Today the U.S. Department of Education released results of the 2015 administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Nationally, results demonstrate the reality that more concerted efforts are needed to advance student mastery of math, as well as reading. Many states’ results declined, while Tennessee held…
“You have to lay out a calendar. We just had a principals’ meeting in our district, and we looked at our calendar. We highlighted with colors the different tests and whether it’s no teaching that day. I thought, what if you give teachers this calendar and say, ‘Go find your days to teach.’ Those are…
As one of 13 states in which 100 percent of graduating high school seniors have taken the ACT college entrance examination, ACT scores represent an important indicator of college readiness in Tennessee. This year, more than 68,000 graduates statewide took the exam, and the published results provide educators data needed to understand how well our…
Back in August, I loaded up a truck in Nashville and headed north to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here at the University of Michigan, I have just completed my first semester as a doctoral student examining the connections between public policy and higher education. Although the hot days of summer in Nashville seem like a distant…
Seven students from low-income families in Birmingham, Alabama—a school district fraught with dysfunction—took on a challenging opportunity this Summer: They spent the month of July studying in Beijing, China. Their story is one of a teacher going to extraordinary efforts to open an opportunity hosted by the Jiayu School, Youth Leaders of America and China…