<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'><font color="black" face="arial" size="2">
<div> Good article by Checker Finn on establi<font size="2">shing college ready cut<font size="2"> scores: </font></font><br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Thomas B. Fordham Institute <thegadfly@edexcellence.net><br>
To: anngift <anngift@aol.com><br>
Sent: Thu, Jan 24, 2013 5:28 pm<br>
Subject: The Education Gadfly Weekly: Cutting to the chase<br>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>January 24, 2013</strong></span></td>
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<div><span style="color: #939393;">OPINION</span><br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=pZfex-emdrv7P2o7eBmfZQ#opinion1">
<span style="font-size: 13px;"><strong>Cutting to the chase</strong></span></a><br>
Questions about Common Core cut scores<br>
<span style="color: #939393;"><em>By Chester E. Finn, Jr.<br>
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<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=pZfex-emdrv7P2o7eBmfZQ#SR1"><strong>2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook</strong></a><br>
Like McKayla Maroney, NCTQ is unimpressed<br>
<span style="color: #939393;"><em>By Daniela Fairchild</em></span></div>
<div><span style="color: #939393;">REPORT</span><br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=pZfex-emdrv7P2o7eBmfZQ#SR2"><strong>What do International Tests Really Show About U.S. Student Performance?</strong></a><br>
Taking "the glass is half full" to the extreme<br>
<span style="color: #939393;"><em>By Brandon Wright<br>
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<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=pZfex-emdrv7P2o7eBmfZQ#SR3"><strong>Non-Cognitive Ability, Test Scores, and Teacher Quality: Evidence from 9th Grade Teachers in North Carolina</strong></a><br>
Evaluating the hidden power of character<br>
<span style="color: #939393;"><em>By Andrew Saraf<br>
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<div><span style="color: #939393;">BOOK</span><br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=pZfex-emdrv7P2o7eBmfZQ#SR4"><strong>Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots</strong></a><br>
Answer: Some pretty cool things<br>
<span style="color: #939393;"><em>By John Horton<br>
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With
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implementation with former Florida education commissioner Eric J. Smith,
Achieve president Mike Cohen, former Department of Education official Ze’ev
Wurman, and University of San Francisco professor Patrick J. Murphy.<br>
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<h3 style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: #015484; padding-top: 10px; font-weight: normal;">OPINION + ANALYSIS</h3>
<h4 style="font-size: 15px; color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a name="opinion1"></a>OPINION</h4>
<h5 style="font-size: 20px; color: #015484; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0pt; line-height: 28px;">Cutting to the chase</h5>
<div><strong>By Chester E. Finn, Jr. / January 24, 2013</strong></div>
<div>As the U.S.
education world eagerly awaits more information about the new assessments that
two consortia of states are developing to accompany the Common Core standards,
dozens of perplexing and important questions have arisen: Once the federal
grants run out, how will these activities be financed? What will it cost states
and districts to participate? Who will govern and manage these massive testing
programs? What about the technology infrastructure? The list goes on.</div>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><a title="Assessments" target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=WmtFOgl7bo3A2gIlGyynow"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5225/5843577306_06fd6132f7_n.jpg" alt="Assessments" border="0" height="194" width="290"></a><br>
<span style="color: #8e8d8d;">Tests in use from Kindergarten through eleventh grade need to have cut scores that denote true readiness for the next grade and that culminate to "college and career readiness."</span><br>
<span style="color: #8e8d8d;"><em>Photo by <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=df6psZNuGjwAAge2oPsVSg">albertogp123</a></em></span></td>
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<div>The assessment
questions that weigh most heavily on <em>my </em>mind
these days, however, involve “cut scores.” For if the Common Core is truly
intended to yield high school graduates who are college and career ready, its
assessments must be calibrated to passing scores that colleges and employers
will accept as the levels of skill and knowledge that their entrants truly need
to possess. Adequately equipping young people cannot wait ‘til twelfth grade, nor
can the assessment sequence. The tests in use from Kindergarten through
eleventh grade need to have passing scores that denote true readiness for the
next grade and that cumulate to “college and career readiness.” </div>
<div>That’s a
daunting challenge for any test maker, but it’s further complicated by
widespread fears of soaring failure rates and their political consequences, as
well as by Arne Duncan’s stipulation (in the federal grants that underwrite the
assessment-development process) that the states belonging to each consortium
must reach consensus on those passing scores (in government jargon, “common
achievement standards”). All this means, in effect, that Oregon and West
Virginia (both members of the “<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=hLlUfyeN7u1yxuY48qbFNQ">Smarter Balanced</a>” consortium) must agree on “how good is
good enough” for their students, as must Arkansas and Massachusetts (both
members of <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=9vvCx_7rrpi1rSQDHhuvUQ">PARCC</a>).
