The New York State Education Department’s accountability system distorts school performance in absurd ways and with perverse results.
What changes are coming to New York’s school accountability system?
There are significant changes coming to New York State’s school accountability system now that the US Department of Education has approved the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan.
Are smartphones the greatest threat to K-12 education?
Research in The Atlantic Monthly, which?makes the compelling case that smartphones may be destroying a generation of children, is must-read for any educator concerned about threats to the future success of K-12 education.
School leadership in the age of Trump
This spring I have been struck by two compelling examples of school district leadership: one by a white man leading a district attended by mostly black and brown students; the other by a black woman leading a district attended by mostly white students.
Strategic planning with a Regional Information Center
The South Central Regional Information Center team engages in a high energy, collaborative strategic planning process. “We’re nailing it, absolutely hammering on our immediate priorities,” reports its director. “It’s been an awesome experience for the whole SCRIC team.”
Is New York’s Education Department capable of transforming itself?
With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, New York’s Ed Dept has a huge opportunity to reinvent itself. But is it capable of transformation?
Charter versus public: why not steal from the best regardless?
Instead of acrimoniously debating charter versus public, we need to identify the highest performers — both public and charter — and then steal from the best, regardless.
Why NY’s Grade 3 – 8 assessments are useless for tracking improvement
New York’s school districts must wait until the summer of 2019 to get an accurate assessment of the effectiveness of their ELA and math strategies.
US Senate bill would eliminate punitive nature of NCLB
The New York State Education Department has fetishized failure, distorting overall school performance. Fortunately, relief may be on its way in the form of a bipartisan bill to revise the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and eliminate its most punitive elements.
Strategic planning has big payoff for school districts
School superintendents are faced with difficult resource allocation decisions. Where will I get the biggest bump in performance per dollar spent, they wonder. In this post are examples from four very different school districts. Impressive performance gains at each demonstrate why wise school superintendents invest in strategic planning as part of their continuous improvement efforts.