Although some school districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts, others reveal little or no information, reports Ty Tagami of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Excellent example of accountability journalism in the COVID-19 era by @Ty_Tagami: Request the data, be skeptical of blanket statements on "privacy," and push back on districts that aren't following the law. He's my pick for @edwriters#tellEWA. https://t.co/A0ZIIKMt95
EdSurge’s Jeffrey R. Young covers what’s left of campus life for students to enjoy at a time of social isolation and how professors are coping.
So much of what makes college valuable happens in informal conversations among students, or students and profs, that are happening less due to COVID restrictions. Hear the latest in our campus diaries podcast series. #TellEWAhttps://t.co/nqXBRx4fFn
For The New Yorker, Casey Parks covers the enrichment centers that quickly opened in March for the children of essential workers.
"I said to myself, ‘If these people are putting their lives on the line, at least let me make sure that their kids are good.’" @caseyparks' superb storytelling is my pick for this week's @EdWriters' #tellEWA. https://t.co/dyhi35BEo2
A year ago, when Bianca Argueta was beginning her senior year at
Richmond Hill High, she felt pretty excited about what the fall
of 2020 might hold for her. Richmond Hill is a big, old-fashioned
public high school in central Queens, the alma mater of Rodney
Dangerfield and Phil Rizzuto, and Bianca was a top student there,
full of ambition, part of the leadership club, taking A.P.
classes.
For KNKX’s Take the Mic, 18-year-old Ukweli Bayard interviews four of his friends about their feelings as they begin their college journey online.
We talk *a lot* about the value of getting more youth voices into education stories: @knkxfm's @ashleykgross is handing them the mic! The debut installment of this innovative project is my pick for this week's @EdWriters#tellEWA. https://t.co/PFQHTvckJQ
For The Boston Globe, Linda K. Wertheimer dives into the complexities of teaching about racism and talks with teachers who feel compelled to do more to show that Americans are far from living in a post-racial era.
In theory, Boise School District students could be returning to
in-person classes in September. But Elizabeth Barrios’ two sons
won’t be there. Her sons, who attend Whitney Elementary and South
Junior High, desperately want to go back.
But Barrios decided they’ll be enrolled online until at least
January. “It’s not the same, but I’d prefer to do that rather
than go back to school (in-person),” Barrios said. “They’re kids.
And kids aren’t going to be careful.”
Late last summer, Luis decided to attend Wilbur Wright College,
one of the seven two-year community colleges that make up the
City Colleges of Chicago. He received financial aid to cover
tuition and books. We’re not using Luis’ last name at his
request to retain some privacy online.
Luis hopes to eventually get a bachelor’s degree in industrial
engineering and said he’s motivated by the idea of earning enough
that he doesn’t have to worry about money. His mom works 12-hour
days to support their large family.
Low enrollment and financial troubles have caused a slew of
Vermont’s small, independent colleges to shut their doors. What’s
causing the problem — and is there a solution?
VPR’s Amy Noyes, who has been reporting on higher ed in
Vermont with a fellowship from the Education Writers
Association, has answers to these three questions:
“Why are student populations shrinking?” — Diana Clark,
South Burlington
The solar-powered air purification tower rises 200 feet out of a
cluster of high-rises in China — a soaring symbol of new
possibilities for its inventor, University of Minnesota
engineering professor David Pui.
Collaboration with China has long been a linchpin of U research,
and lately that work has accelerated. In the past five years,
university faculty have published more than 4,300 scientific
papers jointly with colleagues in China — more than any other
country.
Jieie Chen and Dong Xuan felt a strong connection to the
University of Minnesota long before they arrived from China with
their son, Ken, an incoming freshman.
They had spent hours online researching the university. They had
heard the director of the U’s Beijing office make a case for
joining the “Gophers family” at a meeting with admitted students
in Shanghai last spring. They had later taken in testimonials
from U students and alumni at one of the orientations the
university hosts in China each summer.
In the 2017-18 school year, a handful of students (mostly from
wealthy suburban Chicago districts) were sent to Discovery
Academy or one of its associated facilities in Utah, and at least
70 more to other Utah boarding schools. That’s according to
documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, from
the Illinois State Board of Education.
