Blog

The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides an important opportunity for district and state leaders to pursue their visions for equity in education. To help them take full advantage of that opportunity, we partnered with the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program, Chiefs for Change and EducationCounsel to produce Seizing the Moment: A District Guide to Advance Equity Through ESSA. This suite of tools...
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This piece originally appeared in The 74. Now more than ever, a high-quality STEM education matters. The STEM fields cultivate curiosity and creativity while preparing students to reach their highest potential in work and life. They are also critical for personal and national prosperity: In the next decade, almost all of the 30 fastest-growing occupations will require intermediate or advanced...
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Education First is proud to once again seek applications for teacher-led projects that foster social and emotional learning (SEL) skills in students in grades PK-12 through the NoVo Foundation Social Emotional Learning Innovation Fund. We will award up to $5,000 to individual teachers or groups of teachers to implement an innovative project in their classrooms and schools in the 2018-19 school year. Awardees will also have...
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Teachers are the most important in-school factor affecting student achievement, and state leaders play a critical role in ensuring every student has equitable access to excellent teachers. High-quality teacher evaluations are an important component of comprehensive systems to ensure that all students are being taught by effective teachers. From them, districts and states can generate data that can positively impact...
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Education First envisions a world in which income and race no longer determine the quality of one’s education.  Yet we know that combating persistent and prevalent inequities in our education system requires individual, organizational and systemic change. We are addressing this through our Race, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (RIDE) agenda. At our last all staff retreat we honed in on...
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As we’ve previously written on this blog, systemic racism is real, ubiquitous and insidious—and that, in our role as advisors to education leaders, we have an obligation to do something about it. A new study from researchers at Stanford, Harvard and the U.S. Census Bureau provides even more evidence for that position. The authors examined racial and ethnic disparities in...
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In 2010, 46 states joined together in two different consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) to create higher-quality, next-generation state summative assessments. Though these new tests have been consistently highly rated, today only 20 states are participating in either consortia. So what has happened to state assessments, where are they headed in the next couple of years and—most importantly for those who see the value of...
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Teachers have a unique view into some of the issues holding their schools back, but rarely have the time or resources to clearly define the problem or explore ways they can use leadership to address these challenges. The Teacher Leadership in Action grant opportunity is designed to provide teams of Massachusetts teachers with the initial funding and coaching support they...
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Go deeper. That’s the impetus behind a new web site, www.selforteachers.org, devoted to showcasing teachers’ instructional practices in social and emotional learning (SEL) that we at Education First are launching with support from NoVo Foundation. For the past few years, we’ve worked with NoVo and partners such as the Collaborating Districts Initiative to study and write about how districts and...
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When students first arrive at the Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they are required to participate in their first placement test before they can even sit down to dinner.  As they crowd into the Great Hall, they must each put on the magical Sorting Hat to determine which House they will join during their time at school.  Though this...
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