Friday Report Roundup

We took the month of August off from doing report roundup because, well, the District is dead in August. Have you experienced it? It's eerie how quiet and tuned down it gets. But with the onset of fall temperatures comes the increasingly busy fall political season, especially in an election year. We're back this week with our Friday report roundup and will be every week. Make sure to check back every Friday!

The Urgency of Now: America's Education System Neglects Almost Half of hte Nation's Black and Latino Male Students

The Schott Foundation for Public Education released their state report on public education and the black male graduation rate. A startlingly low 52 percent of black males and 58 percent of Latino male ninth-graders graduate from high school in four years, compared to 78 percent of white, non-latinos of the same grade and sex, the report finds.

"Without a policy framework that creates opportunity for all students, strengthens supports for the teaching profession and strikes the right balance between support-based reforms and standards-driven reforms, the US will become increasingly unequal and less competitive in the global economy," a press release for the report notes. 

Students of color are expected to take over as the majority in the next 10 years. If these graduation rates continue, what will that mean for the nation’s future economy?

 Read the full report at http://www.blackboysreport.org/. 

Report Round-Up: July 6, 2012

Hello again! It’s time for your weekly dose of the Report Round-up, where we share the reports we’ve seen recently that we think merit your attention.

First up is a report from The Education Trust titled, “Building and Sustaining Talent: Creating Conditions in High-Poverty Schools That Support Effective Teaching and Learning.” The report notes, “Done right, improved evaluation systems in coordination with positive conditions for teaching and learning could achieve equitable access to effective teachers for all students. With information on how effective teachers are at growing student learning, districts can be more deliberate and strategic about creating conditions that attract, grow, and keep strong teachers in the schools that need them most: schools serving large concentrations of low-income students and students of color.”

Report Round-up: June 22, 2012

Hello again! It’s time for your weekly dose of the Report Round-up, where we share the reports we’ve seen recently that we think merit your attention.

First, we’d be remiss if we didn’t share with you the Alliance’s latest effort: “A Framework for Advancing Career and Technical Education: Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Act.” As Congress takes up the Perkins Act, the Alliance wants to make sure that policy makers know that the legislation must continue to “ensure that the opportunities provided at the secondary school level are relevant, engaging, of high quality, and aligned with the career demands that lie ahead, and that such opportunities place a targeted focus on those youth who have traditionally been least likely to have access to the educational opportunities that prepare them to be both college and career ready.”

Report Round-up: June 8, 2012

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for your weekly Report Round-up. Here are some reports that came out in the past week that we think should be on your radar!

“Diplomas Count 2012: Trailing Behind, Moving Forward – Latino Students in U.S. Schools” – Education Week

“A new national report from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center finds that the nation’s graduation rate has posted a solid gain for the second straight year, following a period of declines and stagnation. Amid this continuing turnaround, the nation’s graduation rate has risen to 73 percent, the highest level of high school completion since the late 1970s. The report shows that the nation’s public schools will generate about 90,000 fewer dropouts than the previous year. Nationwide improvements were driven, in large part, by impressive gains among Latino students.”

Report Round-up: June 1, 2012

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Report Round-up! Here are some of the reports that caught our eye this week. Are there any we missed? Let us know in the comments!

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness: A Look “Under the Hood” of Teacher Evaluation in 10 Sites – ConnCan, 50Can, and Public Impact
This report highlights 10 of the most talked-about teacher evaluation systems nationally: Delaware; Rhode Island; Tennessee; Hillsborough County, FL; Houston, TX; New Haven, CT; Pittsburgh, PA; Washington, DC; Achievement First (a charter management organization, or CMO); and the Relay Graduate School of Education in New York City. The report contains a brief, cross-site analysis, 10 detailed profiles, and an appendix of documents that were used to build the evaluation systems.

Report Round-up: May 25, 2012

Need some reading for the long weekend? Here are some of the most recently released reports that caught our eye!

Common Core State Standards & Career and Technical Education: Bridging the Divide between College and Career Readiness – Achieve, the Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE), and the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc)

This report lays out a blueprint for increased engagement between state education leaders and the career and technical education (CTE) community.

The Condition of Education 2012 – U.S. Department of Education

The Condition of Education (COE) is a congressionally mandated annual report that summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available statistics. The Condition of Education 2012 contains 49 indicators, plus a Closer Look.

Report Round-Up: May 4, 2012

PreK-3rd: Next Steps for State Longitudinal Data Systems- Foundation for Child Development This new report addresses issues in developing coordinated preK-12 data systems. This report notes that Pre-K services have "become increasingly essential" in the U.S., and coordinated student and provider information are needed to inform policy and practice.

Preparing All Teachers to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners: Applying Research to Policy and Practice for Teacher Effectiveness- Center for American Progress

This study finds that educating the more than 5 million English Language Learners (ELL) students in the U.S. will increasingly fall to general education teachers, and teacher education programs need to impart skills to these teachers on reaching them.

How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education - Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution

According findings of the institution’s president Darrell M. West, some preliminary evidence suggests that the use of blogs, video games

Report Round-Up: April 27, 2012

In this report, experts examined how policymakers can make digital learning a tool to improve American education, gleaning insights from papers which they wrote to form the new book.

Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools 1999-2000 and 2009-2010- National Center for Education Statistics

This report finds that the number of public secondary and elementary schools offering visual arts, dance, and drama/theater has declined in the last 10 years, but music classes remain available to students in an overwhelming majority of schools.

Report Round-Up: April 13, 2012

Transforming Schools Through Expanded Learning Time: Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School- National Center on Time & Learning

This study from the National Center on Time & Learning asserts that drastic staff and culture changes, along with expanded learning time and data use, drove significant student achievement gains in just one year at Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School in Boston.

Tinkering Toward Transformation: A Look at Federal School Improvement Grant Implementation- Center on Reinventing Public Education

This report recommends that that U.S Department of Education abolish the transformation model of improvement in student performance and instead opt for the turnaround method and/or the requirement for unions to sign off on the reform model chosen. 

Report Round-Up: April 6, 2012

Findings From A Survey Of Registered Voters In Nine Key Swing States- College Board

The College Board organization, also responsible for the ACT and SAT, released a survey of swing state voters, showing that voters want to hear way more about how they plan to address issues like school funding and college affordability. Overall, education is certainly a top-tier issue during for the 2012 presidential election.

Annual Program Performance Report- Program for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk of Educational Failure (U.S. Department of Education)

This report from the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education notes that although the percentage of Title I, Part D students entering the program with below-average math and reading proficiency is rising, the educational services provided to neglected, delinquent, and at-risk students are helping them make academic strides.