiting classrooms, checklist in hand. In the end, virtually all teachers receive the same “satisfactory” rating. Thomas Kane, et al, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, January 2011

Value-Added Measures in Education: What Every Educator Needs to Know

An economist and education researcher takes on one of the most hotly debated topics in education. Douglas N. Harris, Harvard Education Press, January 2011

The Economic Value of Higher Teacher Quality

Most analyses of teacher quality end without any assessment of the economic value of altered teacher quality. This paper combines information about teacher effectiveness with the economic impact of higher achievement. Eric A. Hanushek, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2010

Evaluating Teachers: The Important Role of Value-Added

The evaluation of teachers based on the contribution they make to the learning of their students, value-added, is an increasingly popular but controversial education reform policy. We highlight and try to clarify four areas of confusion about value-added. The Brookings Brown Center Task Group on Teacher Quality, November 2010

Closing the Talent Gap: Attracting and Retaining Top Third Graduates to the Teaching Field

Improving teacher effectiveness to lift student achievement has become a major theme in U.S. education. Most efforts focus on improving the effectiveness of teachers already in the classroom or on retaining the best performers and dismissing the least effective. Attracting more young people with stronger academic backgrounds to teaching has received comparatively little attention. Byron Auguste, Paul Kihn and Matt Miller, McKinsey & Company, September 2010

How Teacher Performance Assessments Can Measure and Improve Teaching

Parents, practitioners, and policymakers agree that the key to improving public education in America is placing highly skilled and effective teachers in all classrooms. Yet the nation still lacks a practical set of standards and assessments that can guarantee that teachers, particularly new teachers, are well prepared and ready to teach. Linda Darling-Hammond, Center for American Progress, Oct. 19, 2010

Math and Science Teachers Earn Less in Washington State
The Center on Reinventing Public Education finds math and science teachers in Washington earn less than other teachers in the state. CRPE's analysis finds that math and science in the 25 largest school districts had fewer years of teaching experience due to higher turnover. CRPE, Aug. 18, 2010

Teaching Jobs Saved in 2009-10 But Teacher Layoffs Loom for Next School Year
Read this Center on Education Policy report examining how school districts have spent funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). CEP's report finds that the federal appropriations helped school districts save teaching jobs, but severe cutbacks are expected for the 2010-2011 school year. Center on Education Policy, July 16, 2010

The Implications of Teacher Selection and Teacher Effects in Some Education Experiment
In some experimental evaluations of classroom or school-level interventions it is not practically feasible to randomly assign teachers or schools to experimental conditions. Michael J. Weiss, MDRC, April 30, 2010

Generalizations about Using Value-Added Measures of Teacher Quality

The extensive investigation of the contribution of teachers to student achievement produces two generally accepted results. First, there is substantial variation in teacher quality as measured by the value added to achievement or future academic attainment or earnings. Second, variables often used to determine entry into the profession and salaries including post-graduate schooling, experience, and licensing examination scores appear to explain little of the variation in teacher quality so measured with the exception of early experience. Eric A. Hanushek, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, May 2010

Understanding Teachers Contracts
Read Education Sector's report on Understanding Teachers Contracts an issue at the center of education reform today. Andrew J. Rotherham, Education Sector, March 23, 2010

Don't Leave Accountability Behind: A Call for ESEA Reauthorization
A new report argues that, despite the promise of education reform efforts such as Race to the Top and the state-led common standards movement, improvement can only be sustained if Congress and the Administration update and improve the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Alliance for Excellent Education and the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind, March 1, 2010

State of the States in Gifted Education
The National Association for Gifted Children released its annual "State of the States in Gifted Education" report finding large disparities in state funding for schooling students labeled "gifted". National Association for Gifted Children, November 23, 2009

 Lost Opportunity: A 50-state report on the "Opportunity to Learn in America"

The Schott Foundation has released a report finding 84 percent of states fail to provide students with a proficient public education system. Lost Opportunity: A 50-state report on the "Opportunity to Learn in America" finds minority and low-income students have only half the opportunity to learn in our public schools as their white peers. The foundation says the federal government must make access to higher quality learning a guaranteed right for all Americans by establishing an accountability system to track student access to educational resources. 6/2/2009

The Condition of Education 2009 is an integrated collection of the indicators and analyses and is produced by the National Center for Education Statistics. 6/2/2009

