A few days ago I told you about the recent Denver visit from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ)’s Sandi Jacobs, but I never really got to the interesting part: the main part of her presentation. She came to talk about the big project NCTQ and U.S. News and World Report have launched to evaluate the nation’s schools of education.

Now, naturally, I don’t write much about schools of education. At my age it’s really quite a bit trying to follow teachers and schools, without keeping frequent tabs on who’s teaching the teachers that teach in our schools. Still, it’s an important issue — a HUGE issue, really. Just as a major example, why is there such a large-scale problem with equipping elementary instructors in teaching literacy and math? It’s truly exciting to see NCTQ take on this large task.

Unsurprisingly, there has been some pushback. NCTQ explains that many education schools “do not intend to cooperate” with a national review process that — to its credit — is being conducted very transparently. Education Week Teacher Beat blogger Stephen Sawchuk has been covering the story of four states (Georgia, Kentucky, New York and Wisconsin) that have refused to “participate voluntarily” in the evaluation. The Eduwonk wisely notes that such obstruction represents “a remarkably counterproductive strategy.” Continue Reading »

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A random Monday posting… First of all, let me clarify that this post has nothing to do with old Star Trek movies or even older Mongol hordes. If you are interested at all in the future of education but haven’t heard of Khan Academy yet, now is the time to start getting up to speed. Khan gives every indication of being at the forefront of entrepreneurial education transformation. And you might even want to be aware of the free learning opportunities the Academy offers now!

Today, Joanne Jacobs points to a California news story about Egan Junior High successfully using Khan’s online learning tools in the classroom: Continue Reading »

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Not everyone can be super-smart at math, but a brand new Harvard study (PDF) by Paul Peterson, Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann shows how virtually every state in the USA is not educating enough top-flight math performers. If you look at the 56 nations who take the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 30 do better than America in the share of students who rank advanced in math. Even our best state doesn’t crack the top 10 or 15. Can’t we be more competitive?

The neat part of the Harvard study is seeing how individual states stack up against the other PISA-tested nations. (The authors found a valid way to compare results on our NAEP test with PISA.) Top-ranking Massachusetts, where 11.6 percent of 8th-graders (and 12.4 percent of white 8th-graders) rate as advanced in math, comes in behind 16 entire nations. That includes not only Taiwan, Korea and Finland, but also our neighbors to the north: Canada! Even if you include only the advanced math rate among students with a college-educated parent, seven other nations still outperform Massachusetts.

What about Colorado, though? Continue Reading »

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Yesterday morning the Colorado Department of Education unveiled the latest CSAP (state assessment) results. It’s hard to believe: in the past these events attracted a lot of fanfare. But for the most recent announcement, I missed the brass band and confetti. Maybe because there wasn’t any.

And that doesn’t take into account the fact the release was scheduled on primary election day, which limited the news media coverage. Oh, well.

The Denver Post reports that CSAP scores once again were flat, though there were some notable bright spots, like Beach Court Elementary and the West Denver Prep and Denver School of Science and Technology charter schools in DPS, and Mapleton Public Schools.

On the larger scale, however, Colorado education reformers can be anything but satisfied. Disappointed would be a better word. We still have a long ways to go. It’s time to look at what the more successful Colorado schools and districts are doing while also broadening our vision to look at other states with clearly successful track records (e.g., Florida’s education reforms).

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It’s almost too obvious to say, but worth repeating to those who don’t want to listen: Not all public charter schools are good. But nearly all are offering families a viable education alternative, and many are outperforming their traditional counterparts — some by a significant amount. Like KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program).

A new study conducted for KIPP by Mathematica shows exactly that. KIPP charter schools are making a positive impact on the primarily poor and minority student populations they serve. The examination of academic progress at 22 KIPP middle schools yielded some glowing results, including:

• Nearly all 22 schools have significant positive effects on student math performance over three years, mostly in the second and third year
• Most schools have significant positive effects on student reading performance over the second and third years, not as many in the first year
• “Estimated impacts are frequently large enough to substantially reduce race- and income-based achievement gaps within three years of entering KIPP.”
• Most KIPP schools have more students held back a grade (largely because they don’t practice social promotion) but have no higher levels of student attrition than their public school counterparts

Perhaps most interesting of all is the way this study destroys the myth that KIPP owes its success to attracting students who are more gifted than their peers. As the report highlights: Continue Reading »

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Education leaders here in Colorado have shown a great deal of interest in the federal Race to the Top dollars, a multi-billion dollar program that we are told is designed to spur reform. In order to be eligible for rewards, states will be rated according how well their policies and goals line up with innovative practices mostly aimed at boosting student achievement.

