The National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) has been in a multi-year partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to provide principal leadership training through the PA Inspired Leadership (PIL) program. Over the years, the relationship has deepened and expanded to include direct partnerships with districts who are…

The Language and Culture Division (LCD) provides accountability with support to districts that serve students participating in Bilingual Multicultural Education Programs (BMEPs) so that all participating students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and administrative code, which are: (1) students become bilingual and…

Student achievement growth data are increasingly used for assessing teacher effectiveness and tracking student achievement in the classroom. Guided by the student learning objective (SLO) framework, music teachers are now responsible for collecting, tracking, and reporting student growth data. Often, the reported data do not accurately reflect the…

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) play a distinct role in the United States' decentralized federal education system. Separate from national and state assessments, they offer an external, objective measure for the United States to assess student performance comparatively with other countries and over time. The US engagement in ILSAs…

These are exciting times in American education. While higher education has been preoccupied with its own challenges, its colleagues in K-12 have been adopting new standards, building new assessments and curricula, and redefining success for America's schools. For decades, the end-goal and primary success measure of most school systems was high…

This report explains that The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--known since 2001 as No Child Left Behind (NCLB)--requires states to set annual objectives for increasing student achievement in reading and mathematics and closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Under the flexibility waiver granted by the US Department of…

Ambitious student-achievement targets turn up the heat, as winners of the $4 billion federal grant effort push to deliver. Winners of the $4 billion Race to the Top jackpot committed to grand goals in using the federal grants to raise student achievement, as measured by higher test scores, narrowed achievement gaps, and increased graduation and…

The Guam Department of Education (GDOE) presents this report in compliance with Guam Public Law 26-26 that specifically requires the Department to report on the following information in the Annual State of Public Education Report (ASPER): (1) Demographic information on public school children in the community; (2) Information pertaining to student…

The vexed and ongoing issue of poor educational outcomes for Indigenous students in the Northern Territory continues despite years of successive programs and policies. Much of the debate has been on funding and pedagogy, in particular the merits or otherwise of bi-lingual teaching. Largely omitted from discussions, although well known by teachers…

Many metrics along K-12 education may serve as indicators of potential success, but they are not goals. Students must leave the public school system at least proficient enough to face the tasks ahead. At the moment when students depart the K-12 system to enter college or career, it matters neither how proficient they were years before, nor the…

Productivity gains in higher education won't be made just by improving cost effectiveness or even performance. They need to be documented, communicated, and integrated into a strategic agenda to increase attainment. This requires special attention to "accountability" for productivity, meaning public presentation and communication of evidence about…

In several high-profile speeches this year, President Barack Obama has set an ambitious educational goal: By 2020, the United States will have the highest proportion of adults with a college degree in the world. The emphasis on education in both his proposed budget for fiscal 2010 and in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009…

Develops an approach for setting performance targets for schoolchildren, using data-envelopment analysis to identify benchmark pupils who achieve the best observed performance (allowing for contextual factors). These pupils' achievement forms the basis of targets estimated. The procedure also identifies appropriate role models for weaker students'…

Examines the British government's recent advice about target setting and compares it with evidence-based understanding of the technique. Although the official advice is deemed unhelpful and ideological, some use of target setting that involves all stakeholders' participation is recommended for raising student achievement. (Contains 29 references.)…

In 1999, Ministers responsible for school education agreed to the new set of "National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century," with the aim of providing high quality schooling in Australia which would secure for students the necessary knowledge, understanding, skills and values for a productive and rewarding life. As a…