The cost burden to Minnesota K-12 when children are unprepared for kindergarten
This study finds the k-12 school system in Minnesota loses $113 million annually because students are unprepared for kindergarten. by Richard Chase, Brandon Coffee-Borden, Paul Anton, Christopher Moore, and Jennifer Valorose, Wilder R, 1/23/2009

Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21st Century Educational Innovation
In a report released by the Brookings Institution, New America Foundation's Sara Mead and Education Sector's co-director Andrew Rotherham proposed that the federal government provide funding for innovation and experiment.
12/12/2008

The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra
The Brookings Institution analyzes the disadvantages of eighth graders taking Algebra I when they are not prepared. Tom Loveless, senior fellow and director of the Brown Center on Education at Brookings, is the lead author of the report.
by Brookings Institution , 12/12/2008

Counting on the Future: International Benchmarks in Mathematics for American School Districts pdf
This study by the American Institute for Research (AIR) finds U.S. students from six cities perform equal to, or better than their peers in other countries. The study says student math scores in grades 4-8 in Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New York and San Diego were on par with their peers internationally.
10/12/2008

The 2007 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning? pdf
This year's Brown Center Report focuses on the nation's testing achievement, private school enrollment and the impact of time on learning math.
The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution - Tom Loveless, 12/11/2007

Teacher Quality in a Changing Policy Landscape: Improvements in the Teacher Pool pdf
The teaching profession is attracting more qualified people. The new crop of teachers scored higher on national exams such as the SAT and earned higher grades in the classroom.
Educational Testing Service - Drew H. Gitomer, 12/11/2007

Reading Tests that Misread Children
Screening tests widely used to identify children with reading problems are being misapplied, landing students in the wrong instructional level and delaying treatment for their true difficulties, says new research from National-Louis University and the University of Maryland.
University of Marylan College Parkand National-Louis University - Rochelle Newman, Diane German, 11/19/2007

Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap
The Brookings Institution has released a report examining No Child Left Behind's effect on the education of the nation's poor children. Researchers said there have been some positive effects for students in the improvement of teacher quality.
The Brookings Institution - Thomas Dee, Laura Desimone, George Farkas, Barbara Foorman, Brian Jacob, Robert M. Hauser, Paul Hill, 11/9/2007

Why Rural Matters 2007
Why Rural Matters 2007 is the fourth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the importance of rural education in each of the 50 states and calling attention to the urgency with which policymakers in each state should address rural education issues.
The Rural School and Community Trust - Jerry Johnson and Marty Strange, 10/23/2007

Are Private High Schools Better Academically Than Public High Schools?
The study released by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) examines 12 years of data that finds students who attended private schools didn't have much of an advantage over their peers who attended public high schools in regard to test scores, career happiness, and civic engagement. Family involvement is key and the study finds that low-income students from urban public high schools generally did as well if they had a good support system.
Center on Education Policy (CEP) - Harold Wenglinsky, 10/10/2007

Important, But Not for Me: Kansas and Missouri Students and Parents Talk About Math, Science and Technology Education pdf
The study released by ublic Agenda is based on a 10-year project to improve math, science and technology education in the Kansas City region.
Public Agenda - Alison Kadlec and Will Friedman, 9/24/2007

Creating a Successful Performance Compensation System for Educators This report, funded by the Joyce Foundation, offers guidelines on creating a successful system for rewarding educators based on their performance. Reporters will probably find the stories of school systems where this practice is being used helpful. National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, 7/24/2007

Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era
This report examines time spent during the school week on core academic subjects and how that's changed since NCLB was enacted in the 2001-2002 school year. It finds that approximately 62 percent of school districts increased the amount of time spent in elementary schools on English/language arts and or math, while 44 percent of districts cut time on science, social studies, art and music, physical education, lunch or recess.
Center on Education Policy - Jennifer McMurrer, 7/24/2007

Myths and Facts about Highly-Qualified and Effective Teachers pdf
The Commission on No Child Left Behind explains how the Highly Qualified Teacher part of NCLB does work and how it could be improved in a concise Q&A format.
Aspen Institute - Jennifer Smith , 6/14/2007

Similar English Learner Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better? pdf
A follow-up analysis, based upon a large-scale survey of California elementary schools serving high proportions of low-income students who are also learning English as a second language. The report shows specific practices used by schools that were more successful in helping EL students.
EdSource, 6/14/2007

