Utah has successfully implemented a variety of endeavors to ensure literacy for all students. Proficiency rates in language arts in Utah have improved in all grade levels since 2005. Emphasis has been placed on grades K-3 and early intervention for students at risk. Resources available to these students include optional extended-day kindergarten,…

Using personal narratives and research on teacher "communities of practice," the authors outline a proactive response to high-stakes testing policies that places teacher learning at its center. Although research on the effects of these policies is mixed, the authors are troubled by the ways in which the policies have been used to strip teachers of…

Ten years have passed since President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind (NCLB), making it the educational law of the land. A review of a decade of evidence demonstrates that NCLB has failed badly both in terms of its own goals and more broadly. It has neither significantly increased academic performance nor significantly reduced…