If you graduate from the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy and go on
to college, there is no escaping Katherine Grow. She’ll call,
she’ll email, and she’ll show up on campus. And usually, during
those campus visits, she’ll ask to see your phone.
The cell phones are a gateway to the college grades of the
Detroit charter school’s graduates, and looking in is a key way
that Grow monitors how those students are faring.
The preschool dual-language program at Gates Street Early
Education Center in Lincoln Heights, one of Los Angeles’ oldest
neighborhoods with dense populations of Latino and Asian
residents, is part of a growing number of bilingual education
models taking root in California and across the
country. Many of them are designed to serve students from
Spanish-speaking families, as well as students from other
cultures, under mounting evidence that learning two languages can
help people from all backgrounds become stronger
students.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Ricardo Alcalá’s parents, born in Mexico,
carried less than a second-grade education when they came to
California to work the fields. His older siblings dropped out of
high school. One was sentenced to prison for life and killed
behind bars. Ricardo was 13 then, living in poverty.
But when he was 14, something changed. A Latina teacher told him
he was too smart for pre-algebra and should move up.
Unlike lecture courses, online programs allow students to plug
away at their own speed on problems matched to their individual
learning needs — a format that works well for some students. But
there are also pitfalls to that approach.
In August, McDonogh 35 again gained notoriety when it
became the last New Orleans public campus here to
become a charter school, making this the first American
city to fully embrace a publicly funded but privately
operated school system.
Last week brought the first early decision deadlines for high
school seniors applying to college — and also a lot of
potential questions: Just what is early decision and how does it
differ from early action? Have college admissions changed since
the “Varsity Blues” scandal broke earlier this year? How do
college admissions officers view Vermont’s new proficiency-based
grading systems? What are the admissions options at Vermont
colleges and universities?
But still, despite excelling in her other classes, Marqell
McClendon has struggled in the remedial math class she’s taking
during her first semester at Michigan State University.
It’s an unfamiliar scene for McClendon, the valedictorian of her
graduating class at Detroit’s Cody High School who’s used to
students coming to her for help. Now, the tables are turned. She
describes it as “bittersweet.”
Yuliana Quintana worries she won’t succeed in college because she
didn’t have access to lab equipment, Advanced Placement classes,
and other resources during her high school years.
Quintana, 19, was last year’s valedictorian of her high school in
DePue, a tiny village about 50 miles north of Peoria.
Quintana’s school district, DePue Community Unit School District
103, is one of the poorest districts in Illinois.
At Austin Community College, civics is an unwritten part of the
curriculum — so much so that for years the school has tapped its
own funds to set up temporary early-voting sites on nine of
its 11 campuses.
A city of just 5,500 residents in East Texas might not be the
first place people would think of when looking to pilot a program
that could change the college landscape, but it’s happening in
Rusk.
When the Rusk promise launched in 2014, it was the first
community promise initiative in the state. In just five years,
the results already are creating change in the community.
On a Monday morning in April 2017, students at Sage Hill School
gathered in its artificial-turf quadrangle, known as the Town
Square, to celebrate seniors who were heading to college as
recruited athletes. The 10 honorees lined up behind an archway
adorned with balloons. One by one, they stepped forward as their
sports and destinations were announced. Patricia Merz, the head
of the private high school in Newport Coast, California, placed a
lei in the appropriate college’s colors around each student’s
neck.
The story of our communities can in many ways be told through the
lens of the school districts that serve our children. More than
organizations that enable learning, school districts are
geographic boundaries that serve as magnifying lenses that allow
us to focus on issues of race and wealth. They are both a
statement of “what is” and “what could be” in our society.
On November 8, 2016, while the rest of the world anxiously
awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, a subset
of voters with a keen interest in education had their eyes on
Massachusetts. This was the day Bay Staters would vote on Ballot
Question 2, a proposal to raise the state’s cap on public charter
schools by up to 12 new schools per year.
College students’ views on the First Amendment are important for
another reason as well: Students act as de facto arbiters of free
expression on campus. The Supreme Court justices are not standing
by at the entrances to public university lecture halls ready to
step in if First Amendment rights are curtailed. If a significant
percentage of students believe that views they find offensive
should be silenced, those views will in fact be silenced.
