In this brief we discuss the importance of aligning teacher preparation programs with the classroom experience in K-12 schools. Until recently, most preparation programs focused solely on inputs rather than how their graduates performed with students. Improving the standards for...
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Measuring what students know and can do is an essential part of teaching, and like many teaching practices, designing assessments is sophisticated work. In this toolkit, produced under contract as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Reform Support Network...
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Legislative- and executive-created commissions in three states—Colorado, New Jersey and Ohio—have recently studied their schools’ use of assessments and the time students spend taking tests and offered recommendations for changes. Over the past two years, a handful of national organizations...
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In the Reform Integration Framework and Resource Guide, we offer state and local education leaders a framework to identify priorities for integrating new reforms around college- and career-ready standards, assessments and educator evaluation and support systems. The framework also provides more...
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As states transition to new college- and career-ready standards and assessments, there is lots of misinformation about what these new assessments are and how they will affect students. In these handouts we collect some of the best arguments we’ve heard...
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As states transition to new college- and career-ready standards, leaders need to be sure that the assessments they choose not only reflect those standards, but drive teaching and learning. In this document we summarize findings from assessment experts to help...
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This report, written in partnership with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, provides a close look at how four pioneering districts are striving to put the Common Core into practice in their central offices, schools and classrooms. It focuses on how...
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In this guide we outline a set of indicators for school-level success in implementing the Common Core State Standards. We found that high-quality transition plans address leadership teams, establishing common expectations, ongoing professional learning opportunities, data systems, instructional resources, family...
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In this report, we examine the readiness of all 50 states and the District of Columbia in three areas related to Common Core State Standards (CCSS): teacher professional development, curriculum guides, and teacher-evaluation systems. We surveyed 47 state education agency...
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As more and more states adopt college and career ready standards, K-12 and higher education collaboration will no longer be a choice, it will be a necessity. In this document we provide a practical, six-step guide for states seeking to...
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