The Condition of Education 2007
High school students in the United States are taking more courses in mathematics and science, as well as social studies, the arts, and foreign languages, according to an analysis of high school student coursework that is highlighted in this government report. Statistics on student achievement, school environment and a wide range of other topics related to early childhood education through postsecondary education are also included.
by National Center for Education Statistics, 5/1/2007

Performance Pay for Teachers: Designing a System that Students Deserve
Teachers from across the United States authored this report that concludes teachers would support pay for performance plans that "advance student achievement and the teaching profession." The report recommends rewarding teachers who raise student achievement while working in small groups or agree to work in high-needs schools and paying teachers according to their success in the classroom, not their level of education or experience.
Center for Teaching Quality, 4/11/2007

Tough Choices or Tough Times
A bi-partisan commission, comprised of former Cabinet secretaries, governors, college presidents and business, civic and labor leaders, is calling for a total shakeup in how America educates its people. Its findings include ending high school at 10th grade, revamping and reducing pension systems, collective bargaining at the state -- instead of local -- level.
by The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce , 12/15/2006

Missing the Mark: States' Teacher Equity Plans Fall Short
A new Education Trust analysis of teacher-equity plans prepared by all 50 states and the District of Columbia finds that most states failed to properly analyze data that would determine whether poor and minority children get more than their fair share of unqualified, inexperienced,and out-of-field teachers. Only two states, Nevada and Ohio, fully complied with the requirements and offered specific plans to remedy inequities, the report says.
Education Trust - Heather Peske, 8/10/2006

Teachers and the Uncertain American Future
The College Board's Center for Innovative Thought, whose members include business and academic leaders, calls for a new education compact between America and its teachers, starting with the establishment of a public-private Teachers' Trust to finance an immediate pay increase of 15 to 20 percent and targeted programs to increase the number of qualified math and science teachers.
College Board Center for Innovative Thought, 7/12/2006

Education Colleges Cry Foul on Ratings

A nonprofit advocacy group is pushing colleges of education to participate in an effort to rate their teacher-preparation programs, but many of the schools are balking, arguing the project is flawed. Stephanie Banchero, Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2012

In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On

Manassas, an all-black, nearly all-poor school, has a lot going for it: a new building, a new set of intensely dedicated teachers who willingly work on Saturdays, and the attention — and money — of national foundations and advocacy groups. The school could be a poster child for the “no-excuses” education reform movement, which argues that schools and teachers should be able to help all students succeed, regardless of the challenges they face outside of school. But the reforms that drove its success are now up in the air. Sarah Garland, The Hechinger Report, Feb. 14, 2012

Using Value-Added Data to Evaluate Tennessee Teachers

To close the achievement gap between poor and affluent students in Tennessee, some students may need to learn at double the rate of their high-performing peers, according to Tennessee Department of Education materials. Sarah Garland, The Hechinger Report, Feb. 6, 2012

Why Urban, Educated Parents Are Turning to DIY Education

\We think of homeschoolers as evangelicals or off-the-gridders who spend a lot of time at kitchen tables in the countryside. And it’s true that most homeschooling parents do so for moral or religious reasons. But education observers believe that is changing. Linda Perlstein, Newsweek, Jan. 30, 2012

Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain

Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years. Annie Lowrey, The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2012

Unions and the Public Interest

Is the public interest served by public-sector collective bargaining? If so, how and in what ways? Arguing in this forum for more expansive collective bargaining for teachers is Richard D. Kahlenberg, senior fellow at The Century Foundation. Responding that public-employee collective bargaining is destructive to schooling and needs to be reined in is Jay P. Greene, chair of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas.

Big Expansion, Big Questions for Teach for America

By 2015, with the help of a $50 million federal grant, program recruits could make up one-quarter of all new teachers in 60 of the nation’s highest need school districts. Christine Armario, Associated Press, Nov. 27, 2011

Florida Teachers Get Ready to Get Graded

Starting this year, officials will use a data-driven formula to grade teachers. Half of teachers’ evaluations will still come from traditional principal evaluations. Laura Isensee and Sarah Butrymowicz, Miami Herald, Nov. 6, 2011

Teachers Are Put to the Test

Teacher evaluations for years were based on brief classroom observations by the principal. But now, prodded by President Barack Obama's $4.35 billion Race to the Top program, at least 26 states have agreed to judge teachers based, in part, on results from their students' performance on standardized tests. Stephanie Banchero and David Kesmodel, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 13, 2011