In early January, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York announced his
intention to make a public college education tuition-free for
most students in the state. The proposal has breathed life back
into the free college movement, which supporters feared would
lose momentum under the incoming presidential administration.
Instead, momentum has simply relocated (back) to the state level.
Tennessee and Oregon already have their own “free college”
initiatives, and just this week, Governor Gina Raimondo proposed
a version for Rhode Island.
Higher education issues took a more prominent role in the 2016
elections than any time in recent memory, college affordability
and student debt levels catapulted higher education to the top of
domestic policy concerns. Both major party nominees for
president, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton,
included higher education proposals in their policy agendas, with
Clinton offering the most expansive, ambitious higher education
plan than any other major party candidate in decades.
States are now deeply engaged in developing plans for their
federal education spending for the next several years. Decades of
experience and education research indicate that states must
strengthen and organize the educator workforce to implement
change successfully. Now is the time to rethink systems and
strategies and to focus funds and efforts on what matters most
for learning: great teachers and leaders for every student and
school.
Systemic challenges in the educator workforce require thoughtful
and bold actions, and ESSA presents a unique opportunity for
states to reaffirm, modify, or improve their vision of educator
effectiveness. This GTL Center discussion guide focuses on one
challenge that states face as part of this work: defining
ineffective teacher in the absence of highly qualified teacher
(HQT) requirements.
Numerous studies show large differences between economically
advantaged and disadvantaged parents in the quality and quantity
of their engagement in young children’s development. This
“parenting gap” may account for a substantial portion of the gap
in children’s early cognitive skills. However, researchers know
little about whether the socioeconomic gap in parenting has
increased over time. The present study investigates this
question, focusing on income- (and education) based gaps in
parents’ engagement in cognitively stimulating activities with
preschool-aged children.
Predictive analytics–using massive amounts of historical data to
predict future events–is a practice that’s making it easier and
faster for colleges to decide which students to enroll and how to
get them to graduation. But predictive analytics can aid in
discriminatory practices, make institutional practices less
transparent, and make vulnerable individuals’ data privacy and
security.
The moment they earn their bachelor’s degrees, black college
graduates owe $7,400 more on average than their white peers
($23,400 versus $16,000, including non-borrowers in the
averages). But over the next few years, the black-white debt gap
more than triples to a whopping $25,000. Differences in interest
accrual and graduate school borrowing lead to black graduates
holding nearly $53,000 in student loan debt four years after
graduation—almost twice as much as their white counterparts.
Cognitive skills—that is, math and reading skills that are
measured by standardized tests—are generally understood to be of
critical importance in the labor market. Most people find it
intuitive and indeed unsurprising that cognitive skills, as
measured by standardized tests, are important for students’
later-life outcomes. For example, earnings tend to be higher for
those with higher levels of cognitive skills. What is less well
understood—and is the focus of these economic facts—is that
noncognitive skills are also integral to educational performance
and labor-market outcomes.
This report examines the status of education in the United
States by aggregating high quality research and data from
numerous credible sources. Each chapter describes the context and
the current state of play in each focus area –
including student achievement, standards
and testing; school finance, and charter schools, among
others. It highlights key policy issues and trends affecting
public education now and in the future.
Competency-based education (CBE), an instructional approach that
emphasizes what students learn and master rather than how much
time they spend in school, is gaining popularity nationwide. CBE
environments provide students with personalized learning,
autonomy, flexibility, and responsibility for their own learning,
which is theorized to improved learning behaviors.
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), like No Child Left
Behind before it, requires states to report information on the
academic achievement of students in each of their schools, both
overall and for various subgroups of students. A subgroup of
particular interest to policymakers and researchers is
economically disadvantaged students, who, on average, score much
lower on standardized tests than their higher-income peers.
Educational Exclusion: Drop Out, Push Out, and the
School-to-Prison Pipeline among LGBTQ Youth provides an
in-depth look at the conditions that effectively push LGBTQ youth
out of school and potentially into the criminal justice system.
The report provides specific, real world guidance to address the
hostile school climates and damaging policies and practices that
contribute to pushing LGBTQ youth out of their schools.
Match Beyond has a bodacious goal: To invent a college program
that wipes out undergraduate debt and cures poverty.
Not the rarefied college designed for that by-the-bootstraps,
defy-the-odds high school senior trotted out for interviews and
inspirational speeches when visitors come to high-poverty schools
looking for their scholarship success stories.