Can that really happen?</div>
<div>The angst is
palpable among state officials—especially the elected kind—over the threat of
soaring failure rates, and not just among the poor and dispossessed. We already
know from national assessment data that about half of eighth graders with <em>college-educated parents</em> fail to clear
the “proficient” bar on NAEP. If (as <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=bU0e-iq8jFca_NCXzC7aDA">mounting evidence</a> suggests) “NAEP
proficient” is roughly equivalent to “college ready,” and if the new
assessments hew to that level of rigor and honesty, many millions of American
youngsters will be found unready—and millions more will learn that they’re not
on track toward readiness. Such a cold shower should benefit the nation over
the long haul, but in the short run, it’s going to feel icy indeed.</div>
<div>Yet that’s only
the start. Here are some other perplexing challenges in this realm:</div>
<ul>
<li><em>When</em> will the chilly water hit? PARCC says it doesn’t intend to
do any level-setting until <em>after</em>
scores come in from the first test-administration in 2015, a classic example of
psychometric considerations overriding real-world political considerations. How
can states and districts possibly prep their students, their educators, and
their publics for new standards (and heightened risk of failure) if nobody
knows in advance what sort of performance will be deemed passable? The folks at
Smarter Balanced say they’ll set cut scores in advance of that first
administration but “confirm” them afterward. What exactly does that mean?</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A
single cut-score or several? NCLB says states must set at least three cut
scores on their assessments, but the Education Department’s RFP for the new
Common Core assessments makes no such demand. It refers only to “college and
career readiness.”
<div>I
had the honor of chairing the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) twenty
years back when it was struggling to set “achievement levels” for NAEP. Al
Shanker (and others) warned that we’d be wrong to establish a single level. It
would either be too high, he cautioned, in which case far too few kids would
reach it, or too low, meaning it would amount to little improvement over
state-set “minimum-competency” levels. In the end, NAGB set three achievement
levels, familiar today as “basic,” “proficient,” and “advanced.” We declared
“proficient” to be the level that every student <em>ought</em> to reach—but then, as now, fewer than two in five actually achieved
that. “Basic” was intended to be a solid marker along the road to proficient
and “advanced” was meant to represent “world class”. Will the Common Core
assessments do something similar?</div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Will
these cut scores be static or will they rise over time? Some states (Texas
comes to mind) have had good results by slowly elevating the cut scores on
their own assessments. Doing something of the sort with the new Common Core
assessments would ease the political backlash. On the other hand, the promise
of “college and career readiness” would then remain hollow for years to come.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Speaking
of which, who is doing what to ensure that colleges and employers will actually
accept these standards—and cut scores—as evidence of readiness? And how exactly
is “readiness” being construed? (The federal procurement was nebulous and,
while the Common Core standards themselves are substantively very ambitious,
the “cut scores” on their assessments are not obliged to be.) For college-bound
youngsters, I see “readiness” as the ability to enter credit-bearing courses in
the appropriate subjects on non-selective-admission campuses—i.e., to avoid
remediation. But I’ve no idea how to define “career readiness.” Who does?</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>What
happens in states (about half of them) that already have statewide graduation
tests (e.g., Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and the Ohio Graduation Test) with minimum passing scores?
These have typically been pegged to levels of academic prowess around old-style ninth- or tenth-grade curricula and have been required (of almost all students) as
prerequisite to getting a diploma. Are said states supposed to replace these
with the new assessments pegged (presumably) to much tougher demands?
Administer both? What about a <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=hsMyov_CM9MPOxuuhX3sVA">two-tiered diploma system</a>, at least for awhile? Set the new cut
scores high to denote true “readiness,” get the colleges to accept them as
such, and confer a “readiness diploma” on youngsters who meet that standard.
