Policy Highlights

Tennessee’s Race to the Top Application Significant Reforms Found By J.E. Stone, Ed.D. President Education Consumers Foundation February 15, 2010 (click here for PDF) Introduction Tennessee can take justifiable pride in its Race to the Top (RTTT) application. It is a bold plan and it succeeds by ensuring that the key elements of schooling enterprise—governance, hiring, compensation, and training—all treat student achievement gains as schooling’s top priority. Even retention for tenured teachers is subject to job performance requirements. In … Read More

ECF Help Page

Support for Parents, Educators, and the Community For Tennessee citizens who want to see students and schools excel, the Education Consumers Foundation provides helpful information on measuring both school and student performance. For those interested in pursuing improved student and/or school performance based on this information, the links below should serve as a starting point. Books by Elaine McEwan Former educator and administrator Elaine McEwan has written several books on school leadership and improvement. These include: Ten Traits of Highly Successful Schools: … Read More

About TVAAS

Tennessee’s Value Added Assessment: Why It’s Important and How It Works Ten years prior to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Tennessee enacted its Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS). TVAAS was and is a major advancement in educational accountability. It remains the most sophisticated and mature school accountability system in use today. It is TVAAS’s statistical precision that makes it possible to rank Tennessee’s schools according to their effectiveness in helping students learn. Prior to 1980, school … Read More

3rd Grade Reading Proficiency Charts

Are Tennessee’s Children Learning to Read? Reading is the most essential skill that children learn in school. It is taught over a 4-5 year period that begins in preschool or kindergartenand extends to 3rd grade. Beyond 3rd grade, schooling turns from learning to read, to reading to learn. Promoting children to the 4th and subsequent grades without sound reading skills not only reduces their chances of success, it misleads their parents about the child’s progress, it unloads poorly … Read More

School Performance in New Jersey

New Jersey: Comparing schools and districts based on student proficiency The information below reflects the most recent data available to us; please contact us with questions or to request additional analyses. Analysis: Comparing schools and districts on third grade proficiency in reading and math The charts linked below allow you to compare schools and districts in New Jersey with their peers. The Y (vertical) axis shows the percentage of proficient 3rd graders in a subject; the X (horizontal) … Read More

School Performance in Missouri

Missouri: Comparing schools and districts based on student proficiency The information below reflects the most recent data available to us; please contact us with questions or to request additional analyses. Analysis: Comparing schools and districts on third grade proficiency in reading and math The charts linked below allow you to compare schools and districts in Missouri with their peers. The Y (vertical) axis shows the percentage of proficient 3rd graders in a subject; the X (horizontal) axis shows … Read More

School Performance in California

California: Comparing schools and districts based on student proficiency The information below reflects the most recent data available to us; please contact us with questions or to request additional analyses. Analysis: Comparing schools and districts on third grade proficiency in reading and math The charts linked below allow you to compare schools and districts in California with their peers. The Y (vertical) axis shows the percentage of proficient 3rd graders in a subject; the X (horizontal) axis shows … Read More

Direct Instruction Resources

For those interested in learning more about DI The Education Consumers Foundation has made available a great deal of information for those wishing to see real and dramatic improvements in reading proficiency rates. The resources below will help educators, legislators, school board leaders and others to learn more about Direct Instruction.   DI Policy Briefing Progress in reading proficiency rates has stalled: Tennessee has seen a move of just three points (on a 500-point scale) over the past … Read More

Needed: Truth in Grading

posted in: Education Research |

It is a disappointment when a child does poorly in school.  It becomes a tragedy, however, when a child and his parents are not told the truth. Every year, hundreds of thousands of primary and secondary school students are tested and found to lack minimum skills despite having been promoted from grade to grade. Many have been socially promoted, i.e., moved ahead despite poor marks. Most, however, are the victims of grade inflation: They were awarded letter grades … Read More

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