Teacher Ed Needs Accountability

posted in: General Information, News & Announcements |

Tennessee Education Schools Need Accountability, Not a New Report Card J. E. Stone, Ed.D. December 8, 2016 Tennessee has had a Teacher Preparation Report Card since 2007 and it has had no impact on the effectiveness of Tennessee’s newly trained teachers. The reason is that the sanctions promised by Tennessee’s $500 million Race to the Top grant were never implemented. As of 2015—the last year for which the number of “highly ineffective” teachers are reported–the state’s teacher training … Read More

2010 VAAA – Bethpage Elementary School

Second Place, Middle Division, Elementary Schools Bill Johnson, Principal 420 Old Highway 31 E Bethpage, TN 37022 Sumner County Schools Visit website Recipe For Success: The only thing that has changed from last year’s recipe is the fact that Bethpage Elementary School has been nominated as a National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education. We have completed the necessary documentation and summated our findings to the U.S.D.O.E. The recipe used to create Bethpage Elementary … Read More

2011 VAAA – Bethpage Elementary School

Third Place, Middle Division, Elementary Schools Bill Johnson, Principal 420 Old Highway 31 E Bethpage, TN 37022 Sumner County Schools Visit website Recipe For Success: Bethpage Elementary School has been honored by being selected as one of the 254 public schools is America to receive the 2010 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award by the United States Department of Education. The recipe used to create Bethpage Elementary School is a combination of precious ingredients, each unique and … Read More

National Board Certification: Is it worth the time and expense?

Studies pertaining to the effectiveness of NBPTS-certified teachers are ongoing. Here is a partial list. Advanced Teacher Certification http://www.education-consumers.com/Cunningham-Stone.pdf Evidence that there is any educationally meaningful advantage to certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is still lacking.  [Cunningham, G. K. & Stone, J. E. (2005). Value-added assessment of teacher quality as an alternative to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: What recent studies say.  In Robert Lissitz (Ed.). Value added models in education: Theory and applications. Maple … Read More

Why Tennessee Won: Tennessee’s Watershed RTTT Reforms and the Race for the Rest

By J.E. Stone, Ed.D. President Education Consumers Foundation April 7, 2010 On March 29, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Tennessee was one of just two states to receive a Race to the Top (RTTT) grant in the first phase of the competition. Within minutes – before reviewers’ scoring notes had even been released – pundits proclaimed that stakeholder buy-in, particularly union buy-in, was the determining factor. Their take and their skepticism were not unwarranted. In our … Read More

The What & the Why of Tennessee’s Success

  Tennessee Schools Recognized for Fastest Gains Among the States – But Why? November 2013, the US Department of Education released the latest results from its National Assessment of Education Progress (i.e. “The Nation’s Report Card”) and revealed that Tennessee was the only state to post improvements in both math and reading at both fourth and eighth grades, adding a total of 22 points across the four assessments to their scores. This was, in fact, the largest gain among the … 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

Reading: Any US School

  How well does your school teach children to read? In every city, state, and district, some schools are far more effective than their demographic peers. These charts will help you to identify them. Charts are based on the most recent publicly available data. Click here for a guide to creating school and district comparison charts.   Alabama (2023) Alaska (2019) Arizona (2023) Arkansas (2023) California (2023) Colorado (2023) Connecticut (2023) Delaware (2024) DC (2022) Florida (2024) Georgia … Read More

School Ranking Charts

Tennessee was the first state to systematically gather and disseminate district and school-level value-added data in 1995.  It was and is the most statistically sophisticated methodology in use.  The Education Consumers Foundation was the first to compile Tennessee’s TVAAS scores into online, interactive and printable graphics that allow users to see schools statewide ranked on the basis of their effectiveness in lifting student achievement.  Since that time, numerous states and school districts have adopted what is essentially the same … 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

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