The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in its latest "Goalkeepers Report" pushed for greater use of assessment data in education, pointing to success in Vietnam, which has proven to be an outlier in math, reading and science test scores. Goalkeepers is a campaign for tracking progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 10/09/18
The United States Department of Education has accepted New Hampshire's plan to join a pilot program for alternative student assessments under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
States are "shirking" their responsibilities in two important Every Student Succeeds Act provisions, according to a new analysis by the Alliance for Education.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 10/03/18
Just as the College Board announced new resources and processes for its Advanced Placement exams, the organization also said that the number of students tackling an AP Computer Science assessment grew by nearly a third over last year's count. That count includes record participation by underrepresented groups, including girls and black and Latinx students.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 10/03/18
The U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress takes a look at how students and teachers are using computers for learning.
School leadership in Delaware, Nebraska and South Carolina are already seeing some of the benefits of the Every Student Succeeds Act, but there are still challenges that many schools face.
A new report commissioned by NWEA revealed that parents, teachers and school leaders agree about the importance of measuring students' soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork and view them as equally important as academic skills. However, which skills to teach and who should have the primary role in doing so is an area where the roles disagreed.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 09/05/18
A new move by the New Mexico Public Education Department will give school districts in that state 15 more days to prepare for statewide PARCC exams and deliver student test scores before the end of the school year.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 08/29/18
Educational game company Kahoot is launching a new certification program for teachers designed to help them use Kahoot in their classrooms more effectively. Kahoot is a popular competitive quiz game that's available free for educators.
On the bright side, researchers noted in a new report, there's a move away from high-stakes consequences and toward formative rather than summative assessments.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 07/03/18