One of the most important and welcomed provisions of the Every
Student Succeed Act (ESSA) is the removal of so-called adequate
yearly progress – the federal mandate that came to symbolize
everything that was wrong with the way No Child Left Behind
defined and measured accountability. AYP imposed rigid
and narrow measures for school improvement, improperly
labeling many schools as low-performing and imposing punishment
when they were unable to meet the unrealistic expectations for
proficiency.
Far far too many students, the path between high school and
higher education is littered with detours and roadblocks.
… “Mapping College Ready Policies 2015-16,” a data
visualization project released earlier today by New America’s
Education Policy Program, analyzes individual states’ progress
towards addressing these challenges to ensure all students are on
a sturdy bridge on their route from high school to higher
education.
To date, most of the public narrative and pushback on new teacher
evaluation systems has centered around their use for high-stakes
personnel decisions such as pay, promotion, and dismissal. But
these systems were always intended to promote and support
improvements for all teachers—not just the superstars or
laggards.
The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A
State-by-State Analysis evaluates the health of the charter
public school movement in key states across the country.
Following the first report released in October 2014,
this second edition measures movement growth, innovation, and
quality, while this year doubling the number of quality measures.
Due to these quality additions, a total of 18 states with charter
school laws met the criteria for inclusion in this year’s report.
A new review released by the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), a
policy center within the Education Commission of the States,
offers a comprehensive look at state policies for arts education
identified in statute or administrative code for all 50 states
and the District of Columbia.
State achievement standards represent how much the state expects
their students to learn in order to reach various levels of
academic proficiency. In the past, these achievement standards
were used by each state to report adequate yearly progress under
No Child Left Behind federal legislation, and are now being used
for federal reporting under the Every Student Succeeds Act of
2015.
As districts face the recurring problem of ensuring every student
has access to a high-quality teacher, a growing number have begun
to proactively form deep, mutually beneficial partnerships with
teacher preparation programs to produce teacher candidates who
match their specific needs. These partnerships, when done well,
take significant time and resources on behalf of both parties,
but have the ability to transform the work of both institutions.
Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common
Good through College Admissions, represents the first time
that a broad coalition of colleges and universities have joined
forces in a unified effort calling for widespread change in the
college admissions process. The report
includes concrete recommendations to reshape the college
admissions process and promote greater ethical engagement among
aspiring students, reduce excessive achievement pressure, and
level the playing field for economically disadvantaged students.
Trends in College Spending: 2003–2013 examines college and
university finances during one of the most turbulent economic
periods in decades. The financial ramifications of the 2008
recession were vast, affecting students’ ability to pay for
college, lawmakers’ prioritization of public resources, and the
budgetary environment facing higher education leaders. The
challenges brought by the fiscal crisis also provided colleges
and universities with an opportunity to reevaluate how they
allocated resources and rethink how to manage costs and improve
student outcomes.
This report is designed to help improve transfer student outcomes
by helping institutional leaders and policymakers better
understand current outcomes and providing them with metrics for
benchmarking their performance.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Sept. 18 -24)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Although some school districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts, others reveal little or no information, reports Ty Tagami of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
EdSurge’s Jeffrey R. Young covers what’s left of campus life for students to enjoy at a time of social isolation and how professors are coping.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Sept. 11 -17)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
For The New Yorker, Casey Parks covers the enrichment centers that quickly opened in March for the children of essential workers.
Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum chronicles how we got to a point where the stakes for improving America’s school buildings are higher than ever before.
Her School Offered a Path to the Middle Class. Will Covid-19 Block It?
A year ago, when Bianca Argueta was beginning her senior year at Richmond Hill High, she felt pretty excited about what the fall of 2020 might hold for her. Richmond Hill is a big, old-fashioned public high school in central Queens, the alma mater of Rodney Dangerfield and Phil Rizzuto, and Bianca was a top student there, full of ambition, part of the leadership club, taking A.P. classes.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Sept. 4 -10)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
For KNKX’s Take the Mic, 18-year-old Ukweli Bayard interviews four of his friends about their feelings as they begin their college journey online.
For The Boston Globe, Linda K. Wertheimer dives into the complexities of teaching about racism and talks with teachers who feel compelled to do more to show that Americans are far from living in a post-racial era.
