68 percent of teachers—an increase of 9 percentage points since last summer—had a favorable impression of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), according to findings from a new national poll released by Achieve this summer. Only 21 percent of the teachers had an unfavorable opinion of the CCSS, while 7 percent believed they would have no impact.

Support for the CCSS is also growing among the general public, the poll findings show. Of those who have seen, read, or heard about the CCSS, 42 percent had a favorable opinion, an increase of 5 percentage points since last summer. During the same time frame, the percentage with an unfavorable opinion fell from 34 percent to 28 percent, as shown in the graph to the right.

Findings from the poll, Growing Awareness, Growing Support: Teacher and Voter Understanding of the Common Core State Standards & Assessments, show that teacher awareness of the CCSS has grown tremendously—from 68 percent to 87 percent—since last summer, with 87 percent saying that they have seen, read, or heard about the standards. The general public’s awareness, however, stayed largely the same, with 60 percent—the same as last summer—saying they had heard “nothing at all” about the CCSS.

When given a brief description of the CCSS, support grew among both groups, with 77 percent of the public and 72 percent of teachers favoring implementation of the new standards. “Voters support the implementation of the CCSS, but they too will need more information about the CCSS and what it means as the standards move from being an idea to a reality in schools,” said Boyd.

When broken out across the major subgroups, the poll’s findings indicate broad and deep support, as shown in the table to the right. Among political parties, 82 percent of democrats, 75 percent of republicans, and 75 percent of independents supported the standards. The poll’s findings also show support from 81 percent of African Americans, compared to 76 percent of whites.

The poll also tracked attitudes toward the new assessments being developed in conjunction with the new standards, finding significant majorities of both teachers and the general public in favor of implementing the new tests. Among teachers, 64 percent favored the tests, while only 28 percent opposed them. The general public was even more supportive: 74 percent supported the new tests, while only 17 percent opposed them.

When breaking down the results by various subgroups, the poll’s findings show strong support across all the major subgroups for common assessments. As shown in the table to the right, republicans, at 80 percent, were the biggest supporters of the new tests.

When asked to rate fourteen different characteristics of the assessments, the general public and teachers offered similar responses. Both groups selected “results will be available within one to two weeks” as their top choice and rated “tests would be the same across states” in their top four. Overall, findings from the poll show that voters are more supportive of the various elements of the CCSS assessments, as compared to teachers; the majority of voters rated ten or more of the fourteen characteristics as a “good idea,” compared to just one-third of teachers.

The poll’s findings are based on a national survey of 1,000 registered voters and 500 kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade teachers that was conducted from May 6 to May 10, 2012. The findings also reflect a series of eight focus groups—four among parents and four among teachers—that were conducted in November and December 2011 to explore perceptions of and reactions to information related to the CCSS and assessments.

The complete findings from the poll are available on the Achieve website.

Literacy Resources by Topic from the International Reading Association (IRA)

IRA's Common Core State Standards Webinar Series 

IRA President Carrice Cummins Statement on International Literacy Day and the CCSS

On September 10, the Obama Administration received requests from seven new states, Puerto Rico and the Bureau of Indian Education for flexibility from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in exchange for state-developed plans to prepare all students for college and career, focus aid on the neediest students, and support effective teaching and leadership.

The latest requests filed by Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, and the Bureau of Indian Education bring the number of states that have either requested waivers or already been approved to 44.

Federal education law has been due for congressional reauthorization since 2007. In the face of congressional inaction, President Obama announced in September of 2011 that the Obama Administration would grant waivers from NCLB to qualified states. The first requests for waivers were granted in February of 2012.

The 33 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have been approved for waivers from NCLB include: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The 11 states (plus the Bureau of Indian Education and Puerto Rico) with outstanding requests for waivers include Alabama, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia.

The 6 states that have not yet requested a waiver are Montana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont (request withdrawn), and Wyoming.

For more information, visit http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility/requests.

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) at The George Washington University recently released reports about student motivation, the implementation of the federal School Improvement Grants program, and the impact of federal education stimulus funds (specifically ARRA and Education Jobs programs). All of their reports can be downloaded from the CEP website free-of-charge.

Student Motivation

CEP’s series of papers examining student academic motivation, along with the summary report, review research findings on student motivation, provide examples of current programs and policies, and discuss implications for the future. The six papers offer an in-depth look at specific themes surrounding student engagement, including why motivation is important and how it might be defined and measured; whether rewarding students can result in higher motivation; whether students can be motivated by goal-setting; the role of parental involvement, family background, and culture; strategies schools might use to motivate students; and nontraditional approaches to motivating otherwise unenthusiastic students. An appendix outlines four major dimensions of motivation and how they are defined by the leading theorists in the field. 

• Summary Report: Student Motivation—An Overlooked Piece of School Reform
• Background paper 1: What is Motivation and Why Does it Matter?
• Background paper 2: Can Money or Other Rewards Motivate Students?
• Background paper 3: Can Goals Motivate Students?
• Background paper 4: What Roles Do Parent Involvement, Family Background, and Culture Play in Student Motivation?
• Background paper 5: What Can Schools Do to Motivate Students? 
• Background paper 6: What Nontraditional Approaches Can Motivate Unenthusiastic Students?
• Appendix: Theories of Motivation

School Improvement Grants

CEP’s analysis of the impact of federal School Improvement Grants is divided into three special reports:

1. The first special report, Schools with Federal Improvement Grants Face Challenges in Replacing Principals and Teachers, looks at how states, districts, and schools are addressing challenges related to SIG staffing requirements.

2. The second special report, Increased Learning Time Under Stimulus-Funded School Improvement Grants: High Hopes, Varied Implementation, highlights key findings about state, district, and school experiences related to the requirement to increase student learning time in SIG-funded schools.

3. The third special report, Changing the School Climate is the First Step to Reform in Many Schools with Federal Improvement Grants, examines the positive changes in school climate experienced by six case study schools that received the federal grants in Idaho, Maryland, and Michigan.

The reports’ findings draw on survey data from 46 responding states (including D.C.) and case study research in Idaho, Maryland, and Michigan, published by CEP in March of 2012. Data for these reports were collected in the fall and winter of 2011-12, a critical midpoint for implementing three-year SIG awards funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Impact of Stimulus Funds

CEP’s report on the impact of federal stimulus funds on K-12 education is entitled What Impact Did Education Stimulus Funds Have on States and School Districts? The report synthesizes findings from six previous CEP reports examining the effects of the funding.  Those reports were based on survey responses of state and local officials charged with implementing the ARRA and Education Jobs programs. Taking a retrospective look over three years of survey data, this report distills themes and draws conclusions about the overall effects of ARRA on K-12 education.

About CEP

The Center on Education Policy is a national, independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. Visit their website to view all of CEP’s recent publications.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently recognized 269 schools as 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools just before beginning his cross-country back-to-school bus tour.

National Blue Ribbon Schools

In an announcement at Arlington Traditional Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, Secretary Duncan shared that the Department will honor approximately 219 public and 50 private schools at a recognition ceremony on November 12-13 in Washington, DC. In its 30-year history, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed this coveted award on nearly 7,000 of America's schools. The Department website has a list of the 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools award honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where significant improvements are being made in students' levels of achievement. The program recognizes schools in one of two performance categories. The first category is "Exemplary High Performing," in which schools are recognized among their state's highest performing schools, as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests. The second category is "Exemplary Improving," in which schools that have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds demonstrate the most progress in improving student achievement levels as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests.

To select National Blue Ribbon Schools, the Department requests nominations from the top education official in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and the Bureau of Indian Education. The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) nominates private schools.

Cross-Country "Education Drives America" Back-To-School Bus Tour

Secretary Duncan and his senior leaders are crisscrossing the country in September 2012, leading a series of events that reinforce the message that Education Drives America.

Stops include:

September 12 – Redwood City, California
September 12 – Sacramento, California;
September 12 – Reno, Nevada;
September 13 – Elko, Nevada; 
September 13 – Salt Lake City, Utah; 
September 14 – Rawlins, Wyoming;
September 14 – Rock Springs, Wyoming;
September 14 – Cheyenne, Wyoming; 
September 17 – Denver, Colorado; 
September 17 – Limon, Colorado; 
September 17 – Topeka, Kansas;
September 17 – Emporia, Kansas; 
September 18 – Kansas City, Missouri;
September 19 – Columbia, Missouri; 
September 19 – St. Louis, Missouri;
September 19 – Mt. Vernon, Illinois; 
September 19 – Evansville, Indiana; 
September 20 – Lexington, Kentucky; 
September 20 – Charleston, West Virginia;
September 20 – McDowell County, West Virginia; 
September 21 – Roanoke, Virginia;
September 21 – Richmond, Virginia;
September 21 – Washington, DC

“In the past three years, I’ve traveled to 47 states, visited hundreds of schools and met with thousands of teachers, parents and students who are finding new and innovative ways to teach and learn,” Duncan said. 

This is the third annual back-to-school bus tour for Secretary Duncan and the Department of Education. In 2010, the back-to-school bus tour included the Delta region in the South and the Northeast. In 2011, the tour covered the Midwest from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin. Additional details, including specific sites, event times and participants, will be announced in the coming weeks on the bus tour blog. Senior department officials are also participating in over 60 satellite events along the bus tour route.

In Topeka, Kansas, Secretary Duncan will join Topeka Mayor William Bunten, educators, and local officials for a series of speeches and a presentation by area students at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. The site is an official U.S. National Park Service site, which is celebrating Constitution Day from September 16 to 18 this year. The site's education department provides resources and activities for educators and parents on the U.S. Supreme Court case, the Civil Rights movement, topics in social justice, and African-American history, and offers educational opportunities through distance learning activities, outreach programs and museum visits.

For live, up-to-the-minute updates from the road, follow the Education Drives America tour on Twitter using the hashtag #edtour12, or visit the Department’s bus tour blog.

Visit the Department of Education website for more information about these programs.

This fall, a new assessment process called edTPA, which focuses on the skills and abilities of aspiring teachers, will be available nationally. The tool is intended to be used by states, institutions of higher education, and alternative certification programs as one of multiple measures for teacher licensure and to support accreditation of teacher preparation programs.

The edTPA process includes a review of a teacher candidate’s authentic teaching materials and a 15- to 20-minute video of the candidate teaching to document and demonstrate a candidate’s ability to effectively teach his/her subject matter to all students. Because it asks teacher candidates to demonstrate their performance in the classroom and focuses on student work, edTPA will help candidates develop the confidence and skills they need to succeed in urban, suburban, and rural schools.

History of edTPA Development

Formerly the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA), edTPA was collaboratively designed by teachers and teacher educators under the leadership of Stanford University, the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE), and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). 

Beginning in 2009 with 30 higher education institutions, the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC), led by AACTE and SCALE, set out to develop a way to assess the readiness of new teachers before they enter the classroom. The result of that work is edTPA, a pre-service assessment process that requires teacher candidates to demonstrate the skills necessary to meet the daily challenges of classroom teaching, such as: 

• Planning around student learning standards; 
• Designing instruction for students based on their specific needs; 
• Teaching a series of lessons and adapting them to respond to student learning; 
• Assessing student work; 
• Developing academic language; 
• Evaluating student learning; and 
• Analyzing teaching through reflecting on how to improve student outcomes. 

Successful Field Test 

In June, more than 160 institutions of higher learning and 7,000 teacher candidates in 22 states participating in a national edTPA field test. Candidates electronically submitted portfolios in 13 content areas. Stanford developed scorer training materials for each area, and Pearson delivered them electronically, which is a new innovation in portfolio scoring. The field test data are being used to fine-tune assessment tasks and scoring rubrics and to set recommended edTPA passing standards.

States Consider edTPA for Licensure

Several states are moving toward using edTPA to license new teachers or for review of teacher preparation programs. Some states are also working with policymakers to position edTPA as part of their program approval process. As part of the release of edTPA nationally this fall, handbooks for the assessment will be available for faculty beginning in September. In January, candidates in participating institutions and states may begin registering for official scoring. 

More information is available at the edTPA website at http://edtpa.aacte.org/.