What Are Teachers’ and School Leaders’ Major Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?
This report shares U.S. principals’ and teachers’ main concerns about testing, drawing upon new survey tools for understanding educators’ perspectives and implementation of major education policies: RAND’s American Teacher Panel and American School Leader Panel. The findings are drawn from the ATP and ASLP surveys fielded in February 2015, before the full administration of most… Read More ›
Competency-Based Education in Three Pilot Programs
This research brief summarizes findings of the RAND evaluation of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Project Mastery grant program, which was created in 2011 to support competency-based education initiatives in large school systems that serve a high proportion of disadvantaged youth. Competency-based education meets students where they are academically, provides students with opportunities for choice,… Read More ›
STEM in Afterschool and Summer Learning: Issue Brief
This issue brief explores the role of after school and summer programs in building skills and interest in STEM fields. While practices that support STEM skills during the school day are critical, students traditionally spend only 20% of their waking hours in school. Afterschool and summer programs can offer hands-on experiences, expose students to STEM… Read More ›
Smart Parents Want Powerful Learning
This iNACOL presentation by Tom Vander Ark, Carri Schneider, Mary Ryerse, and Bonnie Lathram provides tips and action steps (from a variety of sources) for parents interested in understanding more about their children’s education. Source Organization: Getting Smart Visit the Resource
Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education
This report focuses on the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators in a select, but varied group of schools that are ahead of the curve in implementing competency education. A team of researchers spent a year and a half examining 11 high schools in New England. The report is organized in sections that provide both… Read More ›
Educate Maine
This organization is a business-led education advocacy organization. Its mission is to champion college and career readiness and increased education attainment. It works to see all high school students graduate career and college ready and to increase the number of Maine workers with a postsecondary degree or certificate credential. Educate Maine advocates for policy initiatives that… Read More ›
Expanded Learning Time Innovation in Massachusetts Schools
This video highlights the successes of schools in Massachusetts implementing an expanded day, adding up to 300 hours to the school year. Using many school examples, the narrator explores the innovations possible with an expanded day such as more personalization, use of technology, curriculum that focuses on problem solving and embraces the common core standards,… Read More ›
Massachusetts’ Plan for Excellence in STEM Education 2.0: Expanding the Pipeline for All
This plan, published in 2013 by Massachusetts’ Governor Deval Patrick’s STEM Advisory Council builds on the first strategic plan written in 2010 to establish infrastructure and build support for STEM education in Massachusetts. This plan lays out five goals, including increasing interest in STEM, student achievement, number of skilled k-16 STEM educators, and percentage of STEM… Read More ›
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools – Woonsocket High School and the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center
The only high school in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Woonsocket High School is led by principal Carnell Henderson with a school mission to “do what is in the best interests of this community’s students so they are provided opportunities to develop 21st century skills and competencies in order to meet life’s challenges with confidence.” One… Read More ›
The Influence of Teaching Beyond Standardized Test Scores: Engagement, Mindsets, and Agency
This report was sponsored by the Raikes Foundation. It is a follow-up to “Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners – the Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance: A Critical Literature Review,” a CCSR report written in 2012. This report is in response to a “need for more research on the role of school and… Read More ›
The Eye of the Storm Learning Expedition: Illuminating Standards (Video)
This five minute video documents the class of 2015 at Casco Bay High School for Expeditionary Learning in Portland, Maine who focused their junior year’s work on climate change. In the fall, they studied both the chemistry and the policy. In the spring, they began to consider the human side of things when their humanities teacher,… Read More ›
Extended Learning Opportunities at Pittsfield Middle High School (Video)
This 15 minute video, with support from Nellie Mae Education Foundation and Julie Mallozzi , showcases Pittsfield Middle High School putting students at the center of their own learning. Students engage in a variety of extended learning opportunities that enable them to find and explore their own passions outside of the classroom. Source Organization: Nellie Mae… Read More ›