Last week, a California judge issued a long-awaited opinion on Vergara v. California, ruling that not only were students’ civil rights violated, but that they were being deprived of their right to an education under the California State Constitution. The decision is poised to open the gates for city-by-city, state-by-state conversations, cases, and debates. Cases like…
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The Center for American Progress (CAP) is out with a new report examining efforts underway in the state of New York to expand learning time for many more students in high-poverty, low-performing schools across the state. According to CAP, New York is taking an approach that allows districts and schools to combine federal support through…
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At the end of the 2012-2013 school year, it looked like Glenwood Leadership Academy, a K-8 school in Indiana’s Evansville Vanderburgh Corporation (EVSC), could be in danger of a state takeover. The school had received its sixth “F” on the state’s accountability system, which triggered a review process by the State Board of Education that…
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Amid the bleak data on high school seniors’ college readiness (or lack thereof) is a bright spot: more than 70 high schools across Massachusetts are closing the college success achievement gap among underserved and low-income students through a STEM/College Success partnership with Mass Insight Education. The program is designed to dramatically increase student participation and…
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The Jefferson Parish Public School System in Louisiana has made dramatic improvements over the last two to three years on nearly every metric analyzed, with students and schools demonstrating significantly higher performance than three years ago, according to a new report prepared by GCR Inc. for the Jefferson Community Foundation and the Jefferson Business Council.…
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We have to think more creatively about school turnaround. As described in the Center for School Turnaround’s new handbook, a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t always the best support model, and many State Education Agencies (SEA’s) are starting to develop a less traditional support structure for low-performing schools. One such strategy is a statewide turnaround network, ranging…
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“You’re getting a taste of what’s to come – the work, what teachers expect of you, and the amount of dedication and study you have to put into your work.” That’s how Yolanda Bueso, a sophomore at Grace King High School in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish Public School System (JPPSS), described her experience this year in…
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After our last 6+ inch snowfall, I saw a neighbor of mine cleaning off her car with her jacket sleeves. I offered her my car ice scraper, and she declined, saying she had one somewhere in her car but didn’t know where, and she was fine just continuing on the way she was. This past…
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“I have yet to find any schools making more progress by challenging their students less.” That’s the closing line on Jay Mathews’ piece last week that challenges schools to in turn challenge their average and below-average students. Encourage all students to enroll in an AP course and show them that someone believes they are capable of…
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Earlier this month, College Board released the 10th Annual AP Report to the Nation. Overall, it was good news: the total number of students taking an AP exam almost doubled over the past decade, and the number of low-income students taking the exams almost quadrupled in the same time period. By the numbers, this sounds…
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In this post, Alison Segal and Larry Stanton (Senior Field Consultant at Mass Insight Education) reflect on the past two years of Mass Insight’s State Development Network. ——- Mass Insight began working with state education agencies (SEAs) on school turnaround in 2011, hosting occasional conference calls with interested SEA turnaround leaders. In 2012, we formalized…
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As we close out the year, it seems timely to introduce our latest publication out of the State Development Network (SDN), Setting the Bar for School Turnaround: How ambitious, public goals can drive school turnaround. As you may remember from our Bold and the Bureaucrat report, we identified ten “power levers” that many state education agencies (SEAs)…
read moreOur blog features commentary and insights from our staff and, from time-to-time, special guest bloggers about school improvement practices and policies that are changing student lives and changing schools. Contact jschneider@massinsight.org for more information.