What should states and districts working on school improvement keep in mind about successful turnaround efforts? AIR experts have identified nine key conditions that led to successful turnaround in Massachusetts that could be useful to education leaders in other states.
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama said, “We live in a time of extraordinary change… and whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate.” In this blog post, AIR’s Peter Cookson says the key to dealing with this change is ...
Last Friday, President Obama announced a plan to make community college free for millions of students. Andrew Gillen and Thomas Weko argue the pros and cons of the plan.
Systems to rate the quality of child care and preschool programs are in place or under development in 49 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In this blog post, Laura Hawkinson and Karen Manship explain that, until validation and evaluation studies are complete, states' varying systems make ...
While a new report concludes that “most teachers do not appear to improve substantially from year to year," Jane Coggshall argues we should not conclude that we should throw out all teacher professional development because it’s a waste of money. What’s needed instead, she says, is a broad set of ...
Educating students who have been neglected, delinquent, or are otherwise at-risk requires specialized training and careful collaboration across the agencies responsible for serving for these students. For this reason, each state receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the Title I, Part D Neglected or Delinquent Programs. Determining ...
The U.S. Department of Education’s new regulations for teacher preparation programs ask states and organizations that prepare teachers to provide much more data about graduates’ competence, their persistence in the teacher workforce, and their impact on student learning. But is this the right data needed to improve teaching? In this ...
The Department of Education’s latest Condition of Education report adds to the growing evidence that there is an earnings premium associated with higher levels of education. As expected, Jijun Zhang points out in this blog post that the data show an earnings premium associated with completing a bachelor’s degree. ...
Where can a math or English or history teacher go to discover ways to integrate and assess college and career readiness standards and skills in their classes? In this blog post, AIR's Catherine Jacques suggests working with career and technical education teachers, who have used this kind of instruction for ...
Parents, teachers, schools, districts, states, and especially students all want schools that prepare graduates to thrive in the 21st century. In this blog post, Anne Mishkind asks what it means to be "college and career ready."