Pink Slips and Recalls Part of Job Description for Many Ohio Teachers

Last spring more than 700 Cleveland teachers were laid off. About 300 of them were called back in the fall, only to be laid off, again, a week later. For many Ohio teachers, job insecurity comes with the territory. Ida Lieszkovszky, StateImpact Eye on Education, Sept. 6, 2011

Wisconsin Teacher Retirements Double After Cuts To Benefits And Collective Bargaining

Documents obtained by The Associated Press under the state's open records law show that about twice as many public school teachers decided to hang it up in the first half of this year as in each of the past two full years, part of a mass exit of public employees. Scott Bauer, Associated Press, Aug. 31, 2011

West Virginia Learns Finland's 'Most Honorable Profession': Teacher

When newly minted West Virginia Schools Superintendent Dr. Steven Paine told parents, teachers and educators in 2005 that he wanted to use Finland as a model for their education system, he got a lot of blank stares: Finland? What, people asked, does West Virginia have to do with Finland? Paul Frysh, CNN, Aug. 31, 2011

Most Schools Flagged For Possible Cheating Likely To Be Cleared

Most of the 90 Pennsylvania schools whose results raised red flags for possible cheating on the 2009 state assessment test probably did nothing wrong, and the Department of Education likely will clear them, a department spokesman said. Jodi Weigand, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Aug. 16, 2011

Merit Pay for Principals Prompts Questions

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a plan Monday to award merit pay to Chicago Public Schools principals who perform well on a new set of evaluative metrics as critics questioned whether the program will lead to gains in student achievement. Rebecca Vevea and Crystal Yednak, Chicago News Cooperative, Aug. 15, 2011

Rookie Teachers Asked to Help Louisville's Troubled Schools

In Kentucky, Jefferson County Public Schools is relying heavily on teachers with no experience to help turn around seven chronically low-performing schools that were ordered to overhaul their staffs. Antoinette Konz, Louisville Courier-Journal, July 24, 2011

Illinois Law On Teacher Tenure, Union Rights Touted As Model For Other States

The new Illinois law that overhauls teacher tenure, collective bargaining, layoff procedures, and the right to strike took the stage in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, with several key people behind the measure holding it up as a model for other states. Mark Walsh, Catalyst Chicago, July 13, 2011

Highly Rated Instructors Go Beyond Teaching to the Standardized Test

Some Southern California teachers are finding ways to keep creativity in the lesson plan even as they prepare their students for standardized tests. Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2011

Teachers From Low-Performing Schools Face Stigma On Job Search

In a bizarre game of musical chairs, nearly 1,000 Los Angeles teachers — who are guaranteed jobs somewhere in the school system — have been hunting for a school that wants them. And hundreds of them have to counter a stigma that they are undesirable castoffs, because they previously worked at low-performing schools that are being restructured. Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2011

Investigation into Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Finds Unethical Behavior Across Every Level

Across Atlanta Public Schools, staff worked feverishly in secret to transform testing failures into successes.Special investigators describe an enterprise where unethical — and potentially illegal — behavior pierced every level of the bureaucracy, allowing district staff to reap praise and sometimes bonuses by misleading the children, parents and community they served. Heather Vogell, Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 6, 2011

From One Struggling School to Another

More than half of the teachers pushed out of seven underperforming schools in Boston last year now work at other low-achieving schools across the city that are also under pressure to improve, according to a Boston Globe analysis. James Vaznis, Boston Globe, July 5, 2011

Young D.C. Principal Quits and Tells Why

The dysfunction Phoebe Hearst Elementary Principal Bill Kerlina encountered in D.C. public schools led him to quit this month, fed up and burned out. Bill Turque, Washington Post, June 25, 2011

Cheating, Tampering Found in Baltimore Schools

Widespread cheating on state assessment tests has been uncovered at two Baltimore elementary schools, state and district officials are expected to announce today. Erica L. Green, Baltimore Sun, June 23, 2011

The World's Schoolmaster

How a German scientist is using test data to revolutionize global learning. Amanda Ripley, The Atlantic, June 2011

Changes At R.I. School Fail To Produce Results

For the last year, Central Falls High School in Rhode Island has been under a microscope. Long considered one of the poorest-performing high schools in the state, administrators abandoned a proposal to fire all the teachers as long as they agreed to a so-called "transformation" plan. Now, as the school year winds down, that plan is in shambles. Claudio Sanchez, NPR, June 13, 2011