But for some period of time also continue to hand out “regular” diplomas to
those who meet the state’s existing graduation requirements, typically a mix of
course completions, test scores, and the like. Phase out the latter if
possible. (In the old days, New York State did something like this,
distinguishing between an ordinary diploma and a “Regents’ Diploma.”) </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>As
the “credit-recovery” industry grows, often abetted by online delivery of
make-up courses and such, how will such arrangements intersect with the new
standards, assessments, and cut scores? (The same question may fairly be asked
of the G.E.D.) It may turn out that stiffer academic expectations drive more
kids to flunk, drop out, etc., and that credit recovery becomes more important
than ever. But will that path turn out to be a short cut to a meaningless
diploma or an honorable avenue to meet the higher standards and demonstrate
one’s “readiness” for job and college?</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If
the ACT and College Board folks build the Common Core into their widely used
college-admissions tests, as seems likely, will these new consortium-based
assessments even be needed at the high school level? For that matter, what would
a “cut score” on the SAT or ACT look like?</li>
</ul>
<div>
I hope some smart people are figuring all this
out—but if they are, the answers haven’t yet reached my eyes or ears. Time is
getting short.</div>
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<h5 style="font-size: 22px; color: #015484; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0pt; line-height: 28px;">2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook</h5>
<div><strong>By Daniela Fairchild<br>
</strong></div>
<div>Spanning a <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=GZwGpSVtPP-tkC-PHn0qyQ">manageable
2,000 pages</a>, this sixth edition of the National Council on
Teacher Quality’s (NCTQ’s) annual teacher-policy yearbook focuses attention on
states’ teacher-preparation policies (one of five areas tracked by NCTQ as part
of this initiative). And, once again, NCTQ finds them wanting. Across the items
investigated (including the rigor of admission requirements in teaching
programs, student-teaching expectations, and accountability systems linked to
the performance of prep programs’ alumni when they reach the classroom), the
U.S. averages a D-plus. Only four states earn respectable marks (still a meager
B-minus): Alabama, Florida, Indiana, and Tennessee. Three others (Alaska,
Montana, and Wyoming) earn Fs. Looking closely at specific policies is even
more depressing: Just three states (Indiana, Minnesota, and Tennessee) require
high school teachers to pass content-area tests in their subjects without
allowing loopholes (most of which are for math and science teachers). And Texas
is the <em>only</em> state that norms its admissions exam to the general
college-bound population (all others norm it to the prospective teaching
population, setting a lower bar than for other college and university
students). Still, NCTQ acknowledges that states are slowly moving in the right
direction. In 2007, when the organization began scrutinizing these data, no
state held its prep programs accountable for the quality of their graduates;
today, eight do. And since 2011, fourteen states (including Ohio) have improved
their teacher-preparation policies in some way. Kudos to NCTQ for continuing to
spotlight one of education reform’s greatest ironies: that the work to improve
the teaching profession often is done without thought to improving the quality
of the folks we admit into it in the first place. Look for more from them in
the spring with the release of their <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=3Kn6CEfQyQ7md_WDMX_B5g"><em>Teacher Prep Review</em></a>.
