Earlier today, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) released a draft of the K-12 common standards. All but two states (Alaska and Texas) have signed onto the common core standards initiative but this is our first look at the proposed K-12 standards. And if you have an opinion, CCSSO and NGA would like your feedback.
Before you do, check out the Center’s A new conversation on national standards? to gain the inside scoop on the ins and outs of national standards. –Jim Hull
As usual, I had my daily Morning Joe while eating breakfast this morning. No, not the caffeinated version, but the MSNBC version with Joe Scarborough and friends.
What got my attention as I was eating my English muffin and drinking my OJ was their discussion about a recent charter school study by Caroline Hoxby that found that New York City students who attended charter school from 1st through 8th grade made significantly more gains than a similar students in New York’s traditional public schools. The report went on to say—and Joe Scarborough reiterated—that the gain was the equivalent to closing the Harlem-Scarsdale (an affluent and high-achieving district suburb) gap by nearly 90 percent.
Of course this is good news for those students who attended New York’s charter schools. However, Scarborough made a remark that the report shows the importance and impact of charter schools.
No, Joe, it doesn’t.
The report only shows the importance and impact of charter schools in New York City. And even then, it is only for those charter schools where the demand for a seat was greater than the supply, since the study compared the achievement gains of those students who attended New York’s charter schools to those who applied but could not attend because they did not win a spot through the school’s admissions lottery. So it’s incorrect to say the study shows charters schools to be the silver bullet to improve public education.
Unfortunately, such statements are common when talking about charter schools. Since they vary greatly, not only from state to state but from district to district, it is difficult not only to determine how effective charter schools are in general but even to describe what they are.
That is why the Center for Public Education will be releasing a new report on charter schools next week to clear the air about what charters are and how they really compare to traditional public schools. Spoiler Alert: Scarborough will be shocked to learn the vast majority of charter school students nationwide would have performed just as well or better if they had attended their local traditional public school. –Jim Hull
To find out more about charter schools check out the Center for Public Education next week.
Articles like this from the Associated Press about districts reducing the number of school days in a week from five to four have been raising a lot of eyebrows . Some people applaud such innovative thinking to decrease cost while saving teachers’ jobs. Others are downright terrified about the negative effect it might have on students.
But what does the research say? Well, thankfully the Center for Public Education covered this very issue in our report Making time: What research says about re-organizing school schedules. When it came to four-day school weeks the report found:
Four-day school weeks were designed to help save overhead costs, but also appear to have educational and morale benefits for students and staff. Many rural districts have dropped one day from the weekly schedule by adding time to the other four days. While the move is almost always initiated to save on transportation and food service expenses, some are seeing unintended benefits in the form of higher test scores, decreased disciplinary problems, greater collaboration among teachers, and higher morale.
So going to a 4-day school week may not have the negative effect some may fear. Actually it can provide some benefits. Districts across the country trying to meet the needs of all their students with much less money have to determine if going to 4-day school week is best way to reduce costs while still improving student achievement.
It may not be the optimal solution, but some of the alternatives are laying off effective teachers, raising class sizes, or eliminating or cutting back on pre-k. All of these would quite likely have a negative impact on student achievement. On the other hand, the link between time and student achievement is not so clear. So for some districts, going to a 4-day school week may be the best solution to cutting costs while still improving student achievement. –Jim Hull
College application season is almost over. College decision season has begun.
In addition to factors such as the size of the dorm rooms, the way the campus looks, and the dining hall food, encourage your student to look at the college completion rate. That is, simply, how many entering freshman graduate four years later? Even six years later? Colleague Patte Barth mentioned a neat tool for doing so a few posts ago.
In my naivete, I thought all colleges’ graduation rates would be somewhere around 90 percent. They’re not. Sometimes rates are as low as 35 percent. While different factors (many of them out of colleges’ control) can cause students to drop out, a college degree is more important than ever. Colleges are right to look at what they can do to encourage students to complete their degree.
This issue is getting more and more press, including a new non-profit established to improve college completion rates. It’s a complex subject. What’s the most important aspect to you? Financial aid? High school readiness? The necessity of a college degree in the workplace? We’d like to hear. – Rebecca St. Andrie
“College and career readiness” has been the buzz phrase in education here in the early part of 2010. The Council of Chief Staff School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) have been leading the effort to create common standards based on college and career readiness, and President Obama has pushed to revamp the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left Behind, or NCLB) to focus on getting all students college and career ready. Now Achieve, Inc has released its 5th annual Closing the Expectations Gap report on how each of the 50 states have been doing in aligning their high school policies with the demands of college and careers.
Nearly all states (48) have signed onto the CCSSO/NGA common standards project. However, according to Achieve, 31 states already have, or will have in the near future, college and career ready standards in math and English. This is up from three states just five years ago. So states have made tremendous progress in a short amount of time.
Furthermore, Achieve also reports that 21 states have established high school graduation requirements that require all students to complete a curriculum that will prepare them for college or the workplace. The curriculums require students to complete 4 years of English and 4 years of math, of which at least one course must be to the level of Algebra II.
Other findings include:
- 14 states administer high school assessments that postsecondary institutions use to make decisions about students’ readiness for college.
- For example, Michigan and Illinois require all high school students to take the ACT college entrance exam.
- 16 states have data systems in place that are able to connect students’ K-12 data to their postsecondary data. However, all other states are working to put such a data system in place.
- Only 1 state–Texas—has a comprehensive college and career ready accountability system.
If, when ESEA gets reauthorized, the focus turns to “college and career readiness,” states have already started in that direction. However, most would have a long road ahead of them, especially in developing college and career ready assessments and developing an accountability system geared towards college and career readiness. – Jim Hull
For more information on the importance of college and career readiness in the 21st century check out the Center’s Defining a 21st Century Education.
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