Teachers Speed-Date For Jobs In Rhode Island

Earlier this year, the city of Providence, R.I., fired all of its nearly 2,000 teachers, shut down five schools and consolidated some programs. Most of the fired teachers were rehired, but when the dust settled, 400 teachers were left without jobs. To give them a chance to apply for 270 positions elsewhere the district, Providence officials are using an unusual device. Elisabeth Harrison, NPR, June 12, 2011

New Force in Illinois Quickly Pushes State Toward School Reform

In short order, Stand for Children tapped into a network of the city's rich and powerful — including billionaires with names like Pritzker, Crown and Zell — to raise millions of dollars. The stockpile of money is geared toward influencing elections and paying an all-star lineup of lobbyists across the political spectrum to prod lawmakers to act on issues that previously failed or were thought to be undoable. Ray Long, Chicago Tribune, June 11, 2011

Diplomas Count 2011: National Graduation Rate Rebounds

A new national report from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center finds that the nation’s graduation rate has increased significantly, following two consecutive years of declines and stagnation. With this dramatic turnaround, the nation’s graduation rate stands at 72 percent, the highest level of high school completion in more than two decades. Education Week, June 9, 2011

Good School/Bad School

How do you judge if a school is good or bad? A strong leader, great teachers, a diverse curriculum and happy children can all be indicators that a school is good — but when state and federal policymakers evaluate schools, they typically consider just one piece of evidence: test scores. Cat McGrath and John Merrow, Learning Matters, June 3, 2011

Md. Teacher Evaluation Redesign Bogs Down

The state that prides itself on cutting-edge practices and top-in-the-nation schools is struggling — along with every state or school system that has ever tried — to come up with a reliable formula for improving the teacher workforce and rooting out the lowest performers. Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post, June 4, 2011

In North Jersey, Teacher Tenure is No Sure Thing

Districts throughout North Jersey are denying the prize of tenure to some educators who, school officials say, aren't performing up to standards, based on interviews with the leaders of more than a dozen North Jersey districts.Leslie Brody, North Jersey Record, May 22, 2011

LA Times Updates and Expands Value-Added Ratings for Los Angeles Elementary School Teachers

New data include ratings for about 11,500 teachers, nearly double the number covered last August. School and civic leaders had sought to halt release of the data. Jason Song and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2011

 Rose 'Mama G' Gilbert, 92, Inspires Generations as L.A.'s Oldest Teacher

When Rose Gilbert became a teacher, colored televisions had not yet entered the homes of Americans. The Berlin wall stood strong, and President Truman had just created NATO. Gabrielle Canon, Huffington Post, May 5, 2011

Singled-out L.A. Unified Teacher Shares Skills With Colleagues

Miguel Aguilar was cited as among L.A. Unified's most effective in an L.A. Times article on the 'value-added' evaluation method. Since then, many at his Pacoima school have adopted his methods. But budget cuts threaten his job. Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 2011

'Value-Added' Teacher Evaluations: L.A. Unified Tackles a Tough Formula

Los Angeles school district leaders are poised to plunge ahead with their own confidential 'value-added' ratings this spring, saying the approach is far more objective and accurate than any other evaluation tool available, despite its complexity. Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2011

Evaluation of D.C. Teachers Is a Delicate Conversation

The District’s new teacher evaluation system is becoming a national model, even as unions and some experts question the wisdom of staking careers on it. And in the moment when school reform meets the teachers expected to carry it out, master educators observe teachers in class — and then have a conference that can end careers. Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post, March 17, 2011

U.S. Is Urged to Raise Teachers’ Status

To improve its public schools, the United States should raise the status of the teaching profession by recruiting more qualified candidates, training them better and paying them more, according to a new report on comparative educational systems. Sam Dillon, New York Times, March 16, 2011

Baltimore school buyout aims to reduce 'surplus' teachers

Baltimore City schools' recent offer of an early retirement package for its most experienced teachers is partly an attempt to cut the expense of having 100 more educators than positions this year, a trend that has cost the district $18 million since 2008. Erica L. Green, Baltimore Sun, March 4, 2011

Tested: Covering Schools in the Age of the Micro-Measurement

Supporters of value-added measurements argue that teacher evaluations require objective rigor, calculated with statistics. Weak teachers, they argue, should not hide behind a subjective, protective system that undermines children’s futures. Critics counter that the calculations are incomplete, misleading, and often wrong. LynNell Hancock, Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2011. We will be discussing the media's role in reporting value-added scores at the National Seminar.

