Current News

On December 19, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. ET, CCSSO will be hosting a webinar on the recently released Partnership for Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced sample assessment items in mathematics with middle school mathematics teacher Jim Mamer.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to chief state school officers reinforcing that the requirement of calculating high school completions still applies even under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers. Graduation-rate accountability must be a significant part of accountability systems, and they must be calculated in the same way as outlined in 2008 regulations.

As part of its new Reward Schools Ambassador Program, the Tennessee Department of Education has selected 15 teachers from 2012 Reward Schools -- or those in the top 10 percent with regard to performance and progress -- to share best practices with neighboring schools in their region in an effort to bolster student achievement and close achievement gaps. These teachers all earned the top score of 5 on the state's teacher evaluations, were nominated by their schools for the year-long paid positions, and were chosen through a competitive application and interview process.

According to a new Stanford University Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) study, charter school students made larger learning gains overall than their peers in traditional schools on state tests from 2007-2011. More than 33 percent of charters demonstrated higher achievement levels than other public schools in their districts. However, the report also says charter school performance is almost as varied as that of traditional public schools.

The New Hampshire State Board of Education (SBE) voted unanimously on Nov. 21 to endorse the NH Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Network position statement. The paper presented to the SBE says the IHE Network "stands ready to work with the Department of Education, the legislature, and the professional educational organizations throughout our state to build a modern workforce of educators, leaders, and scholars strongly committed to the highest aspirations of our profession and our communities."

Northern Marianas Islands Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan, Ed.D, would like to see one system govern the education programs on Rota, Saipan, and Tinian. Currently, the CNMI Public School System handles the preschool-12th grade educational program, while the post-secondary program is administered by the Northern Marianas College (NMC). "We need to reform the structure of education in the CNMI so it becomes more efficient and more effective and that it will meet the needs of the Commonwealth. Make it a structure that would be preschool all the way to the 16th program," she says.

Louisiana Superintendent John White says the state's prekindergarten overhaul will be tested for at least one year before decisions are made on how schools and centers are graded. "Until we see how those assessments work we will not develop an accountability measure," he says. State officials will create early learning performance guidelines for those up to age three and academic standards for those between ages three and four.

The Hawaii Department of Education released its two-year Race to the Top report on Nov. 28, indicating that significant progress has been made toward the state's Race to the Top goals. In particular, the report cites substantial gains in reading and math among the state's fourth- and eighth-graders on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The Nebraska Education Department has released a report on public schools and student progress, indicating that three of four school districts graduated 90 percent or more of their high school students. More than 50 school districts graduated all of their seniors, with 88 percent of high school seniors graduating across the state, up from 86 percent last year. Most school districts demonstrated improvement and growth under the new accountability system.

Beginning this year, Louisiana teachers will be evaluated and ranked on an annual basis, and eventually, teachers considered ineffective for two years in a row will lose their jobs. About 50 percent of the evaluations will hinge on "value-added modeling," using test scores to measure student progress, with the other half based on classroom observations by principals and other administrators.