The Source

Under the era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability, too much focus was placed on a single measure—student assessment. Rather than sparking higher performance for all students, schools focused on low-performing students, and federally mandated sanctions were used to punish students and teachers alike. The performance gap widened as... Read the full article >

Section 4 of 10. Though continuous improvement processes are not new in education practice, they are relatively new in the state policy arena. In the past, state-level strategies for improving educational outcomes at the school and system levels were driven by federal and state requirements and centered largely on the... Read the full article >

Section 6 of 10. Key features include: Learning supports (materials and professional development) for the continuous improvement of curriculum, teaching, assessment and student support strategies; Information systems for keeping track of what schools and districts are doing and to what effect; Ongoing review of school and district efforts and outcomes,... Read the full article >

Section 5 of 10. Accountability systems should be designed to emphasize equilibrium, balancing school responsibility to do what states require with state responsibility to provide needed resources and support in schools.[7] An accountability system also needs to recognize that schools are multifaceted organizations, shaped by the interplay of any number... Read the full article >

Like me, most middle and high school mathematics teachers are keenly aware of our role in preparing the next generation of STEM professionals—engineers, health care workers, biologists, chemists and statisticians. However, few of us spend much time thinking about how we prepare the most influential STEM professionals of all: elementary... Read the full article >

Educational policy critics now gather, with echoes of the funeral oration for Cease, not to praise the No Child Left Behind Act, but to bury it. That this legislation passed eight years ago with more Democratic than Republican votes is now only a little-remembered footnote. The conventional wisdom is that... Read the full article >

The journey from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) model of our past to recognition by AdvancED as a School District has been an evolving process for the Office of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Richmond, VA. Having the distinction of being the first Catholic diocese to... Read the full article >

The late Stephen M. R. Covey, in his 2006 book The Speed of Trust, notes that in a high-trust ethos, everything is more efficient. Covey builds this theme throughout the book with the idea that leaders of organizations have the power, the responsibility and the ability to engender high trust.... Read the full article >

The first day of school for the Wickenburg Unified School District was August 8th – August 8th at 8:00 a.m., to be specific. At precisely 8:10 a.m., during a record heat wave in Arizona, the air conditioning units in Wickenburg High School went down. On the same day, we enrolled... Read the full article >

Transforming Education: Delivering on our Promise to Every Child The Council of Chief State School Officers It is imperative that we transform the national education agenda so that each and every child may succeed. This paper identifies four areas of focus that will lead the systems change necessary for a... Read the full article >