But no category will carry more weight in the Department’s Race to the Top determinations than “Great Teachers and Leaders.” That’s why the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has created a very handy scorecard (PDF) to help you figure out whether Colorado or any other state might be on the right track to pursuing needed “human capital reforms.” I like going to Coors Field and keeping track of what happens on a baseball scorecard, but I don’t think that’s exactly what they mean.

Just what sort of things could Colorado do to get a high score in the area of “Great Teachers and Leaders” and increase our state’s chances of getting Race to the Top funds? Some of the “bold practices” NCTQ indicates would really help us include (in no particular order): Continue Reading »

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I’ve told you before about groups like ABCTE that are reaching out to top-notch professionals and making it easier for them to make an effective transition into classroom teaching. But where’s the proof this is a good idea for the bottom line of education?

In the new edition of Education Next, Daniel Nadler and Paul Peterson show that states with genuine alternative teacher certification programs (like Colorado) have experienced greater gains in math and reading scores, and especially among African-American students. Is it a coincidence, or cause-and-effect? Ultimately, it’s hard to say.

But as the authors conclude, the arguments against alternative certification have been eroded:

But the burden of proof would now seem to shift to the plaintiffs in the Renee v. Spellings case, who argue that traditional state certification is necessary to ensure teacher quality. Genuine alternative certification opens the door to more minority teachers, and student learning is more rapid in states where the reform has been introduced. Meanwhile, scientific evidence that alternative certification harms students remains somewhere between scant and nonexistent.

The Race to the Top push in Colorado has brought forth some good ideas, but a truly bold and visionary effort also would have included a stronger push to expanding the variety of certification routes that competent professionals can take to the classroom.

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Katie Redding at the Colorado Independent reported yesterday on the official recommendations for Colorado’s application to receive Race to the Top federal reform dollars. One of my Education Policy Center friends got a chance to chime in:

Ben DeGrow, education policy analyst for the free-market Independence Institute, found much to like about the application, particularly the suggestions to provide financial incentives to teachers and to attach higher funding to high-risk students (which he noted would give parents more choice about which schools could best serve their students.)

There’s only so much reasonable space in an article like that one, so Ben asked me to revise and extend his remarks a bit. The “higher funding to high-risk students” is really a call for a widespread move to a transparent Weighted Student Funding formula that empowers parents and school-level leaders at the expense of central administration bureaucrats. Ben further cited Cole Arts and Science Academy as Colorado’s premier example of “Turning Around Low-Performing Schools.” Continue Reading »

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For those who may not have paid close attention to the world of public education, the teaching career model has evolved before our eyes. While there are still those who take the traditional approach of entering the profession right out of education school and then spend 30 years in the classroom, their numbers are growing vastly smaller all the time.

In that light, the New York Times has an interesting feature today on middle-aged adults switching careers to become a teacher. My first thought was: Switching careers? When I grow up and get to be a super-blogging astronaut, why would I ever change that?

But apparently many people find that bringing their academic expertise, along with their life and career experience, into the classroom to be a fulfilling experience. High-quality teachers are especially needed in high-poverty neighborhoods and in subject areas with shortages (e.g., math, science, special education).

Several groups are providing routes to certification (or licensure) that appeal to these career-changers. The New York Times story highlights well-known operators like the New Teacher Project and lesser-known players like the Virginia-based Career Switchers program.

None, however, is closer to the hearts of my Education Policy Center friends than a fast-growing group that looks like it soon will be making waves here in Colorado. Continue Reading »

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For the last few years at least, Colorado students have been on an upward trend in their demonstrated math skills. Today the U.S. Department of Education released state-by-state scores for 4th and 8th grade math.

NAEP scores are considered the gold standard for comparing academic success among states — especially in the subjects of math and reading. That’s why the test results are often referred to as “the nation’s report card.”

In 2005, 39 percent of Colorado 4th graders rated as proficient in math — increasing slightly to 41 percent in 2007 and jumping to 45 percent in the latest results. For 8th graders over the same time span, proficiency rose from 32 percent to 37 and now to 40. A long ways to go, but still moving in right direction. While both scores remain above the national average, Colorado 4th graders also are beating the national trend on growth.

(I wonder how close I am to being considered proficient on the 4th grade NAEP math test? Or the 8th grade test, for that matter?)

While scores generally are flat nationwide, the Flypaper blog’s Mike Petrilli notes a bright spot in the nation’s capital. Petrilli says D.C.’s positive gains (though they also started out way behind) should give chancellor Michelle Rhee’s aggressive reforms “a much-needed boost.” My radical side is feeling more inspired than ever!

To find out more and see a colorful map of states’ NAEP math growth, Ed News Colorado has more details.

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