2007

'Restoring Value' to the High School Diploma: The Rhetoric and Practice of Higher Standards

epicpolicy — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:28:57 -0600

This policy brief examines the recent wave of commission reports that have attacked the American high school and called for its "reinvention." Two conceptions of rigor are dominant: test-based rigor, requiring higher scores on conventional tests; and course-based rigor, requiring more demanding courses. However, these conventional academic conceptions neglect several other conceptions of rigor: as depth rather than breadth; as more sophisticated levels of understanding including "higher-order skills"; and as the ability to apply learning in unfamiliar settings.

Adrift: Schools in a Total Marketing Environment. The Tenth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends: 2006-2007

kevin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:31:59 -0600

Commercialism appears to be alive and well, in society at large and in schools. In 2007, we see a marketing environment that recognizes few boundaries. Advertisers ply their trade wherever they can and even engage consumers as collaborators in their marketing strategies. This “total environment” of marketing is enabled in part by new technologies that allow advertisements to appear in places they could not have been before, such as video games, social networking websites, and cell-phones.

Al Gore, Global Warming, and the Association of National Advertisers

WorkStudy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:28:31 -0600

Author: Susan Linn
Institution: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Susan Linn points out some conflicts of interest in Al Gore's activities. While promoting environmental awareness and the need to conserve resources, he is also helping advertisers with global consumerism.

Demanding More of Presidential Candidates

epicpolicy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 11:44:55 -0700

Publisher     School Administrator, 64(11)
Page Numbers     6
Summary     Can meaningful reform of the public school system come about only if problems with the status quo are exaggerated? And will Americans favor substantive changes only if the reforms’ weaknesses are hidden? This article explores some questions concerning the "Ed in '08" campaign.

Dropout Policies: Research-Based Strategies

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:52:31 -0600

Publisher Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center

Evaluating the Impact of Charter Schools on Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Look at the Great Lakes States

epicpolicy — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:16:59 -0600

Institution: Western Michigan University

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of charter schools on student achievement in the Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This evaluation addresses two specific questions: How does student achievement in charter schools compare with student achievement in demographically similar, traditional public schools? Do charter schools show promise of being an effective strategy for improving student achievement over time, even if they are not yet outperforming traditional public schools?

Money Mutterers

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:23:47 -0600

Publisher School Administrator, 64(6)
Page Numbers 6

Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations: 2006-2007

epicpolicy — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:08:58 -0600

This annual report, in its ninth edition, found that, despite repeated requests, several large, publicly funded Education Management Organizations (EMOs) failed to provide information about their schools or finances when queried by researchers. The data collected in the report suggest that the number of charter schools overall has increased and the number of EMO-run charter schools has stabilized or declined slightly. The number of students enrolled in charter schools has shown a slight decrease.

Race-Conscious Policies for Assigning Students to Schools: Social Science Research and the Supreme Court Cases

epicpolicy — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:54:26 -0600

Washington DC: National Academy of Education

Report prepared by the National Academy of Education Committee on Social Science Research Evidence on Racial Diversity in Schools

Available online at http://www.naeducation.org/1Meredith_Report.pdf

Supplemental Education Services under NCLB: Emerging Evidence and Policy Issues

epicpolicy — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:46:40 -0600

Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison

This policy brief analyzes evidence relating to the implementation and effects of the supplemental education services (SES) provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The SES provision requires school districts to pay the cost of third-party, after-school tutoring services for eligible students. Four areas of analysis in this brief are:

Student eligibility and participation in SES;
Services provided by SES firms;
State and district implementation; and
Impact on student achievement.

The data and analyses presented here highlight limitations in the current law and implementation of SES: low participation rates; limited services available for English Language Learners and special education students; and, state and district capacity to implement the law and monitor program quality. Even with improvement in such areas, however, it is unclear how SES might affect academic achievement, because existing research leaves many questions unanswered. Similarly, existing research offers little information about specific conditions that support positive outcomes. To make well-informed decisions in the future, policy makers will require additional empirical evidence.

Therefore, it is recommended that policy makers do each of the following:

Redesign the law to address the core problem of local administrators lacking fiscal resources and expertise to successfully administer SES programs.
Commission federally funded, comprehensive evaluations to determine: (a) to what degree SES may affect student achievement, and (b) to what extent at-risk student populations have access to SES services.
Investigate the feasibility and desirability of reallocating Title I funds from SES programs to existing successful state and local reform efforts.
Examine and reconsider NCLB's apparent tension between the high-stakes accountability imposed on schools and the more limited measures for holding SES providers accountable for their contributions to student achievement.

Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools

epicpolicy — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:42:30 -0600

Institution: Western Michigan University

While several studies have examined teachers’ reasons for seeking employment in charter schools, few have asked why teachers are leaving them. This study of teacher attrition takes up that question, analyzing existing data from teacher surveys administered during state evaluations. Survey results were compared and re-analyzed based on teachers’ decisions to leave or to stay in their charter schools the year following the survey. This analysis yielded substantive information about the characteristics of teachers who leave charter schools and about teachers’ relative satisfaction with various elements of their experience.

Teacher Data in Colorado: Considering Potential Opportunities and Risks of Recent Proposals

kevin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:23:51 -0600

A recent movement toward data-driven decision making in education policy has led many state and local education agencies to scrutinize the condition of their data systems and determine how to use data in more sophisticated ways. This report examines the changing use of data in one area of education policy decisions: teacher quality.

The Promises and Pitfalls of Alternative Teacher Compensation Approaches

epicpolicy — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:51:28 -0600

Institution: Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison

What is the "best" way to pay teachers? Few policy makers are pleased with the current system, but attempts to move toward merit pay have largely been short-lived and unsuccessful. While there is no perfect teacher compensation system, research evidence can help policy makers choose and adapt a plan likely to work well within a particular context. Critics of both traditional compensation and newer alternatives are quick to point out the strengths of the system they support, but the limitations of individual systems are frequently misunderstood or unrecognized. To improve the viability of a new plan, policy makers and stakeholders should conduct extensive analyses before implementation.

The Testing Culture and the Persistence of High Stakes Testing Reforms

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:39:12 -0600

Publisher     Education and Culture
Page Numbers     55-72
Summary     The purposes of this critical analysis are to clarify why high stakes testing reforms have become so prevalent in the United States and to explain the connection between current federal and state emphases on standardized testing reforms and educational opportunities. The article outlines the policy context for high stakes examinations, as well as the ideas of testing and accountability as major tenets of current education reform and policy. In partial explanation of the widespread acceptance and use of standardized tests in the United States, the authors argue that there is a pervasive testing culture, in addition to other contributing factors such as administrative utility, profit motives, and political ideology. Finally, the authors offer a critique of high stakes testing reforms in light of concerns about equality of educational opportunity

The Use of Assessment for Curricular Differentiation

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 10:58:43 -0600

Publisher     New York: Greenwood Publishing
Page Numbers     36-41
Summary     American high schools have long separated students, often using tests, and then provided them with different educational experiences and opportunities. This entry examines these interrelated practices of assessment and curricular differentiation.

Truthiness in Education

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:20:47 -0600

Publisher     Education Week, 26(25)
Page Numbers     32, 44
Summary     At a time when America’s education policymakers have nominally embraced the idea of tying school reform to “scientifically based research,” many of the nation’s most influential reports are little more than junk science. A hodgepodge of private “think tanks” at both the state and national levels wield significant and very often undeserved influence in policy discussions by cranking out an array of well-funded and slickly produced—yet ideologically driven—research.