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03/08/2016 by Sean Brady

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?

Filed Under: K-12 education, NCLB & ESSA accountability Tagged With: assumptions, biases, essa, nclb, Race to the Top, school accountability

04/08/2015 by Sean Brady

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.

Filed Under: NCLB & ESSA accountability Tagged With: nclb, Race to the Top, school accountability

01/04/2012 by Sean Brady

Screen cast introduces CohortTracker™

View our screen cast introducing CohortTracker™, an early warning web application that allows schools to monitor students? progress towards graduation. Educators can identify students getting off track and intervene before it is too late. The app is designed to be a general-purpose student achievement tracking system that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of any education department.

Filed Under: Agile software Tagged With: agile development, Apps, cohort tracking, dropout early warning system, dropout prevention, dropout rate, education, graduation rate, nclb, Race to the Top

12/05/2011 by Sean Brady

CohortTracker™ early warning system

CohortTracker™ is an early warning web application that allows schools to monitor students’ progress towards graduation. Educators can identify students getting off track and intervene with them before it is too late. Simple, intuitive and easy to use, CohortTracker™ is now available for license. For more information, read on at https://prismdecision.com/cohorttracker-early-warning-system

Filed Under: Agile software Tagged With: agile development, Apps, data, databases, decision-making, dropout, dropout early warning system, dropout prevention, dropout rate, education, graduation rate, nclb, Race to the Top, school accountability

08/03/2011 by Sean Brady

School planning in the era of Race to the Top

With the adoption of Race to the Top, school districts across the country are being forced to change directions in mid-stream. Districts will thrive if they can overcome inertia without a substantial expense of resources, including wasted time, energy and budget. District leadership will need to adjust their current trajectory and redirect resources to a new set of priorities quickly and efficiently. Chenango Forks Central School District provides a model of planning dexterity that other school districts may want to emulate.

Filed Under: NCLB & ESSA accountability Tagged With: Common Core, education, nclb, PARCC, Race to the Top

06/20/2011 by Sean Brady

Reducing Dropout Rates & Increasing Graduation Rates: a Case Study

Increasing graduation rates and reducing dropout rates has proved an intractable challenge for many schools districts. Progress is generally slow or stagnant. But not for all districts. The Lockport City School District is a case study of how data-based decisions, focused strategy and a lot of really hard work by dedicated professionals can have a dramatic effect on graduation and dropout rates.

Filed Under: K-12 education Tagged With: data, dropout, dropout prevention, dropout rate, education, graduation rate, nclb, Race to the Top, school accountability

04/25/2011 by Sean Brady

The Issues With High-stakes Testing and PARCC

As a result of Race to the Top, most states will soon administer even more high-stakes tests. For example, in the 2014-15 school year, 25 states, including New York, will begin administering PARCC assessments in grades 3-12 four times per year. At the same time, there is an inexorable push to connect teacher and administrator performance reviews, tenure decisions and pay to student performance. This post discusses four specific traps that I believe implementers of RTTT and the PARCC assessments will have to avoid if their reforms are to bear fruit.

Filed Under: NCLB & ESSA accountability Tagged With: Common Core, education, high stakes tests, nclb, PARCC, Race to the Top, school accountability, test scores

03/08/2011 by Sean Brady

How State Budgets Are Breaking US Schools

Bill Gates Ted Talks presentation describes the structural funding challenges facing our K-12 education system. The trade-offs are dire and civic conflict looms. Will we continue to fund growing health care costs at the expense of educating our children? Will we educate our children at the expense of teachers? pensions? Are we entering an era that pits the dreams of the young against the past promises to the old? If you are a student, parent, educator, taxpayer or politician, you should view Gates? short, provocative March 2 presentation at https://prismdecision.com/how-state-budgets-are-breaking-us-schools

Filed Under: K-12 education Tagged With: Bill Gates Ted Talks, education, graduation rate, nclb, school accountability, school budget cuts, teacher layoffs, test scores

02/28/2011 by Sean Brady

The Absurdity of New York’s School Accountability System

The New York State Education Department released school report cards Thursday, February 17. A close look at the report cards reveals a very important, unreported story. We now have an absurd situation in New York State. For many schools districts to hit their accountability targets, they will have to improve at a rate that the NYSED does not consider credible. Read on at https://prismdecision.com/absurdity-of-new-york-school-accountability-system

Filed Under: NCLB & ESSA accountability Tagged With: education, graduation rate, nclb, school accountability, test scores

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Prism Decision Systems, LLC
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