- All but Alaska, Texas, and Virginia have adopted the Common Core Standards, which are being taught in English/language arts, math, and literacy in science, history, social studies, and technical subjects.
- The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) says that college readiness scores on the tests it’s designing for the Common Core State Standards will be set so that students who score at level 4 will have a 75% chance of earning a “C” or better in college courses.
- According to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Hawaii’s statewide teacher’s union is the strongest in the country, while Arizona’s is the weakest.
- Researchers say that “value added” or “growth index” models measuring teachers’ contributions to student achievement should be used with more care. Because of the $290 million Teacher Incentive Fund and the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, more states/districts use these teacher evaluation methods.
- A Education Next study found that the effect of highly effective principals on student achievement is equivalent to two to seven months of additional learning each year. The same amount of learning is lost with ineffective teachers.
