academic and careers

NCLB Was Right: Assessment Can Change Instruction

What gets tested gets taught, so performance assessments that measure the competencies that matter can lead to instruction that yields those competencies, argues Ben Kornell of Envision Learning Partners.




academic and careers

School Bullying: Federal Bill Would Set Mandates for Local Policies, Data

The bill would mandate local bullying policies and require data collection and reporting at the local, state, and federal level.




academic and careers

Essay in The American Scholar Is Skeptical on School Reform

Education professor Mike Rose has a thoughtful essay questioning some trends in education reform in the quarterly journal of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.




academic and careers

NCLB Waivers: Accountability Issues to Watch

The Center on Education Policy has two new reports pinpointing trouble spots in implementation of waiver plans under the No Child Left Behind Act.




academic and careers

Arne Duncan, Maryland Teachers Talk Common Core

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been warning against a GOP NCLB rewrite bill that's slated to pass the House next week.




academic and careers

What's Wrong With Standardized Testing? Watch John Oliver Offer His Analysis

In a sprawling but nuanced examination, comedian John Oliver explained why the U.S. standardized testing system exists and the harms it creates.




academic and careers

Five Non-Waiver States Will Get to Pause School Ratings For a Year

You don't need a comprehensive No Child Left Behind waiver to get a reprieve from some of the law's accountability requirements.




academic and careers

LGBT Student Bullying Protections to Be Included in ESEA Reauthorization Debate

The forthcoming bullying debate will prompt the first votes on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the right to same-sex marriage.




academic and careers

Three Testing Issues to Watch in Rewriting No Child Left Behind

Both the House and Senate ESEA bills keep annual tests, but they go very different ways on a lot of other assessment issues.




academic and careers

NGA Ed. Committee Favors State Leeway in a Renewed ESEA

The National Governor's Association wants Congress to give states lots of running room when it comes to crafting their accountability plans, according to an interim proposal outlining NGA's priorities for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.




academic and careers

Principals, Superintendents, School Boards Critique Kline Draft

School superintendents, principals, and school board members found a lot to like in a draft bill to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.




academic and careers

Why Not Darling-Hammond?

Analyzing the odds on who will go to bowl games is a hot topic in most of the country, but here in the D.C.-Virginia politicopolis, football pools are often trumped by cabinet appointment speculations. While Joel Klein and Colin Powell’s names have been bouncing around as likely candidates for Secre




academic and careers

Grants for New Assessment Systems Signal the End of the Big Test

The Assessment for Learning Project, a partnership between Center for Innovation in Education and Next Generation Learning Challenges, granted twelve grants totaling $2 million for rethinking assessment.




academic and careers

How We Got Here: A Trip Down NCLB Reauthorization's Memory Lane

A look back at prior attempts to renew the federal law makes one thing clear: We're drifting further and further away from the idea of a strong federal role in K-12 accountability.




academic and careers

More NCLB Waiver States Get Federal Approval for Teacher Evaluations

The U.S. Department of Education continues to quietly approve and negotiate over states' teacher-evaluation systems as part of its No Child Left Behind Act waiver process.




academic and careers

Barack Obama Says Education Reform Isn't a 'Cure-All.' Is That a Flip-Flop?

A tweet from the former president about education's role in addressing inequality and lack of opportunities drew split reactions and a chance to review his record and where K-12 stands in the political sphere.




academic and careers

Remembering Former First Lady Barbara Bush, an Advocate for Literacy

As the wife of former President George H.W. Bush, she used the bully pulpit of her office as first lady to advance the issue on behalf of both for children and parents.




academic and careers

Joe Biden, Gun-Free School Zones Champion, Busing Critic, Is Running for President

As a U.S. senator and vice president, Biden focused on preschool, gun-free school zones, and the Obama administration's response to the Newtown, Conn. school shooting in 2012.




academic and careers

Passage of GOP-Backed NCLB Rewrite Could Be Delayed, Amid Conservative Backlash

House leaders may hold off on a final vote on a Republican-backed bill to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law, amid pushback from powerful GOP lobbying groups




academic and careers

Bernie Sanders' Record on Testing and No Child Left Behind: A Brief History

The Democratic presidential candidate likes to highlight his vote against the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, although his record on the issue of high-stakes standardized testing isn't black and white.




academic and careers

It's Hard to Stay on Top of Education Policy. You've Got to Have a Strategy

There's no one-stop shop to get everything you need from education policy, politics, and practice, writes academic Deven E. Carlson.




academic and careers

Advocates for Science-Based Reading Instruction Worry California Plan Sends the Wrong Message

California, which has a mixed history when it comes to evidence-based reading instruction, has a plan to use federal funds for literacy programs that some say are out of sync with the science.




academic and careers

Why the Feds Still Fall Short on Special Education Funding

Calls to fully fund the nation's main special education law resound on the campaign trail, but a complex array of factors make that an elusive goal.




academic and careers

Politics or Policy?