When Test Scores Seem Too Good to Believe

In several grades, standardized test scores at Charles Seipelt Elementary School fluctuated year to year, sometimes rising sharply, then falling, according to data USA Today obtained from the Ohio Department of Education. Such anomalies surfaced in Washington, D.C., and each of the states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Ohio — where the newspaper analyzed test scores. Greg Toppo, Denise Amos, Jack Gillum and Jodi Upton, USA Today, March 6, 2011

Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie

You would think the Department of Education would want to replicate Stacey Isaacson — a dedicated teacher who has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia and works long hours every school day — and sprinkle Ms. Isaacsons all over town. Instead, the department’s accountability experts have developed a complex formula to calculate how much academic progress a teacher’s students make in a year — the teacher’s value-added score — and that formula indicates that Ms. Isaacson is one of the city’s worst teachers. Michael Winerip, New York Times, March 6, 2011

Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?

Around the country, many teachers see demands to cut their income, benefits and say in how schools are run through collective bargaining as attacks not just on their livelihoods, but on their value to society. Trip Gabriel, New York Times, March 2, 2011

How Teacher Development Could Revolutionize Our Schools

As the nation's governors gather in Washington for their annual meeting, they are grappling with more than state budget deficits. They're confronting deep education deficits as well. Bill Gates, Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2011

Can We Improve Education By Increasing Class Size?

Bill Gates is right that a lower class size doesn't automatically guarantee that student achievement will take place, but the further gutting of public education, and the need for districts to save money, shouldn't drive long-term policy decisions about what's best for kids. Liz Dwyer, GOOD Magazine, March 1, 2011

Report Details Problems With Pre-K, Kindergarten, Early Grades Teacher Prep

The quality of the instruction that children receive in pre-kindergarten through the third grade can make a lasting impact on how well they perform throughout their years in school. Because children in these grades are still developing basic skills, their teachers need preparation that is different from what is required of their late-elementary school counterparts. Laura Bornfreund, New America Foundation, March 1, 2011

Pa. Teacher Strikes Nerve With 'Lazy Whiners' Blog

A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a sensation by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out? Patrick Walters, Associated Press, Feb. 16, 2011

Arne Duncan: We need more black men in classrooms

Less than 2 percent of the nation’s teachers are black males. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, film director Spike Lee and Congressman John Lewis will try to change that Monday when they appeal to the men of Morehouse College to consider teaching as a career. Maureen Downey, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 29, 2011

Whistle-Blowing Teachers Targeted

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reviewed reports of Atlanta Public Schools internal investigations and spoke with more than a dozen current and former Atlanta educators. The documents and the interviews describe a culture that punishes employees who report wrongdoing and rewards those who keep silent. Some whistle-blowers end up under scrutiny themselves. Others are subjected to questions about their mental health. Some lose their jobs. Alan Judd and Heather Vogell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 23, 2011

The big squeeze is on in California classes

Caught in a budget meltdown, the state is forcing schools to abandon one of the most popular education reforms -- smaller class sizes. The frustrations are already showing in San Jose Unified, which boosted class sizes by 50 percent for its youngest students last school year. With the state facing a yawning $28 billion budget gap, more districts are almost certain to follow. Sharon Noguchi, The San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 9, 2011

60 First Graders, 4 Teachers, One Loud New Way to Learn

Instead of assigning one teacher to roughly 25 children, the New American Academy in Brooklyn began the school year with four teachers in large, open classrooms of 60 students. The school stresses student independence over teacher-led lessons, scientific inquiry over rote memorization and freedom and self-expression over strict structure and discipline. Sharon Otterman, The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2011

Poll: Most want easier way to fire bad teachers

An overwhelming majority of Americans are frustrated that it's too difficult to get rid of bad teachers, while most also believe that teachers aren't paid enough, a new poll shows. Associated Press, Dec. 14, 2010

What Studies Say About the Effectiveness of Teachers

EWA has published a new research brief for journalists on what studies tell us about topics that arise often in the debate over teacher effectiveness. The first of a series of EWA research briefs, the paper tackles such timely questions as whether teachers are indeed the most important factor in student achievement; whether value-added measures are reliable; whether advanced degrees or merit pay make a difference; and how students are affected by having several effective—or ineffective—teachers in a row. You can read it all online or download the whole paper. Please give it a read and tell us what you think!