A Legacy of Blind Compassion

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

An Occasional Paper by J. E. Stone October 15, 2004 Briefing Government mandated measures such as the No Child Left Behind Act and New York City’s program to retain failing third graders would be unnecessary if the grades contained in student report cards were accurate indicators of student progress. In practice, however, objective tests and remedial programs are needed because many teachers worry more about discouraging their pupils than providing an accurate report. They are motivated by a … Read More

ACT Profile Report

posted in: Briefings & Reports, Research, Analysis, & Opinion for Reform-minded Consumers, Tools for Ranking Schools |

  For nearly a decade, states have sought to have all high school graduates meet a standard of “prepared for college or the workplace.”  According to ACT’s most recent report, only 27% meet that standard. The ACT Profile Reports provide valuable information about the performance of each state’s 2017 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors. The reports focus on student performance, student access, course selection, course rigor, college readiness, student awareness, and articulation to higher education. … Read More

Zuckerberg’s Folly? Not Really

posted in: Briefings & Reports, Research, Analysis, & Opinion for Reform-minded Consumers |

The popular view is that the Newark reforms failed.  The New Jersey Department of Education data says otherwise.  Charter schools excelled and the projected reduction in dropouts and unprepared graduates district-wide will benefit taxpayers for years to come. June 17, 2014 – Print School districts and their boards often face seemingly insurmountable opposition to changes that would beneficial to students. Changes that would be upsetting to the established bureaucratic and institutional order are especially challenging, yet there are examples … Read More

Who’s Gaining in the Race to the Top?

posted in: Briefings & Reports, Value Added Achievement Awards |

Ten Most Improved States on the Nation’s Report Card, 2011-2013 The fifty states (avg. enrollment ≈ 1M) were ranked like sports teams on the reading and math gains reported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Other NAEP participants (enrollment <90K) were excluded. Ranks were scored: 1st place = 10pts, 2nd place = 9pts, . . . , 10th place = 1pt. Tie scores received the same rank and points. First place on all 4 tests = 40pts. … Read More

Aligning Teacher Training with Public Policy

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

by J. E. Stone Stone, J. E. (2000). Aligning teacher training with public policy. The State Education Standard, 1(1), 35-38.   The American Council on Education (ACE) recently issued a report calling for colleges and universities to either embrace independent assessment of the quality of their teacher education programs or to close them.[1] The Council, which represents American colleges and universities, fears that the weak academic standards maintained by teacher education programs will damage the reputations of their … Read More

Aligning Teacher Training with Public Policy

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

(click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By J. E. Stone The State Education Standard, Winter 2000, pp. 34-38.   Briefing John Q. Public is alarmed by continuing reports of failing schools. Lester R. Legislator is concerned, too, with ever-increasing school funding and little progress. Everyone feels cheated. Why is that? Surprisingly, it’s not the teachers’ fault. It goes deeper. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the … Read More

Direct Instruction and the Teaching of Early Reading

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

Direct Instruction and the Teaching of Early Reading, Wisconsin’s Teacher-Led Insurgency (click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By Mark C. Schug, Sara G. Tarver, & Richard D. Western Thiensville, WI: Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, 2001.   Briefing Everyone knows reading is the foundation of learning. Students know it. Parents know it. Teachers know it. So why isn’t it taught using only the most carefully tested methods? Direct Instruction (DI) is arguably the most … Read More

The Impact of Funding Adequacy Litigation

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

By Richard Phelps, Ph.D. Economist Education Consumers Consultants Network   As one may recall from history class, the U.S. constitution includes no mention of education. Therefore, as one may also recall from history class, that issue remains in the domain of our country’s original founding entities, the states. Most state constitutions do provide some general, vague guarantee for the public provision of education. But, most of these constitutions were written between the late 1700s and late 1800s, when … Read More

Court-Ordered Spending Brings More of the Same

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

(click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By Richard Phelps, Ph.D. Economist Education Consumers Consultants Network   Briefing Attorneys advocating increased public school spending for poor children spent years arguing an equity case. Their contention was that children in poor communities are treated inequitably because the tax base generates inadequate school funding–a violation of the equal-protection provisions in some state constitutions. But state judges typically found no language requiring equity and … Read More

Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Educational Testing Programs

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

By Richard Phelps, Ph.D. Economist Education Consumers Consultants Network   Benefit-cost analysis is imbedded in all studies that ask the essential question of an activity, “Is it worth doing?” Benefit-cost analysis is a set of techniques, philosophy, and logic that can impose an order and rigor on the process used to answer the essential question. The logic of benefit-cost analysis is that of the accountant’s spreadsheet. Indeed, one could accurately describe it as economists’ accounting method. The essential … Read More

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