(Indeed, if you can’t wait, this year’s policy yearbook offers a few “sneak
peeks.”)</div>
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<td style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 5px;" valign="top"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/related-article-icon.gif" alt="related article icon" border="0" height="20" width="20"></td>
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<div><span style="color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">SOURCE</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 9pt;">National Council on Teacher
Quality, </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=oqMQkm5q6Lt4ghmdkOPN9g">2012 State
Teacher Policy Yearbook</a> (Washington, D.C.: National Council on Teacher
Quality, January 2013).</span></div>
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<td colspan="2">
<h2 style="font-size: 15px; color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10px; border-top: 1px dashed #bebebe; padding-top: 25px;"><a name="SR2"></a>REPORT</h2>
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<h5 style="font-size: 22px; color: #015484; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0pt; line-height: 28px;">What do International Tests Really Show About U.S. Student Performance?</h5>
<div><strong>By Brandon Wright<br>
</strong></div>
<div>This report by Stanford’s Martin Carnoy and the Economic Policy Institute’s Richard Rothstein offers a catchy press-release headline: The U.S. Fares Better on International Assessments than Previously Thought. But that isn't actually true. Analyzing PISA data, Carnoy and Rothstein argue that the U.S. educates its disadvantaged students about as well as similar nations—and, for that, America should be praised. But the problems with the study are myriad. First, the authors use a “very approximate” index—the number of books in a student’s home—to determine social class. <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=2A_c9OGOuhHEhn4TKNoxyA">Others have explained</a> the methodological flaws with this approach. Second, the authors engage in some dangerous statistical gymnastics to prove their point: Based on the assumption that students of low “social class” bring down average U.S. scores, Carnoy and Rothstein re-estimate PISA attainment (by using the books-in-the-home index) to norm the proportion of students in each class. They find that, if the U.S. had the same proportion of students in lower social classes as other nations, then it would rank fourth in reading (instead of fourteenth) and tenth in math (instead of twenty-fifth). The conclusions of this report only affirm the very significant education problem that it’s trying to downplay: We have a greater proportion—and a significantly greater number—of low-scoring and low-income students than other OECD countries. Carnoy’s and Rothstein’s flawed analysis and misleading primary conclusion is at best a diversionary ploy.</div>
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<td style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 5px;" valign="top"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/related-article-icon.gif" alt="related article icon" border="0" height="20" width="20"></td>
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<div><span style="color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">SOURCE</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Martin
Carnoy and Richard Rothstein, <em><a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=aOGYJHxcnvSrf7fbAfJ1FQ">What do International Tests Really Show About U.S. Student
Performance?</a></em>
(Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute, January 15, 2013).</span></div>
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</table>
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<h2 style="font-size: 15px; color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10px; border-top: 1px dashed #bebebe; padding-top: 25px;"><a name="SR3"></a>PAPER</h2>
</td>
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<h5 style="font-size: 22px; color: #015484; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0pt; line-height: 28px;">Non-Cognitive Ability, Test Scores, and Teacher Quality: Evidence from 9th Grade Teachers in North Carolina</h5>
<div><strong>By Andrew Saraf<br>
</strong></div>
<div>The
teacher-evaluation debate follows a well-worn path: Traditional evaluation
systems (in which upwards of 99 percent of educators are deemed “effective”)
are meaningless, argue reformers. New models that rely heavily on value-added
test-score data are unreliable and unfair, counter others. This new NBER working
paper from Northwestern’s C. Kirabo Jackson provides the debate new turf on
which to tread: Based on data from the 1988 National Educational Longitudinal
Study, Jackson <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=2AP7IiLg4L-bGvyWMj0-LQ">channels Paul Tough</a> to argue that students’
“non-cognitive” abilities (adaptability, self-restraint, motivation) help
explain their success. Noting this, teachers should be evaluated on them; yet
they are rarely considered by current metrics. The report has two parts. First,
Jackson shows that the “non-cognitive factor” (which he proxies with variables
like absenteeism, suspensions, and grades) <em>is</em>
predictive of college enrollment and lifetime earnings—more so, in fact, than
cognitive ability. Jackson then evaluates whether teachers can affect this
“non-cognitive” factor. Using 2005-10 North Carolina data, he finds that
teachers’ impact on student test scores is only weakly associated with their
impact on improving youngsters’ non-cognitive abilities. In other words,
evaluations that rely exclusively on test scores fail to capture the full
breadth of teachers’ contributions to student outcomes. Jackson concludes: Other
variables that assess ability to improve students’ non-cognitive skills, variables
such as student suspensions and absences, should also be used in teacher
assessments. And the debate marches on.</div>
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<td style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 5px;" valign="top"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/related-article-icon.gif" alt="related article icon" border="0" height="20" width="20"></td>
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<div><span style="color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">SOURCE</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 9pt;">C.
