Current News

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) continues to advocate for advancing the 21st Century Readiness Acts in the new 113th Congress. On February 12, P21 asked leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to support of this legislation.

On Thursday, February 21, 2013, at 12:00 p.m. EST, 9:00 a.m., PST states are invited to participate in the National Assessment Governing Board’s webinar, Lessons for All: Decades of NAEP Data from the Mega-States, an event in Sacramento, Calif. and live webcast to release the results of a new NAEP report drawing on nearly two decades of data.

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has announced that the Hawaii State Department of Education is off of Race to the Top (RTTT) “high-risk” status for its work on standards, assessments, and data system development and use. USED notified state education officials late Friday about the change followed by an official letter to Governor Neil Abercrombie.

In a Feb. 4 letter to Congress, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governors Association, the National School Boards Association, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, and other organizations called for an update to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), stating that reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is "must pass" legislation.

On Tuesday, February 19 at 2:00 p.m., ET, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) will host "The Power of Communication," a discussion of communications challenges and success. Experts on developing and implementing communications strategy will share their experience to help states develop communications plan.

Following the recent U.S. Senate hearing on the Obama administration's No Child Left Behind waivers, New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, New York Education Commissioner John King, Jr., and Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday engaged in a one-hour discussion about the waivers hosted by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

A report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) reveals that past attempts to enact standards-based education reform have been impeded by teacher evaluation limitations and that the Common Core State Standards draws on the "standard of care" concept, which calls on teachers to continually acquire new knowledge and hone their skills.

A new report from Education First and the EPE Research Center, "Moving Forward: A National Perspective on States' Progress in Common Core State Standards Implementation Planning," looks at the progress being made by states in implementing the standards, with a focus on professional development, curriculum materials, and teacher evaluations.

Two reports released by the New Jersey Department of Education show that a "collective refocus" on what constitutes good teaching occurred as part of a pilot teacher evaluation program in 10 school districts in 2012.

When addressing a joint session of the Montana House and Senate, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau urged lawmakers to invest in the state's public schools, which she described as incubators for innovative, adaptive programs.