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Kansas City Report Calls Out Need for Better Reporting of Data to Parents

Scores of teachers and school administrators cite the lack of parental engagement as a leading factor in low student achievement. But the key to sparking meaningful parental engagement has long eluded schools and districts. Just this year, one Tennessee lawmaker introduced legislation to require parents to attend school meetings or have their welfare benefits revoked. Contradicting the belief that it takes a miracle (or the threat of punishment) to inspire parental engagement, a new Public Agenda survey of Kansas City parents suggests that parents do want to make meaningful contributions to their children’s education.

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Closing the Achievement Gap Requires Progress for Students at All Levels

Efforts to close the achievement gap have often focused solely on the lowest performing students, and results from national assessments suggest that American schools have made a lot of progress. But there hasn’t been nearly as much progress in moving low-income students and students of color to the highest level of achievement; gaps there have widened significantly in recent years. Certainly, efforts to bring the bottom students up must continue, but the nationwide effort to close long-standing gaps between groups will never succeed without a focus on students at all points on the achievement spectrum.

Exposing Unequal Access to Effective Teachers

States and districts are working hard to implement educator evaluation systems that can help differentiate the quality of teaching occurring across schools. Among other uses, data from these systems can help us discern whether all kids have equitable access to effective teachers. Hillsborough County Schools in Florida, a leading district in educator evaluation, took a big step forward recently by publicly sharing a preliminary analysis assessing whether students in its low-income schools have access to high-quality teaching on par with their more affluent peers. Their data suggest the answer is no.

Ed Trust Letter Opposes District Waivers, But Department Moves Forward

Despite objections and concerns raised by The Education Trust and seven other groups in the civil rights and disability communities, the U.S. Department of Education has allowed an ESEA waiver submitted by a group of California districts to undergo peer review. After California failed to submit an application that met the Department’s requirements, the California Office to Reform Education (CORE) applied for a waiver and the Department agreed to consider it, potentially setting a bad precedent that would allow multiple accountability systems within a state. Such a move would take us back to a time when it was widely acceptable to set lower expectations for disadvantaged students, and make it nearly impossible for parents, communities, and policymakers to discern the progress and success of their local schools.

First-Year Performance Predicts Future Teacher Proficiency

It is common to excuse away much of a teacher’s first year in the classroom — to ascribe performance shortfalls to inexperience and assume that the teacher will improve with time. And it is true that, on average, teachers with a few years of experience are stronger than those just starting out. But a new report from TNTP, Leap Year: Assessing and Supporting Effective First-Year Teachers, suggests there is much to learn from a teacher’s first year on the job — information that can be used to support her success as well as to maximize student learning.

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