Ed Policy
Education policy consists of news, commentary and stories that follow legislation and government action in the educational sphere.
Ed Policy
PARCC Provides Advice on Access and Test Administration
The 22 state assessment consortia PARCC issued administrative guidelines this week and they included more advice about access. Previously, PARCC issued updates the design of both the assessments and released item prototypes. District and school administrators should pay attention to the The PARCC Assessment Administration Capacity Planning Tool.
Ed Policy
Leading Edge Certification
The system of education certification is badly out of date and benefits schools of education more than K-12 schools. The rise of blended and online learning has accelerated the obsolescence of traditional employment barriers.
Ed Policy
8 Implementation Challenges and Solutions
The Digital Learning Now! Smart Series is a group of collaborative papers that bring together top thinkers on the current trends in teaching and learning to explore the implementation challenges at the intersection of digital learning and the Common Core.
Ed Policy
New iNACOL Report: State Policymakers Guide to K-12 Competency Education
Today iNACOL released Necessary for Success: Building Mastery of World-Class Skills – A State Policymakers Guide to Competency Education co-authored by Susan Patrick and Chris Sturgis. The paper focuses on key changes policymakers can take to remove barriers and create student-centered learning environments that allow for competency education.
Ed Policy
7 Ways States & Districts Can Use Authorizing to Boost Quality & Innovation
Performance contracting is a services agreement with clear outcomes. States and districts have been using performance contracts for public charter schools, private school special education placements, information and business services, and for energy efficiency partnerships.
Ed Policy
Writing Across the Curriculum With The Literacy Design Collaborative
The Literacy Design Collaborative is a network of teachers and partners “building out a template-based approach to the literacy demands of college and the workplace, as defined by the Common Core State Standards.” The concept is to give teachers tools (mostly offline but soon to be online) that enable them to transform the Common Core into classroom action by giving teacher the literacy resources to build student’s college ready literacy skills through their existing content lens.
Ed Policy
States Report Challenges in Their Race to the Top
Last week, the Department of Education released reports for 12 Race to the Top grantees, detailing their progress (or lack thereof) on transforming education at the local level. The reports highlight the second-year work and accomplishments and challenges of implementing new information systems and the required tougher evaluation systems and related collective bargaining agreements.
Ed Policy
US ED Reports on Grit, Tenacity & Perseverance
The U.S Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) posted a report for public comment: Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance: Critical Factors for Success in the 21st Century. The report examines factors that can promote students’ capacity to strive for and succeed at fulfilling long-term and higher-order goals and persist in the…
Ed Policy
From Batch Print to Show What You Know
The shift from print to digital is a big deal, but in many ways the shift from cohorts to competency is the more profound transformation underway in education.
Ed Policy
P21 Selects New Leadership
The partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) announced the selection of Dr. Steven Paine as P21's incoming President and Dr. Helen Soule as Executive Director -- commanding a wealth of knowledge and experience in private and public sectors.