Are qualified teachers always effective teachers?
Amid a growing consensus that “highly qualified” doesn’t necessarily mean “highly effective,” a movement is under way to reshape how the nation views successful teaching.
school reform
$3.4B for 9 states, D.C. in Race to the Top grants
More than 13 million students and 1 million educators will share $3.4 billion from the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" grant competition, the U.S.…
APQC: Process management can improve education
An ambitious program aims to transform K-12 education outcomes by focusing on the processes through which schools strive to achieve those outcomes--and it already has led to positive…
Ed-tech innovators share their vision for education
From ideas on how Web 2.0 tools and game-based learning environments can help schools move beyond the industrial-era model of instruction, to the key question that should define…
Race to the Top program spurs school-reform debate
The U.S. Department of Education has named 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" (RTTT)…
Are computers for every student a wise investment?
Daily technology use in core subject-area classes, frequent technology use in intervention courses, and a low student-to-computer ratio can play a critical role in reducing dropout rates, new…
Forget grade levels: Schools try something new
As Kansas City, Mo., students return to their age-assigned classrooms this fall, they will begin to take assessments in math and reading—tests that will determine their mastery of…
NCTAF: Transform teaching through collaboration
According to a new report, 21st-century teaching and learning can only occur if teachers and school staff work together as a collaborative team; simple adjustments to antiquated school…
Smaller urban high schools found to boost achievement
With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg has systematically shut down large, failing high schools and replaced them with…
Microsoft’s Philly high school traveled rocky road
When the Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened, the facility was a paragon of contemporary architecture, with a green roof, light-filled corridors and the latest classroom technology, all…
Wisconsin agency aims to transform education’s core
With support from all of its 45 superintendents, a Wisconsin regional service agency is determined to reinvent the very nature of public education so that all students are…
Final common standards in English, math released
A year-long effort to define a common set of academic standards for English and math culminated on June 2 with the release of the final version of the…
Videos highlight successful school reform
To help local leaders with their own school-reform efforts, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has produced a new series of online videos highlighting successful school improvements from…
Feds turn to ‘crowdsourcing’ for educational innovation
Education technology advocates hope that a new national online community will inspire entrepreneurs and educators to team up in developing and funding innovative solutions to some of education's…
Editorial: Threats to innovation
In a recent speech, Education Secretary Arne Duncan argued that schools should have more flexibility in how they get all students to achieve. Unfortunately, his rhetoric doesn’t match…
Teacher of the Year: Education ‘must be learner-centered’
Facebook and digital video are among the many technology-based tools that Sarah Brown Wessling uses to engage her students—but just as important as that, it was her passion…
Feds to shape the future of assessment
Federal officials are leading the charge to develop a new generation of summative, end-of-year exams that are delivered and scored by computer; focus on a deeper understanding of…
Author: ‘iGeneration’ requires a different approach to instruction
Today’s middle and high school students learn much differently from students just a few years older—and that's mainly because they’ve never known a world without the internet or…
Critics say administration’s blueprint is too similar to NCLB
As the Obama administration seeks support for its plan to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), many education policy analysts worry that the new blueprint's guidelines…
Obama offers blueprint for rewriting NCLB
President Barack Obama on March 13 unveiled a plan to overhaul the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law championed by President George W. Bush.
Critics: Obama’s ed policies no better than Bush’s
When it comes to education policy, President Obama is repeating the most grievous errors of his predecessor, charge a trio of venerable education policy analysts, including one—Diane Ravitch—best…
Teachers share their views on how to improve education
In one of the largest national surveys of public school teachers, thousands of educators agreed that today’s students aren’t college-ready when they graduate from high school. Teachers' suggestions…
Plan to stem dropout rate stirs controversy
The Obama administration is offering a $900 million carrot to the nation’s school systems to tackle what many view as an abysmal dropout rate that threatens America’s ability…
Obama urges states to raise academic standards
Saying America’s “primacy in the world” is at stake, President Barack Obama on Feb. 22 prodded states to raise their academic standards by using the best leverage he…
Are unions blocking school reform?
In a new film called Waiting for Superman, there is a scene in which hidden-camera video shows a teacher reading a newspaper and looking at his watch while…
Commentary: Data undermining
Unions are taking heat for their stance on using data to measure teacher quality, but school districts bear some responsibility, too.
AASA keynote: Focus on children, or risk nation’s status
Referring to the significant challenges facing public education today as a crisis that threatens the nation’s status as a global leader, educational trailblazer Geoffrey Canada urged school leaders…
iSchools lift hopes in NYC
A series of theme-based high schools are springing up across New York City, based on a model that has been open for only a year but already is…