Student performance data, a central feature of school report cards, has become the major basis for educational accountability decisions in recent years. Even with that rise of performance-based accountability, other key factors influencing student achievement—school learning environment, teacher working conditions—have received scant public attention.
September 24, 2008
Proponents of educational technology have argued that teachers who are themselves competent users of instructional technology can deliver more innovative lessons in the classroom, increase the capacity of their students to use technology, and ultimately facilitate student learning.
September 17, 2008
As the nation’s educators and reformers seek promising approaches to improving the nation’s schools, the profile of charter schools continues to rise.
September 10, 2008
Analysts often quantify the impact of socioeconomic inequalities within education by examining differential patterns of school inputs and outputs (such as per-pupil funding levels and test scores, respectively). However, inequalities can also be reflected in discrepancies related to instructional practice and learning tools, one example being student access to instructional computers.
September 3, 2008
In order to help bolster teacher retention rates and fill subject-specific teacher shortages, some states are offering incentives to teachers who agree to work in targeted teaching-assignment areas.
August 27, 2008
In the U.S., children typically start their formal education around the age of five. With increased attention to the performance of even the youngest students, many states are enacting policies to ensure students arrive at school prepared to succeed on day one.
August 20, 2008
The majority of local school funding is determined by property taxes; thus, school districts in wealthier areas are traditionally able to raise more funds than schools in poorer areas. Because some scholars and policy makers believe that the amount of money spent per student is tied to academic achievement, many states have made efforts to make their school funding wealth neutral.
August 13, 2008
All but seven states and the District of Columbia formally evaluate teachers for their performance in the classroom. Although such evaluations occur on a periodic basis, some states require that they occur more frequently than others.
August 6, 2008
An EPE Research Center analysis of data from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that few students are reaching the highest levels of achievement in math and science.
July 30, 2008
In Quality Counts 2008, the EPE Research Center found that most states supplement their academic content standards by providing teachers in core academic subjects with resources or guides to help them implement those standards.
July 23, 2008
Only 20 states have enacted policies to help pregnant or parenting students, a population considered to be at-risk of dropping out of school.
July 16, 2008
In Quality Counts 2008, the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center found that a majority of states provide supplementary resources or guides to support state academic standards for teachers of special needs students, yet fewer than half of the states in the country provide teachers of gifted and talented students with supplementary resources.
July 9, 2008
Many states use merit-based aid as a way to attract high school graduates with demonstrated academic achievement to pursue higher education in their home states.
July 2, 2008
Under current U.S. Department of Education regulations, states can exercise considerable latitude in choosing methods to calculate high school graduation rates under the No Child Left Behind Act. Most states use calculation methods that tend to produce inflated graduation rates by including unreliable dropout data in their formulas.
June 25, 2008
High school graduates earn higher annual incomes, commit fewer crimes, and have lower rates of substance abuse than those without a high school diploma. Yet, according to Diplomas Count 2008 a student is lost from the graduation pipeline every 13 seconds of the school year.
June 18, 2008
As reported in Diplomas Count 2008, 38 states have a P-16 or P-20 council and two of these states—Louisiana and Pennsylvania—have two state-level councils.
June 11, 2008
Formative assessments and item banks are two tools teachers can use throughout the year to check their students’ progress against benchmarks of knowledge and understanding. The EPE Research Center found that 21 states provide educators with formative assessments and/or item banks linked to state standards for the 2007-08 school year.
June 4, 2008
Compared to unadjusted per-pupil expenditures (PPEs), the Research Center found that in the 2004-05 school year, the difference between cost-adjusted and unadjusted PPEs was more than $1,000 in 12 states.
May 28, 2008
The EPE Research Center found that 20 states offer incentives to teachers in hard-to-staff assignments for the 2007-2008 school year.
May 21, 2008
On average, about half of the nation’s 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in preschool programs, yet enrollment is not uniform across states.
May 14, 2008
A survey conducted by the EPE Research Center found that only five states during the 2007-2008 school year test students on technology skills.
May 7, 2008
Only 20 states have enacted policies to help pregnant or parenting students, a population considered to be at-risk of dropping out of school.
April 28, 2008
On average, about 40 percent of U.S. mathematics teachers did not major in mathematics in college.
April 7, 2008
Only seven states have policies that recommend a ratio of students per school psychologist.
March 27, 2008
Many states choose to address serious problems of school violence through policy and program adoption.
March 24, 2008
States run the gamut in the number of sanctions they have adopted as state policy for low-performing Title I schools.
March 11, 2008
States run the gamut in the number of sanctions they have adopted as state policy for low-performing Title I schools.
March 5, 2008
The No Child Left Inside campaign tells NCLB to go green.
February 22, 2008
Most states have standards for school administrators, but only 14 states require administrators to participate in mentoring programs.
February 8, 2008
Many scholars suggest that evaluating teachers is one way to insure quality instruction. But how many states have meaningful policies in place?
January 25, 2008
Some states are more active than others in terms of the different types of standards they have implemented related to their mentoring requirements.
January 14, 2008
Nearly ten years ago President Bill Clinton called for an end to social promotions. Yet few states have adopted promotion exams as a means to this end.
January 2, 2008
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, many school districts have increased their focus on reading and mathematics at the expense of other subjects. But some states appear to consider exposure to the arts an important component of college readiness.
December 13, 2007
PISA’s emphasis on the application of knowledge and the interpretation of real-world materials distinguishes it from other tests.
November 27, 2007
Between 2005 and 2006, the number of states with anti-bullying or harassment regulations for schools increased from 31 to 34 states.
November 14, 2007