Latinos Are More Wary Of Sending Kids To School, But They May Have More to Lose If They Don’t
In theory, Boise School District students could be returning to in-person classes in September. But Elizabeth Barrios’ two sons won’t be there. Her sons, who attend Whitney Elementary and South Junior High, desperately want to go back.
But Barrios decided they’ll be enrolled online until at least January. “It’s not the same, but I’d prefer to do that rather than go back to school (in-person),” Barrios said. “They’re kids. And kids aren’t going to be careful.”
States Want To End Developmental Education. Why Chicago Professors Are Fighting Back.
Late last summer, Luis decided to attend Wilbur Wright College, one of the seven two-year community colleges that make up the City Colleges of Chicago. He received financial aid to cover tuition and books. We’re not using Luis’ last name at his request to retain some privacy online.
Luis hopes to eventually get a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and said he’s motivated by the idea of earning enough that he doesn’t have to worry about money. His mom works 12-hour days to support their large family.
As Colleges Close, How Will Vermont Schools Survive?
Low enrollment and financial troubles have caused a slew of Vermont’s small, independent colleges to shut their doors. What’s causing the problem — and is there a solution?
VPR’s Amy Noyes, who has been reporting on higher ed in Vermont with a fellowship from the Education Writers Association, has answers to these three questions:
“Why are student populations shrinking?” — Diana Clark, South Burlington
University of Minnesota’s Academic Work With China Chilled by Federal Concerns
The solar-powered air purification tower rises 200 feet out of a cluster of high-rises in China — a soaring symbol of new possibilities for its inventor, University of Minnesota engineering professor David Pui.
Collaboration with China has long been a linchpin of U research, and lately that work has accelerated. In the past five years, university faculty have published more than 4,300 scientific papers jointly with colleagues in China — more than any other country.
University of Minnesota Mines China Connection But Worries About Future
Jieie Chen and Dong Xuan felt a strong connection to the University of Minnesota long before they arrived from China with their son, Ken, an incoming freshman.
They had spent hours online researching the university. They had heard the director of the U’s Beijing office make a case for joining the “Gophers family” at a meeting with admitted students in Shanghai last spring. They had later taken in testimonials from U students and alumni at one of the orientations the university hosts in China each summer.
Far From Home
In the 2017-18 school year, a handful of students (mostly from wealthy suburban Chicago districts) were sent to Discovery Academy or one of its associated facilities in Utah, and at least 70 more to other Utah boarding schools. That’s according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, from the Illinois State Board of Education.
Visiting Days: How a Detroit High School Extends Its Family Feel By Sticking With Graduates Through College
If you graduate from the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy and go on to college, there is no escaping Katherine Grow. She’ll call, she’ll email, and she’ll show up on campus. And usually, during those campus visits, she’ll ask to see your phone.
The cell phones are a gateway to the college grades of the Detroit charter school’s graduates, and looking in is a key way that Grow monitors how those students are faring.
More US Schools Teach in Spanish, But Not Enough to Help Latinos
The preschool dual-language program at Gates Street Early Education Center in Lincoln Heights, one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhoods with dense populations of Latino and Asian residents, is part of a growing number of bilingual education models taking root in California and across the country. Many of them are designed to serve students from Spanish-speaking families, as well as students from other cultures, under mounting evidence that learning two languages can help people from all backgrounds become stronger students.
Most Teachers Are White, Even as Schools Are More Diverse Than Ever
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Ricardo Alcalá’s parents, born in Mexico, carried less than a second-grade education when they came to California to work the fields. His older siblings dropped out of high school. One was sentenced to prison for life and killed behind bars. Ricardo was 13 then, living in poverty.
But when he was 14, something changed. A Latina teacher told him he was too smart for pre-algebra and should move up.
As More Colleges Experiment With Online Remediation, Some Students Flourish While Many Others Fall Behind
Unlike lecture courses, online programs allow students to plug away at their own speed on problems matched to their individual learning needs — a format that works well for some students. But there are also pitfalls to that approach.
New Orleans Public Education Goes to An All-Charter School System
In August, McDonogh 35 again gained notoriety when it became the last New Orleans public campus here to become a charter school, making this the first American city to fully embrace a publicly funded but privately operated school system.
