Since its inception, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) blue print has attracted interest from more than 40 states in the United States. The overall objective of these proposed changes is to align K-12 science education with current trends in technology and career needs. However, the assessment of teacher preparedness and classroom…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the first in their latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This series explores afterschool and: the Common Core State Standards, students…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

This practitioner packet is designed to help community college administrators implement reforms to developmental education at their colleges. It reviews common impediments to developmental reform and presents data that supports directions colleges can take to create a system of developmental education that might serve students more effectively.…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

Improving teacher preparation is critical to long-term improvement in teacher quality. More than 200,000 new teachers enter classrooms each year. Increasing student enrollment, the retirement of baby boom generation teachers, and high attrition in their first five years (between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession) have…

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) A "Wisdom of Crowds" Approach to Outcomes Assessment (Gregory Burton); (2) Editor's Notes: Collective Assessment and DQP Follow-Up (Trudy W. Banta); (3) Satisfaction with Data Management Systems in Standards-Based Alignment (Brett Everhart and Jeanne M.…

This report presents the deliberations of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The committee's report outlines the educational needs across the District of Columbia and…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

The No Child Left Behind Act requires each state to set a series of annual targets to ensure that all students make adequate yearly progress in achieving proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2013/14. Schools must monitor annual progress toward proficiency goals for each of several subgroups, including students with disabilities, as well as…

High school graduation exams are in place in nearly half the states, and more than half the nation's high school students have to pass them to earn a diploma. After a detailed analysis of the mathematics and English language arts exams in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas, Achieve reached three conclusions: (1) Tests are…

At the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the call for all students to be "proficient" in reading and mathematics by 2014. Yet the law expects each state to define proficiency as it sees fit and design its own tests. This study investigated three research questions related to this policy: (1) How consistent are various…