RE: Leadership and AYP

Principal's Policy Blog: Aspen Commission's NCLB Recommendations are Not Grounded in Reality

The importance of principals in school improvement efforts is finally acknowledged in a recently released report by the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind, but the recommendations included in the report fall short of truly addressing the needs of today’s middle level and high schools.



The Commission recommends establishing a definition of Highly Effective Principal (HEP). Under the proposal, states would have four years to implement a system to designate principals as HEPs. Principals who are employed by a school that does not make adequate yearly progress could have his or her HEP status revoked if the school does not make AYP after corrective action interventions.

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RE: Follow the link to the original blog posting and comment

Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog: No Child Left Behind: The Football Version

No Child Left Behind: The Football Version

As an example of the pernicious borderline-racist nonsense that's out there, below is an email that was circulating the internet a couple of years ago:

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RE: More than a horse race

Welcome to the Center for Public Education! - Center for Public Education

U.S. scores on international tests make great media copy, but what do they really mean? Some say they’re proof that American schools are broken. Others say that the crisis-mongering is overblown. The fact is, our students aren’t failing, but they’re not number one, either. Learn more about how the U.S. really stacks up internationally and what lessons these comparisons can offer. Read this story.

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RE: Skim one of the articles on this site

International assessments - Center for Public Education

International assessments

U.S. scores on international tests make great media copy, but what do they really mean? Some say they’re proof that American schools are broken. Others say that the crisis-mongering is overblown. The fact is, our students aren’t failing, but they’re not number one, either. Learn more about how the U.S. really stacks up internationally and what lessons these comparisons can offer. The documents below will help sort you sort out the facts.

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RE: Preparing for reauthorization

Principal's Policy Blog: Principals Concerns Heard by Department of Education

Principals Concerns Heard by Department of Education

NASSP Executive Director Gerald N. Tirozzi and NAESP Executive Director Vincent Ferrandino met with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings yesterday at the Department of Education in January to discuss reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), specifically focusing on the law’s effect on school principals.

“It is heartening to see the administration take principals’ concerns into account as we begin NCLB reauthorization,” Tirozzi said. “We hope this is only the beginning of a collaboration that will further our common goal: ensuring that every student achieves.”

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RE: Quality Counts 2006 document

Education Week: Grades Put on Hold as Indicators Evolve

A big question is whether state K-12 policies adopted over the past decade have made any difference in raising student achievement or closing achievement gaps.

An analysis conducted for Quality Counts 2006 by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center found a positive relationship between states that had pursued a standards-based education agenda—including the adoption of state academic-content standards, tests, and accountability systems for schools based on test results—and gains in student achievement.
Data Download
Standards PDF Excel
Assessments PDF Excel
Accountability PDF Excel

But preliminary analyses found a slight negative relationship between state efforts to improve teacher quality and student-achievement gains. And there was no relationship between state education finance indicators and student-achievement trends, after taking into account initial performance differences across states.

No Child Left Behind Trailer

Trailer for 'No Child Left Behind' Documentary After spending a year as a student teacher in a New York City elementary school, documentary filmmaker Lerone Wilson explores the effects of President Bush's momentous No Child Left Behind Act on schools across the country.

RE: Review the information at Education Trust

Press Room, The Education Trust

EdTrust Releases Funding Gaps 2006



(Washington, D.C.) – School finance policy choices at the federal, state, and district levels systematically stack the deck against students who need the most support from their schools, according to a report released today by the Education Trust.



The report, Funding Gaps 2006, builds on the Education Trust’s annual studies of funding gaps among school districts within states.

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RE: Title I money not going to most needy

Education Week: Title I Money Not Reaching Students Who Need It Most, Report Says

By Michelle R. Davis

As federal funding meant to help the most disadvantaged students makes its way from the halls of the U.S. Capitol down to individual schools, the dollars intended to help poor and minority students are often diverted from the most needy students, concludes a report released today by the Education Trust.

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See the chart on this linked page and comment

Eduwonk.com

The Horrid AYP Unmasked!

NCLB's "adequate yearly progress" provisions have some problems, sure. But the reality is that they're not nearly as bad as the rhetoric about them, and some of the problems fall in the "lesser of several bad choices" category because of the current state of play of state policy. These Hill staffers are not as dumb or out of touch as people think...This chart from the Olson-Hoff NCLB sweepstakes opus in Education Week debunks some of the common myths, especially the scapegoating of English-language learners* and special-ed kids. In the end, despite some sharp edges we're back to the question of whether we're going to hold schools accountable for educating discreet subgroups of kids, or not. In other words, is the right unit of analysis kids or schools?

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RE: NCLB Reauthorization

Education Week: Spellings Won’t Seek Minimum Subgroup Size For NCLB

Reauthorization Preview

Some participants here suggested that the department come up with a tiered system for labeling schools that are not making AYP and establish differentiated consequences for schools, depending on which achievement targets they are missing or how far off the mark they are. Under the current law, schools either meet its targets or don’t.

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RE: More trouble with Illinois Scores

Education Week: Illinois Scores Delayed Again

Illinois Scores Delayed Again

Illinois has encountered another problem with the grading of its achievement test. Now, results from the tests students took last spring won’t be available until at least February after the state school board discovered a problem that led to incorrect scores on the science portion of the 11th grade test, graded by San Antonio-based Harcourt Assessment. In addition, some schools gave students the wrong form, which mostly affected students with disabilities. Scoring glitches and data-entry errors have plagued the state and the testing company, delaying Illinois test results. ("Glitches, Data Errors Delay Illinois Test-Score Release," Dec. 6, 2006.)

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