Early Action? Early Decision? An Explanation of Looming College Admission Deadlines
Last week brought the first early decision deadlines for high school seniors applying to college — and also a lot of potential questions: Just what is early decision and how does it differ from early action? Have college admissions changed since the “Varsity Blues” scandal broke earlier this year? How do college admissions officers view Vermont’s new proficiency-based grading systems? What are the admissions options at Vermont colleges and universities?
As Detroit Students Settle Into Their First Semester of College, ‘Bridge’ Programs Provide Needed Support
But still, despite excelling in her other classes, Marqell McClendon has struggled in the remedial math class she’s taking during her first semester at Michigan State University.
It’s an unfamiliar scene for McClendon, the valedictorian of her graduating class at Detroit’s Cody High School who’s used to students coming to her for help. Now, the tables are turned. She describes it as “bittersweet.”
‘Critically Divisive Lines:’ Why Inequity Persists In Illinois Schools
Yuliana Quintana worries she won’t succeed in college because she didn’t have access to lab equipment, Advanced Placement classes, and other resources during her high school years.
Quintana, 19, was last year’s valedictorian of her high school in DePue, a tiny village about 50 miles north of Peoria.
Quintana’s school district, DePue Community Unit School District 103, is one of the poorest districts in Illinois.
The Student Vote Is Surging. So Are Efforts to Suppress It.
At Austin Community College, civics is an unwritten part of the curriculum — so much so that for years the school has tapped its own funds to set up temporary early-voting sites on nine of its 11 campuses.
Promises Kept: How a Scholarship Program Is Serving as a Model for Community Change
Cory McCoy
A city of just 5,500 residents in East Texas might not be the first place people would think of when looking to pilot a program that could change the college landscape, but it’s happening in Rusk.
When the Rusk promise launched in 2014, it was the first community promise initiative in the state. In just five years, the results already are creating change in the community.
An Unseen Victim of the College Admissions Scandal: The High School Tennis Champion Aced Out by a Billionaire Family
On a Monday morning in April 2017, students at Sage Hill School gathered in its artificial-turf quadrangle, known as the Town Square, to celebrate seniors who were heading to college as recruited athletes. The 10 honorees lined up behind an archway adorned with balloons. One by one, they stepped forward as their sports and destinations were announced. Patricia Merz, the head of the private high school in Newport Coast, California, placed a lei in the appropriate college’s colors around each student’s neck.
May 31 – June 6
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
Despite privacy concerns, America’s schools are increasingly monitoring students’ online lives, reports Education Week’s Benjamin Herold.
WAMU’s Jenny Abamu continues exploring schools’ use of restraint and seclusion, and why it often goes unreported.
For USA Today, Erin Richards and Matt Wynn examine how teachers’ salaries stack up to the cost of living in cities across the country.
(Report) Nonwhite School Districts Get $23 Billion Less Than White Districts Despite Serving the Same Number of Students
The story of our communities can in many ways be told through the lens of the school districts that serve our children. More than organizations that enable learning, school districts are geographic boundaries that serve as magnifying lenses that allow us to focus on issues of race and wealth. They are both a statement of “what is” and “what could be” in our society.
Why Suburban Districts Need Public Charter Schools Too – Progressive Policy Institute
On November 8, 2016, while the rest of the world anxiously awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, a subset of voters with a keen interest in education had their eyes on Massachusetts. This was the day Bay Staters would vote on Ballot Question 2, a proposal to raise the state’s cap on public charter schools by up to 12 new schools per year.
Views Among College Students Regarding the First Amendment: Results From a New Survey
College students’ views on the First Amendment are important for another reason as well: Students act as de facto arbiters of free expression on campus. The Supreme Court justices are not standing by at the entrances to public university lecture halls ready to step in if First Amendment rights are curtailed. If a significant percentage of students believe that views they find offensive should be silenced, those views will in fact be silenced.
As Cuomo Proposal Rekindles Free College Movement, New Research Provides Ammunition for Skeptics
Brookings Institution
In early January, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York announced his intention to make a public college education tuition-free for most students in the state. The proposal has breathed life back into the free college movement, which supporters feared would lose momentum under the incoming presidential administration. Instead, momentum has simply relocated (back) to the state level. Tennessee and Oregon already have their own “free college” initiatives, and just this week, Governor Gina Raimondo proposed a version for Rhode Island.
