1. 5 reasons getting rid of annual testing is a bad idea
“Without annual tests, however, that potential is lost, and states’ accountability metrics will likely revert to being almost entirely correlated with student characteristics, rather than real differences in school performance—a huge setback for low-income schools and communities.”
Note: whether or not you can get growth metrics without annual testing seems to be the most important issue in the debate.
“Because it’s based solely on emotion, it’s fleeting. When the sensations of meaningful go away then the cause that once aroused them gets dropped, too. Ennui floods in. Personal crisis follows. There’s no reliable ground.”
3. How poor are America’s poor?
“Low-income Americans get an exceptionally raw deal for residents of the developed world.”
4. New teachers are staying in their jobs longer
“Despite recent education policy stories that have reported new teachers leaving the profession in significant numbers—up to 50 percent by the fifth year in the profession—as well as two recent reports that relied on 10-year-old data, the picture since 2007 has been decidedly rosier: Fully 70 percent of beginning teachers stay in the profession for at least five years.”