Stats That Stick: November 10, 2010

In Illinois, the percentage of kids with a college-educated parent who are highly skilled at math is lower than the percentage of such kids among all students in Iceland, France, Estonia, and Sweden. -The Atlantic Monthly

83.78 percent of U.S. Students and 85.28 percent of all Americans are “Covered” by Common Standards. -Alliance for Excellent Education

Metro areas with highly educated populations experienced more modest declines in employment during the recession than other metro areas. Among the 20 metro areas with the highest rates of bachelor’s degree attainment, only four registered declines in their overall employment-to-population ratio from 2007 to 2009 that exceeded the national average. -Brookings Institution

For this fall’s freshman class, Stanford received a record 32,022 applications from students it called “simply amazing,” and accepted 7 percent of them. -New York Times

About 84 percent of U.S. Students are “Covered” by Common Standards

Currently 40 states plus Washington, DC, have adopted the common core state standards. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Alliance finds that this represents 83.78 percent of the U.S. student population. The numbers for the U.S. population as a whole, calculated using data from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, are slightly higher ─ 85.28 percent of the U.S. population is living in a state that has signed up to adopt and implement common standards. Keep in mind that these calculations count Minnesota as an adopting state even though the state only adopted the standards in English-language arts and not in math.

A recent study by the American Institutes for Research finds that the gap in what students are expected to know in each state varies so greatly that the difference in student expectations between the states with the most rigorous assessments and those with the least stringent is twice the size of the national black-white achievement gap. International Benchmarking: State Education Performance Standards examines the “expectations gap” or what students are expected to learn in some states and what students are expected to learn in others.

Defining Teacher Evaluations and Assessments

I recently attended a forum in Washington state involving state policy leaders from the Professional Educator Standards Board, legislators, and higher education preparation programs. The purpose of the forum was to address the pilot implementation of the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) developed by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and Stanford University in partnership with a consortia that includes more than  20 states and over 70 teacher preparation institutions. TPA is based on three assessment processes of teaching practices found to be strongly linked to student learning and achievement—the National Board Certification program, the Connecticut Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) teaching portfolio, and the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT).

The TPA is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and to the proposed InTASC model core teaching standards developed under the direction of CCSSO. InTASC is a consortium of state education agencies and national educational organizations dedicated to the reform of the preparation, licensing, and on-going professional development of teachers. The consortium has developed new draft standards comprising a set of principles of effective teaching, revised from the 1992 model standards, in response to new visions for teaching. To view these standards visit here or to learn more about the process, check out a recent webinar that the Alliance held on October 6.

Mid-term Election Recap: Impact on Governing Priorities and Education Reform Efforts

Just 48 hours after the polls close, join the Coalition for a College and Career Ready America for an early analysis of how the midterm elections could shape the national and state political landscape and the implications for education policy—from ESEA Reauthorization, Race to the Top round 3, charter schools, and college and career ready state standards. Speakers include

• Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report
• Governor Bob Wise, president, Alliance for Excellent Education
• Vic Klatt, vice president, Van Scoyoc Associates and former GOP staff director for the House Education and Labor Committee 
• Danica L. Petroshius, CEO, Policy Strategies and Solutions and former chief of staff for the late Senator Edward Kennedy

When:       Thursday, November 4th, 2010 | Time: 11:00am-12:00pm (ET)
Where:     U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Herman Lay Room
                 1615 H Street NW | Washington, DC 20062

Register to watch the live webinar or attend in person at http://www.regonline.com/cccra.

How the Elections Could Affect Education Issues

Looking for some good explanations and analysis? Check out these stories that we found helpful:

From Education Week, Alyson Klein and Sean Cavanagh cover how the results of today’s midterm elections could have major implications for the direction of federal education policy, the implementation of key state K-12 initiatives, and education spending at all levels. They write:

At the congressional level, most analysts expect that Republicans will win enough seats to gain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where all members are up for re-election, and significantly bolster their margins in the Senate, where 37 seats are up for grabs.

Thirty-seven governors’ races will also be decided on election day, as will seven state schools superintendents’ contests. Eleven states, plus the District of Columbia, are also hosting board of education races.

The winners of those contests will also be working with state legislative chambers that have gone through a significant churn: 6,115 legislative seats are on the ballot in regular elections in 46 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan research group in Denver. Sixty state legislative chambers are currently controlled by Democrats, 36 are held by Republicans, and two are evenly split.

Report Round-Up

Competitive Grant Making and Education Reform: Assessing Race to the Top's Current Impact and Future Prospects

Student Learning Expectations Gap Can Be Twice the Size of National Black-White Achievement Gap from the American Institutes for Research. This report finds that the gap in what students are expected to know in each state varies so greatly that the difference in student expectations between the states with the most rigorous assessments and those with the least stringent is twice the size of the national black-white achievement gap.

Degree Completion Beyond Institutional Borders: Responding to the New Reality of Mobile and Nontraditional Learners from the Center for American Progress. This report describes the avenues that colleges, states, and other organizations take to recognize prior learning and transfer credit, and it points out the flaws in these policies that block students from efficiently garnering credit as they move through and among higher education institutions.

Video Available: Looking Back at the Current Congress and Looking Ahead to the New Congress of 2011

On October 25, the Alliance for Excellent Education held an interactive webinar that looked back at what the current Congress accomplished on education reform while looking ahead to the prospects for additional reform in the new Congress, which begins in January. The webinar featured a roundtable discussion with Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor and congressional representative of West Virginia, and representatives from the Alliance’s federal advocacy team. The discussion was followed by a question and answer session driven by questions from webinar participants. Check out the full video below:

Morning Announcements: October 27, 2010

The Oregonian editorial board calls for the State Board of Education to join 40 other states in embracing the common core state standards and to raise the testing bar in the state’s K-8 and high school math programs.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes about a National Academies study that has received much less attention that it deserves. The report recommend 10 actions the federal government could take to enhance science and technology so America could successfully compete in the 21st century. For the Alliance’s summary of the report, see this article in Straight A’s.

Last week, the New York City school system announced that it would release the ratings for nearly 12 thousand teachers based on student test scores. If the ratings are released to the public despite a pending teachers union lawsuit, the city could get slapped with suits by hundreds of teachers who have called a union hotline to report errors, according to the New York Daily News.

Common Standards Update

Nearly eighty percent of states including the District of Columbia have now adopted the common core state standards. This month Kansas (October 12) and New Mexico (October 19) were the latest states to announce they were officially on board. In September, Minnesota announced they would be adopting the English Language-Arts standards but not the math standards. So far, they are the only state to adopt the standards this way.

To see where your state stands, check out the Alliance’s common standards map by clicking on the image to the left or our state-by-state common standards cards. These profiles capture data relevant to the need for improved standards and assessments in the United States and the potential benefits of educating all students to meet the common college- and career-ready core standards.

Morning Announcements: October 25, 2010

Kansas and New Mexico are the latest states to adopt the common core state standards, bringing the total count to 40 states including Washington, DC.

According to Education Week, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council have approved plans to merge into a single organization.

The Montgomery Advertiser takes a look at the high school dropout problem in Alabama in a story and an editorial.

The Daily Press (California) covers community college attrition rates, America’s international standing in education, and solutions that could boost the global competitiveness of American students.