Kirabo Jackson, "<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=an8DBbLxvLB6ogrTAqKnKw">Non-Cognitive
Ability, Test Scores, and Teacher Quality: Evidence from 9th Grade Teachers in
North Carolina</a>" (Chicago, IL: Northwestern University, January
2013).</span></div>
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</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<h2 style="font-size: 15px; color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10px; border-top: 1px dashed #bebebe; padding-top: 25px;"><a name="SR4"></a>BOOK</h2>
</td>
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<h5 style="font-size: 22px; color: #015484; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0pt; line-height: 28px;">Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots?</h5>
<div><strong>By John Horton<br>
</strong></div>
<div>This book awakens an established
but sparingly practiced and often unknown initiative in K–12 education: teacher
autonomy. Authors profile eleven schools (seven of them charters and three of
them in Minnesota, a pioneer in the “teacher-led-schools" initiative) that
embrace teacher autonomy to differing degrees and study the policies and
practices by which they operate. Ten criteria are used to judge the autonomy
level of the teachers including their agency over: staff hiring and firing
decisions, budget allocations, curriculum design, and school-wide discipline
policies. Written for teachers, the book—a worthwhile primer on what teacher
autonomy is and what its many forms look like—offers an illustrative blueprint
for one manner in which teachers may be empowered, rather than alienated or
demonized, by the reform movement. Still, the book unconvincingly handles one
key component of a worthy teacher-autonomy policy: Before you give teachers the
keys to the castle, make sure you have <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=pZfex-emdrv7P2o7eBmfZQ#SR1">royalty in the profession</a>.</div>
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<a title="Trusting Teachers with School Success" target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=DyOwvs54olgJnOphOwxtKA"><img src="https://rowman.com/L/16/104/1610485092.jpg" alt="Trusting Teachers with School Success" border="0" height="225" width="150"></a><br>
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<td style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 5px;" valign="top"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/related-article-icon.gif" alt="related article icon" border="0" height="20" width="20"></td>
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<div><span style="color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">SOURCE</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Kim Farris-Berg and Edward Dirswager with Amy Junge,
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=xkH_EidqgS8Zpd5WCJj9Qg"><em>Trusting Teachers with
School Success</em></a><em> </em>(Lanham,
MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2012).</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
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<td style="padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;" colspan="2"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding-left: 10px; color: #015484;"><a name="GFD"></a>BEST OF THE EDUCATION GADFLY DAILY</span></td>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; color: #434344; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: #015484;">FLYPAPER</span><br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=3k1Q10-7cwovVymIW1MpqA">
</a><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=v1fud4X1P8sKL-7Y2GoKEA">Nixon, his staff, and the art of government reports</a></strong><br>
By Andy Smarick on January 23, 2013</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; color: #434344; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: #015484;">CHOICE WORDS</span><br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=Z9FVi9bgTtIqYBKW-M29Ow"><strong>The right decision from Ball State</strong></a><br>
By Adam Emerson on January 23, 2013</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; color: #434344; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: #015484;">FLYPAPER</span><br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=15GYH7yoXGmUd8UaK_e_pw"><strong>What we're listening to: Mike Petrilli and Josh Starr on whether the brightest students are being challenged</strong></a><br>
By Education Next on January 18, 2013</div>
</td>
<td style="padding-bottom: 10px;" valign="top"><a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=KC29_Bj3eHke0iR113--WQ"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/gadfly_seated.jpg" alt="Best of Gadfly" border="0" height="195" width="195"></a></td>
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<div style="margin-top: 0pt; font-size: 15px; color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; padding-left: 10px;"><a name="BN"></a>BRIEFLY NOTED</div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px; padding-left: 10px; color: #015484;">Is it good news or bad?<br>
</span></td>
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<div>In his second inaugural address,
President Barack Obama mentioned two pieces of his K–12 policy agenda: his
plans to train new math and science teachers and his plans to improve school safety. <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=1UNONRXW1p9OiOH0j7l_eA"><em>Politics
K–12</em></a><em> </em>notes that
inaugural addresses are not typically policy-laden, so one can fairly infer
that these two items top his second-term to-do list. In this week’s <em><a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=Y4CnJz7lqsKsr1n6xP7Bdg">Education