Higher Education: 2016 Elections Wrap-Up and 2017 Federal Policy Preview
American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Higher education issues took a more prominent role in the 2016 elections than any time in recent memory, college affordability and student debt levels catapulted higher education to the top of domestic policy concerns. Both major party nominees for president, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, included higher education proposals in their policy agendas, with Clinton offering the most expansive, ambitious higher education plan than any other major party candidate in decades.
Time for Action Building the Educator Workforce Our Children Need Now
Center on Great Teachers and Leaders
States are now deeply engaged in developing plans for their federal education spending for the next several years. Decades of experience and education research indicate that states must strengthen and organize the educator workforce to implement change successfully. Now is the time to rethink systems and strategies and to focus funds and efforts on what matters most for learning: great teachers and leaders for every student and school.
Teacher Effectiveness in the Every Student Succeeds Act: A Discussion Guide
Center on Great Teachers and Leaders
Systemic challenges in the educator workforce require thoughtful and bold actions, and ESSA presents a unique opportunity for states to reaffirm, modify, or improve their vision of educator effectiveness. This GTL Center discussion guide focuses on one challenge that states face as part of this work: defining ineffective teacher in the absence of highly qualified teacher (HQT) requirements.
Changes in Income-Based Gaps in Parent Activities with Young Children from 1988-2012
American Educational Research Association
Numerous studies show large differences between economically advantaged and disadvantaged parents in the quality and quantity of their engagement in young children’s development. This “parenting gap” may account for a substantial portion of the gap in children’s early cognitive skills. However, researchers know little about whether the socioeconomic gap in parenting has increased over time. The present study investigates this question, focusing on income- (and education) based gaps in parents’ engagement in cognitively stimulating activities with preschool-aged children.
The Promise and Peril of Predictive Analytics in Higher Education
New America
Predictive analytics–using massive amounts of historical data to predict future events–is a practice that’s making it easier and faster for colleges to decide which students to enroll and how to get them to graduation. But predictive analytics can aid in discriminatory practices, make institutional practices less transparent, and make vulnerable individuals’ data privacy and security.
Black-White Disparity in Student Loan Debt More Than Triples After Graduation
Brookings Institution
The moment they earn their bachelor’s degrees, black college graduates owe $7,400 more on average than their white peers ($23,400 versus $16,000, including non-borrowers in the averages). But over the next few years, the black-white debt gap more than triples to a whopping $25,000. Differences in interest accrual and graduate school borrowing lead to black graduates holding nearly $53,000 in student loan debt four years after graduation—almost twice as much as their white counterparts.
Seven Facts On Noncognitive Skills From Education To The Labor Market
The Hamilton Project
Cognitive skills—that is, math and reading skills that are measured by standardized tests—are generally understood to be of critical importance in the labor market. Most people find it intuitive and indeed unsurprising that cognitive skills, as measured by standardized tests, are important for students’ later-life outcomes. For example, earnings tend to be higher for those with higher levels of cognitive skills. What is less well understood—and is the focus of these economic facts—is that noncognitive skills are also integral to educational performance and labor-market outcomes.
The Learning Landscape
Bellwether Education Partners
This report examines the status of education in the United States by aggregating high quality research and data from numerous credible sources. Each chapter describes the context and the current state of play in each focus area – including student achievement, standards and testing; school finance, and charter schools, among others. It highlights key policy issues and trends affecting public education now and in the future.
Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education
American Institutes for Research, Nellie Mae Education Foundation
Competency-based education (CBE), an instructional approach that emphasizes what students learn and master rather than how much time they spend in school, is gaining popularity nationwide. CBE environments provide students with personalized learning, autonomy, flexibility, and responsibility for their own learning, which is theorized to improved learning behaviors.
No More Free Lunch for Education Policymakers and Researchers
Brookings Institution
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), like No Child Left Behind before it, requires states to report information on the academic achievement of students in each of their schools, both overall and for various subgroups of students. A subgroup of particular interest to policymakers and researchers is economically disadvantaged students, who, on average, score much lower on standardized tests than their higher-income peers.