NAESP Executive Director Gail Connelly joins principals across the country in calling on Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and, in doing so, support, strengthen and invest in great principals.




academic and careers

5 From 1: Federal Politics and Policy

My top five announcements from each monthly issue of School Improvement Industry Announcements – Policy and Politics. The criterion for selection is information and events that help edbizbuzz readers understand how what happens in Washington shapes our emerging market for school improvement products




academic and careers

How Schools Can Be More Effective at Growing Young Voters

The reason young people fail to vote is not because they don't care about politics or policy, but because they don't know how to translate their ideals into action, a new book argues.




academic and careers

Education Week: Politics and Policy




academic and careers

When National Security Threats Influence Education Policy and Politics

A new research study, released just a few days before the U.S. military killed a top Iranian military commander and escalated international tensions, looked at connections between sudden national security crises and education policymaking in Washington.





academic and careers

Teach for America Turns Focus to Native Achievement

Teach for America has tapped a longtime teacher and administrator and a member of the new National Advisory Council on Indian Education to lead its fledgling Native Achievement Initiative.




academic and careers

Integrate Technology Into Core Of Rural Schools, Official Says

Cost and resource levels make it harder to incorporate technology at many of the nation's rural schools, said the U.S. Department of Education's point person for technology, and finding ways to overcome those obstacles is part of the follow-up work being done in response to a Rural Education Technol




academic and careers

Wisconsin Lawmakers Create Task Force to Help Rural Schools

Wisconsin lawmakers have established a new rural school task force to figure out how to address challenges such as declining enrollment and increasing transportation costs.




academic and careers

Gender Gaps Alter Benefits of Extracurricular Activities, Study Finds

A new study finds that extracurricular activities have differing positive effects for rural boys compared to girls.




academic and careers

Rural Schools Often Ignored in Research and Policy Discussions

Rural schools struggle with high and lows more commonly associated with urban schools, including high rates of poverty, low literacy rates, and low college attendance rates, a new report finds.




academic and careers

The Controversy Over School Consolidation in Rural Vermont (Video)

Plummeting student enrollment and skyrocketing education costs have led Vermont lawmakers to begin a controversial consolidation of its vast mostly rural education system. But are Vermont residents willing to give up their small community schools?




academic and careers

Cutting Class Days May Not Cut Costs

And in some districts, shorter school weeks hurt the bottom line.




academic and careers

Home Schooling is on the Rise in Alaska

A distance education home-school program in Alaska has seen consistent growth from rural families.




academic and careers

Are Rural Students Getting Shortchanged in the Digital Age? (Video)

In Calhoun County, Miss., the local district pays $9,275 a month for the slowest Internet service in all of Mississippi. They're not the only ones with these issues—many rural schools struggle to get high-speed access. But all that could be about to change.




academic and careers

SIG Study of Rural Schools Shows Links Between Technical Help, Implementation

"Reshaping rural schools in the Northwest Region: Lessons from federal School Improvement Grant implementation" was written by Caitlin Scott and Nora Ostler at the Regional Education Laboratory At Education Northwest, and prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences.




academic and careers

'Raising Bertie' Documentary Is a Slow-Paced Look at Rural Youths and Education

The film follows three young men over six years in a rural North Carolina community as they struggle to finish high school.




academic and careers

The School District Where Principals Also Teach

Principals who also teach are a long tradition in a rural Maryland school system, where teachers and school leaders alike attest to the benefits. But some education leadership experts argue the double duty wouldn't work in all schools.




academic and careers

Public TV's 'POV' Series to Air Intimate Documentary About Rural Education

"Raising Bertie," about three African-American boys in Bertie County, N.C., airs on the PBS documentary series "POV" Monday night.




academic and careers

Trial Set for 2020 in Long-Running Pennsylvania School Funding Lawsuit

The lawsuit, filed in 2014, alleges that the state was severely underfunding schools, forcing school districts to lean heavily on property taxes, which especially disadvantages students in property-poor areas.




academic and careers

Rural Schools Group Joins National Superintendents' Organization

The Rural School and Community Trust and the AASA, the School Superintendents Association, say the partnership will allow the two groups to expand their reach and play off each other's strengths.




academic and careers

Rural America Gets Attention in Trump Era, But Will Its Schools Benefit?

The new 50-state report from the Rural School and Community Trust, emphasizes early childhood education and college-and-career readiness.




academic and careers

Principal-Prep Programs Adapting to Meet Real-World Demands of Job, Study Finds

Seven universities are making major changes to how they train future principals, as part of $48.5 million Wallace Foundation initiative to redesign university-based principal-preparation programs, according to a new report from RAND.




academic and careers

Alaska Reporter Will Study Rural Education as 2nd Chronister Fellowship Recipient

Victoria Petersen, of the Peninsula Clarion on the Kenai Peninsula, will report on the challenges of rural education, especially in a state as vast as Alaska.




academic and careers

Nearly One in Five U.S. Students Attend Rural Schools. Here's What You Should Know About Them

More than 9.3 million U.S. students attended a rural school last year. A new report examines factors that affect them like poverty, academic achievement, and diversity.




academic and careers

Four-Day School Weeks Gain Ground in the West

More than 1 in 20 schools in the West has moved to a shortened school week, in hopes of enticing teachers and easing travel times in some of the nation's smallest schools.




academic and careers

Sex Abuse Investigation in Chicago a 'Wake-Up Call' for All Schools, Feds Say

A searing report and federal oversight over Title IX enforcement in Chicago raises the question: Is it an outlier, or just the first to get caught?