Gadfly Show</a>,</em> Mike Petrilli—self-professed <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=GKi0QnLMEXda60e7TWQMUA">“koala dad</a>”—expresses unease over placing STEM education on a
pedestal over all other subjects.</div>
<div>Last Friday, a federal appeals
court upheld Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s public-sector union reforms in
full, rejecting the <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=C6lpUQ13Ji7K24KTRfXzZg">unions’ charges</a> that the law violated the Equal Protection clause and the First
Amendment. But according to the <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=G5hR9x7GT0b97sh8ko85Pg"><em>School
Law</em></a> blog, the practical effect of
the ruling is “unclear” due to litigation in a separate state court. We will be
watching.</div>
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<div>A fresh batch of federal data
shows that the U.S. public high school <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=1Z901sYhL9SB-rKULuuu-g">graduation rate</a> rose to <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=eJhwY6gdcSlDNXTNmq1Vqw">78.2 percent</a> in 2010—a thirty-five-year high. But before you bake Arne Duncan a cake
and sing “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow,” be sure to listen to this week’s <em><a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=d4xHAxlkybTv7Y_DjnSEyw">Education
Gadfly Show</a></em> for a wee slice of humble pie. Has our <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=9VO8j8IrrBDJNcJBNbUV9A">fixation on graduation rates</a> incentivized schools to cheapen the value of
diplomas—say, with bogus <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=5eKwgYLm_hzN2RR7DeC7rQ">credit-recovery programs</a>?</div>
After the ouster of
Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett (who, subsequently, was <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=fBgt3UMf-Q7cqGnKYZKClA">snapped up</a> by Florida), Hoosier
Republicans began to push for the state to withdraw from the Common Core. Last
week, Fordham’s Mike Petrilli visited the Indiana State Senate to make the case
for staying the course with the standards. Read his full testimony on <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=6RTPTQSwnX03MEA7Ai5VnQ"><em>Flypaper</em></a>.
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<h4 style="font-size: 15px; color: #939393; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10px;">FEATURED PUBLICATION</h4>
<h5 style="font-size: 22px; color: #015484; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0pt; line-height: 28px;">Putting a Price Tag on the Common Core: How Much Will Smart Implementation Cost?</h5>
<a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=wFcYvUsvPXDiUY0mdNlaGQ"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" src="http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/publication-thumbnails/20120530-Putting-A-Price-Tag-On-The-Common-Core-Cover.JPG" alt="Putting a Price Tag on the Common Core" align="left" border="0" height="213" width="163"></span></a>
<div>The Common Core State Standards
for English language arts and mathematics represent a sea change in
standards-based reform. Their implementation is the movement’s next—and
greatest—challenge. Yet while most states have now put forward implementation
plans, these tomes seldom address the crucial matter of cost. This study
estimates the implementation cost for each of the forty-five states, plus the
District of Columbia, that had adopted the Common Core State Standards as of
its publication in May 2012. <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=Zf1eEFrlCzsV9Qkmyu86Cg">Click here to read more about it<em>.</em></a><em> </em></div>
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<td style="background-color: #f2f2f2; padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px;" valign="top" width="280"><a name="ANNOUNCEMENTS"></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-left: 10px; color: #939393;">ANNOUNCEMENT</span><br>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-left: 10px; color: #015484; padding-top: 10px;">Fordham seeks a research + staff assistant</span>
<div style="padding: 10px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0pt; color: #434344;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Would you like to work at the forefront of the national education-reform movement? Are you a personable, organized, and detail-oriented self-starter? Are you comfortable handling varied responsibilities? Calm under fire? A born multi-tasker? A resourceful researcher? A savvy writer/editor? A <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=cKST55dJMM5psSx_1pQqcQ">great dancer</a>? If so, you might be the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s new D.C.-based research + staff assistant. For more information and to apply, please visit the <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=Sw8vcdSMVD1U-uIeDqihZA">job description</a> on our website.</span></div>
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<td style="background-color: #f2f2f2; padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px;" valign="top" width="280"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-left: 10px; color: #939393;">ANNOUNCEMENT</span><br>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-left: 10px; color: #015484; padding-top: 10px;">February 5: Fordham hosts the George W. Bush Institute</span>
