The spotlight that has been focused on ways of measuring and rewarding teacher effectiveness may now be turning to school principals. The Center for American Progress released a report this week on reforming principal compensation, while the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) published guidelines for evaluating effective…

The federal government is permitting many schools to escape accountability for the progress of racial or ethnic subgroups under the No Child Left Behind Act, according to a computer analysis released by the Associated Press (AP) the week of April 17, 2006. Under the law, signed by President Bush in 2002, schools must meet annual performance goals…

This article reports the concerns in using college-entrance tests for school accountability. A growing number of states are requiring high school students to take college-admission tests and even making the exams a core part of their own testing systems. Proponents argue that having all teenagers take the exams will encourage more young people to…

Determining whether schools and districts are making adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act "has evolved into 50 intricate formulas that vary greatly from state to state," according to a recent report by the Center on Education Policy. The report from the Washington-based policy group tracks changes to state…

This article discusses more than 40 states that have notified the U.S. Department of Education in order to make changes in their accountability plans approved in 2003 under the No Child Left Behind Act. Federal officials had encouraged states that wanted to make changes that would take effect with the spring's testing cycle to let the Education…

The federal government has responded to criticism of the No Child Left Behind Act by giving states greater flexibility in how to comply. Analysts worry that the law's purpose is being lost along the way. Since U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced that she would take a "common sense" approach to carrying out the No…

The No Child Left Behind Act has spawned new opportunities--and challenges--for an increasingly diverse testing industry. With all of the federal law's testing requirements, the Government Accountability Office estimates that states will have to spend between $1.9 billion and $5.3 billion in the next six years, depending on the types of tests…

This article presents the details of a conference discussing issues on NCLB implementation. The conference was based on a set of papers that included reviews of NCLB implementation in California, Colorado, Michigan, and New Jersey, as well as in three rural Kentucky districts and 36 big-city districts nationwide. Those analyses found that states…

More special education students are being excluded from federal accountability provisions, driving up the number of public schools able to make adequate yearly progress and raising questions about the pledge to "leave no child behind." To make adequate progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, public schools and districts need…

This article reports how "value-added" measures that track the "value" that schools add to individual students' learning over time are increasingly popular with educators and policymakers. Some view the methods as an antidote to accountability systems that focus solely on getting children to a specified achievement level on a state test,…

When the US' governors gather in Washington this February 2005 for what is billed as a national education summit on high schools, many will come prepared to talk about initiatives already under way back home. The summit's organizers hope that an "action agenda"--coupled with intensive planning leading up to the meeting--will encourage state…

This article reports on the increasing attempts to identify what have been dubbed high-flying schools and figure out what makes them tick to bring all students to higher levels of achievement. A free Web site, launched by the New York City-based Standard & Poor's, began providing a tool that enables users to identify schools that do better…

After years of trying to fix trouble schools one at a time, a number of states are weighing stronger measures for intervening in low-performing school districts. The shift is seen as a response to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. States are turning in a bigger way to district-level strategies, in part because as their own accountability…

This article talks about the approval given by the Education Department to 16 states that requested changes to accountability plans under the No Child Left Behind Act. Federal officials had sent decision letters to these states. Another 31 states are awaiting such letters, although many have received oral approvals or denials. This article…

The No Child Left Behind Act is slated to be reauthorized in 2007, and both President Bush and the leaders of the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress have signaled their interest in keeping renewal of the law on schedule. Many observers expect the debate over renewing the law--which itself was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary…