Policy discourse officially operates to distinctly influence public perception in an irrevocable and normalising manner. In a Maltese educational scenario of gradual decentralisation and increased accountability, I explore the "effects" of both the global and the local policy discourse of networks and networking on the practising…

Recently, student outcomes have bubbled to the top of debates about how to evaluate teaching in community and liberal arts colleges, universities, and professional schools, but even more international attention has been riveted on how outcomes are being used to evaluate teachers and administrators K-12 (Harris, 2012; Rowen & Raudenbush, 2016;…

Assessment forms an important part of instruction. Assessment that aims to support learning is known as formative assessment and it contributes student's learning gain and motivation. However, teachers rarely use assessment formatively to aid their students' learning. Thus reviewing the factors that limit or support teachers' practices of…

Students from low-income backgrounds face a variety of social and economic challenges that make it more difficult for them to achieve their potential. 2 To make matters worse, low-income students often attend public schools that receive less funding than schools serving more affluent students. It is also clear that some states do a far better job…

This 2015 annual report shares many of the accomplishments achieved by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools in 2015 including the celebration of their 10th anniversary. Among other achievements, the report highlights: (1) At the end of 2015 Congress and the President agreed to an $80 million increase in support for the federal Charter…

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in 2004, it included provisions to reduce administrative and paperwork requirements to address concerns about burden. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review federal efforts to reduce burden related to meeting IDEA requirements for educating…

This document records testimony from a hearing held on April 22, 2015 on the topic of challenges that are faced by Native American schools. Nearly a century ago the Federal Government made a promise to deliver to Native American children a quality education that just doesn't teach math and science, but preserves their customs and culture.…

The "ESEA" flexibility initiative was designed to give states flexibility with certain provisions of the 2002 reauthorization of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA"), also known as the "No Child Left Behind Act" ("NCLB"). This report explores the early implementation of state…

This is a section of "Research-Based Options for Education Policymaking," a multipart brief that takes up a number of important policy issues and identifies policies supported by research. Each section focuses on a different issue, and its recommendations to policymakers are based on the latest scholarship. A founding premise of charter…

States are responsible for setting the minimum number of students needed to form a student subgroup for federal reporting and accountability purposes. This required student subgroup size is commonly referred to as the state-set "n-size." States should set this number as low as possible to maximize the number of student subgroups created.…

This brief summarizes the results from a study of the recruitment, employment, and retention of minority k-12 teachers. The study examines the extent and sources of the minority teacher shortage--the low proportion of minority teachers in comparison to the increasing numbers of minority students in the school system. Using the National Center for…

This 2016 report is the fourth in an annual series of National Education Policy Center (NEPC) reports on the fast-growing U.S virtual school sector. This year's report provides a comprehensive directory of the nation's full-time virtual and blended learning school providers. It also pulls together and assesses the available evidence on the…

This paper presents the appendices to the "Improving School Accountability in California" report. Appendices include: (1) Data and Methodology; and (2) Additional Projections. (Contains 1 table, 4 figures and 3 footnotes.) [For the main report, "Improving School Accountability in California," see ED518179.]

This paper introduces a simple and intuitive graphical display for transition table based accountability models that can be used to communicate information about students' status and growth simultaneously. This graphical transition table includes the use of shading to convey year to year transitions and different sized letters for performance…

The author reports on a state investigation into Atlanta's impressive gains on state tests which finds that test-tampering was rampant in the much-praised school system. The report unveiled by the Georgia governor's office states that Atlanta teachers and principals for years methodically altered answer sheets for students taking state tests,…