Drop Out, Push Out, & School-to-Prison Pipeline
GLSEN
Educational Exclusion: Drop Out, Push Out, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline among LGBTQ Youth provides an in-depth look at the conditions that effectively push LGBTQ youth out of school and potentially into the criminal justice system. The report provides specific, real world guidance to address the hostile school climates and damaging policies and practices that contribute to pushing LGBTQ youth out of their schools.
Read the report.
This Is What Happens When Charter Schools Think Big
Match Beyond has a bodacious goal: To invent a college program that wipes out undergraduate debt and cures poverty.
Not the rarefied college designed for that by-the-bootstraps, defy-the-odds high school senior trotted out for interviews and inspirational speeches when visitors come to high-poverty schools looking for their scholarship success stories.
With ‘Blame and Shame’ Accountability Behind Us, What Will Take Its Place?
One of the most important and welcomed provisions of the Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) is the removal of so-called adequate yearly progress – the federal mandate that came to symbolize everything that was wrong with the way No Child Left Behind defined and measured accountability. AYP imposed rigid and narrow measures for school improvement, improperly labeling many schools as low-performing and imposing punishment when they were unable to meet the unrealistic expectations for proficiency.
Construction Ahead: Are State Policies Building Bridges, Detours, or Roadblocks to College?
New America
Far far too many students, the path between high school and higher education is littered with detours and roadblocks. … “Mapping College Ready Policies 2015-16,” a data visualization project released earlier today by New America’s Education Policy Program, analyzes individual states’ progress towards addressing these challenges to ensure all students are on a sturdy bridge on their route from high school to higher education.
Beyond Ratings: Re-envisioning State Teacher Evaluation Systems as Tools for Professional Growth
New America
To date, most of the public narrative and pushback on new teacher evaluation systems has centered around their use for high-stakes personnel decisions such as pay, promotion, and dismissal. But these systems were always intended to promote and support improvements for all teachers—not just the superstars or laggards.
The Health of the Charter Public School Movement
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis evaluates the health of the charter public school movement in key states across the country. Following the first report released in October 2014, this second edition measures movement growth, innovation, and quality, while this year doubling the number of quality measures. Due to these quality additions, a total of 18 states with charter school laws met the criteria for inclusion in this year’s report.
2016 State of the States: Arts Education State Policy Summary
Education Commission of the States
A new review released by the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), a policy center within the Education Commission of the States, offers a comprehensive look at state policies for arts education identified in statute or administrative code for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
National Benchmarks for State Achievement Standards
American Institutes for Research
State achievement standards represent how much the state expects their students to learn in order to reach various levels of academic proficiency. In the past, these achievement standards were used by each state to report adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind federal legislation, and are now being used for federal reporting under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.
Ensuring High-Quality Teacher Talent
Education First
As districts face the recurring problem of ensuring every student has access to a high-quality teacher, a growing number have begun to proactively form deep, mutually beneficial partnerships with teacher preparation programs to produce teacher candidates who match their specific needs. These partnerships, when done well, take significant time and resources on behalf of both parties, but have the ability to transform the work of both institutions.
Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good Through College Admissions
Making Caring Common Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through College Admissions, represents the first time that a broad coalition of colleges and universities have joined forces in a unified effort calling for widespread change in the college admissions process. The report includes concrete recommendations to reshape the college admissions process and promote greater ethical engagement among aspiring students, reduce excessive achievement pressure, and level the playing field for economically disadvantaged students.
Trends in College Spending: 2003-2013 – Where Does the Money Come From? Where Does It Go? What Does It Buy?
American Institutes for Research
Trends in College Spending: 2003–2013 examines college and university finances during one of the most turbulent economic periods in decades. The financial ramifications of the 2008 recession were vast, affecting students’ ability to pay for college, lawmakers’ prioritization of public resources, and the budgetary environment facing higher education leaders. The challenges brought by the fiscal crisis also provided colleges and universities with an opportunity to reevaluate how they allocated resources and rethink how to manage costs and improve student outcomes.
Tracking Transfer: New Measures of Institutional and State Effectiveness in Helping Community College Students Attain Bachelor’s Degrees
Community College Research Center
This report is designed to help improve transfer student outcomes by helping institutional leaders and policymakers better understand current outcomes and providing them with metrics for benchmarking their performance.