An unprecedented assessment project involving half the states is planning a significant shift: Instead of designing one test for all of them, it will offer a choice of a longer and a shorter version. The pivot came in response to some states' resistance to spending more time and money on testing for the common standards. The plan under discussion…

Amid the cacophony of special interests fighting to be heard in statehouses and on Capitol Hill, a cadre of current and former chief state school officers is elbowing its way into the nation's education debate at a time when states are taking more control of K-12 education. A little more than a year old, Chiefs for Change is an invitation-only…

The test scores aren't in yet, but by almost every other measure that matters--school climate, instructional strategies, staff satisfaction--the former Shawnee High School isn't the same place it was just a year ago. More than half the teachers are new to the persistently low-performing school. Those who remain say they no longer feel that their…

Convinced of the connection between the quality of their schools and the future of their states--not to mention their own political reputations--some governors are seeking a bigger role in shaping education policy by grabbing for more control over their state schools chiefs. Governors note that they are responsible for managing state budgets, of…

Kentucky has become the first state to adopt common academic standards that were drafted as part of a nationwide initiative to establish a widely shared and ambitious vision of student learning. With a unanimous vote this month, the Kentucky board of education approved the substitution of the common standards in mathematics and English/language…

Any educator who's ever had to ask a pupil to fix a computer might be surprised to learn that not all students are technologically proficient--or at least not savvy enough to be considered "technologically literate." While that term has no universal definition, the core idea could be boiled down to this: Technologically literate students not only…

Over the next year, seven long-serving state schools chiefs are scheduled to step down, taking with them a combined 77 years of leadership experience and leaving questions about the evolving role of a state's top education officer. The reasons for their departures vary, including policy conflicts with governors, term limits, and the simple desire…

In a move that could prompt major changes in the way states measure the achievement of English-language learners, the U.S. Department of Education is planning to tell states they must each use a consistent yardstick in determining when a child is fluent in English and when that child no longer needs special ELL services. A proposed…

Teacher collaboration is hailed as one of the most effective ways to improve student learning, and one high school in Illinois is often credited with perfecting the concept. This article features Adlai E. Stevenson High School which was one of the first in the U.S. to embrace what are known as professional learning communities. The professional…

Six years after the No Child Left Behind Act became law, many states still haven't completed one of its most important tasks: establishing a testing system that meets the law's requirement that they track all students' progress toward proficiency in reading and math. Although the progress has been slow, U.S. Department of Education officials and…

Cash-strapped school districts could see an unprecedented $100 billion infusion of federal aid under a massive economic-stimulus package unveiled by House Democrats this week. The overall measure, put forth January 15 by the House Appropriations Committee, is aimed at providing a $825 billion jolt to the stumbling U.S. economy, and to help avert…

After several years of planning and a series of false starts, a new federal venture to review reading research has hit another bureaucratic hurdle--one that could keep it from ever getting off the ground. A planned announcement last week of the membership of the Commission on Reading Research was put on hold by the National Institute for Literacy…

This article reports on plans by the Bush administration to set a uniform way for states to calculate and report their graduation rates, which could make it harder for high schools to avoid accountability measures under the No Child Left Behind Act. In the U.S. Department of Education's latest move to refine the implementation of the NCLB law,…

Not all educators agree that the best ways to teach mathematics include giving students electronic calculators. But many do, and their view is reflected in the policies and practices of school districts, textbook publishers, testing companies, and state education agencies. That adds up to profits for Texas Instruments Inc., the Dallas-based…

All states that meet federal criteria will now be allowed to take part in the U.S. Department of Education's 2-year-old experiment with "growth models," which let states measure individual students' achievement gains as a way of ensuring accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act. After originally capping participation at 10…