<div style="padding: 10px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0pt; color: #434344;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Please join us for a presentation of the Bush Institute’s new report <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=9KEuc5EB0IbWJfTjHQJGhg"><em>Operating in the Dark: What Outdated State Policies and Data Gaps Mean for Effective School Leadership</em></a>, a first-of-its-kind compilation of state-reported data on how the fifty states and the District of Columbia increase the supply of high-quality principals. The distinguished panel, moderated by Chester E. Finn, Jr., will include Florida state supe Tony Bennett, Rhode Island state supe Deb Gist, New Leaders’s Ben Fenton, and the National Governors Association’s Richard Laine. Bethany Little of America Achieves and Kerry Ann Moll of the Bush Institute will present the report. The event will be held on Tuesday, February 15, from 10:00AM to 11:30AM EST at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute; coffee and a light breakfast will be served from 9:30AM. For more information, please visit our <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=RbxRA_eNqgAjGLGU9DW_vg">events</a> page. To RSVP, email your name, job title, and organization to Patrick Kobler at <a href="mailto:pkobler@bushcenter.org">pkobler@bushcenter.org</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-left: 10px; color: #015484; padding-top: 10px;">Fordham LIVE, February 11: School Choice Reguations: Red Tape or Red Herring?</span>
<div style="padding: 10px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0pt; color: #434344;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Many proponents of private school choice assert that schools won’t participate if government asks too much of them, especially if it demands that they be publicly accountable for student achievement. Were such school refusals found to be widespread, the programs themselves could not serve many kids. But is this assumption justified? A new Fordham study—to be released on January 29—provides empirical answers. And on February 11 at 4:00PM EST, David Stuit, the study’s author, will discuss these and more. He will be joined on a panel, moderated by Fordham’s Chester E. Finn, Jr., featuring Step Up for Students’s John Kirtley and the Catholic Conference of Ohio’s Larry Keough. <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=aV5fUi6ux_YZcy56gZYNpA">Register now</a> to attend the event at Fordham’s D.C. office, or view the live-streamed event online.</span></div>
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<td style="background-color: #f2f2f2; padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px;" valign="top" width="280"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-left: 10px; color: #939393;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-left: 10px; color: #939393;">ANNOUNCEMENT</span><br>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-left: 10px; color: #015484; padding-top: 10px;">CRPE hiring a research analyst and an administrative assistant</span>
<div style="padding: 10px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0pt; color: #434344;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) is looking to fill two positions on its University of Washington–based team: a research analyst and an administrative assistant. The research analyst will support Compact, Portfolio, and proposed Carnegie work via a fair amount of fieldwork, data collection, and case studies. He or she must be a strong writer and either a Master’s level researcher with several years of experience or a recent PhD. The administrative assistant will primarily support Director Robin Lake, but will also provide administrative aid to other scholars. The ideal assistant will have some project management or administrative experience; excellent writing and technical skills are a must. To apply, please visit CRPE’s <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=fZhfOo1laLDs6O3qRoSbFw">career</a> page.</span></div>
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<div>The <em>Education Gadfly</em> is published weekly (ordinarily on Thursdays), with occasional breaks, by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Regular contributors include Aaron Churchill, Adam Emerson, Daniela Fairchild, Chester E. Finn, Jr., John Horton, Emmy Partin, Michael J. Petrilli, Kathleen Porter-Magee, Matt Richmond, Terry Ryan, Andrew Saraf, Andy Smarick, Pamela Tatz, Amber Winkler, Brandon Wright, and Dara Zeehandelaar. Have something to say? Email us at <a href="mailto:thegadfly@edexcellence.net">thegadfly@edexcellence.net</a>. Find archived issues or other reviews of reports and books <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=SttR9dgaSp8Inuz8OWHNrA">here</a>.</div>
<div>Follow the commentary online: <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=udH61Ke7-tIWTSME-vzSeA"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/twitter-icon.gif" alt="Twitter icon" border="0" height="21" width="22"></a> <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=1cbMFOTQvkdiUDZCuX8vnQ"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/facebook-icon.gif" alt="Facebook icon" border="0" height="21" width="20"></a> <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=9kw_I3AMHtQqA9NkAUrXCA"><img src="http://support.edexcellence.net/images/content/pagebuilder/10993.png" alt="[object Object]" border="0" height="21" width="21"></a></div>
<div>The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a nonprofit organization that conducts research, issues publications, and directs action projects in elementary and secondary education reform at the national level and in Ohio, with a special emphasis on our hometown of Dayton. (For Ohio news, check out our <a target="_blank" href="http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=U5OS9lL1jcIYuLbcnZedtg"><em>Ohio Education Gadfly</em></a>, published bi-weekly, ordinarily on Wednesdays.) The Institute is neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.</div>
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every child through quality research, analysis, and commentary, as well
as on-the-ground action and advocacy in Ohio.</div>
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