Interactive Resources 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assessing Patterns of Resource Distribution
www.schoolcommunities.org/resources/APRD/welcome.php
Assessing Patterns of Resource Distribution is a free online tool that district administrators and other stakeholders can use to compare public school student funding across districts.  Developed by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, this tool can help highlight funding inequities.

 

 

DC Education Blog
www.dcedublog.blogspot.com
This site posts editorials about current news and events affecting schools in the District of Columbia.

 

 

e-Lead
www.e-lead.org
The Laboratory for Student Success and the Institute for Educational Leadership present principles to guide the development of professional development activities, a database of standards-based programs, and the latest research on leadership in this resource.  Join the e-Lead Community to have information, news, and research sent to you regarding management and leadership in education.

 

 

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
www.ed.gov/free
This website includes over 1,300 federally-supported resources for teachers and students on a wide variety of subject areas.

 

 

No Child Left Behind Federal Funding for States
www.nasspcms.principals.org/s_nassp/sec.asp?TRACKID=&CID=31&DID=31#states
Created by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, this site posts the amount of
funding each state receives for a range of federal programs, including 1. Title I, 2. Rural Education, 3. Comprehensive School Reform, 4. Teacher Quality, 5. Advanced Placement, 6. Dropout Prevention, and 7. School Leadership.

 

 

Teacher-to-Teacher e-Learning
www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/index.html
Teacher-to-Teacher e-Learning was developed by the Department of Education to provide free, on-demand professional development for elementary and secondary school educators.  There are online courses, with the possibility of in-service credits, as well as information about local workshops.

 

 

All Work and No Play? Listening to What Kids and Parents Really Want from Out-of-School Time
www.publicagenda.org/research/pdfs/all_work_no_play.pdf *
Public Agenda surveys over 1,600 parents and students, finding that the vast majority of sixth through twelfth graders participate in out-of-school activities.  Further, these activities are significant and positive in adolescents’ lives.  The surveys show that parents of color and those with lower incomes struggle to find high-quality, convenient, and affordable activities for their children.  The complete survey, with summary statistics, is included in the report.

 

 

Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work
www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/crisis_report.pdf *
ACT urges the adoption of a core curriculum for high school students, with high-quality courses that will prepare students for success in postsecondary education and the workplace. Specific recommendations are set forth for educational leaders, policymakers, and business and community leaders.

 

 

Are Charter School Students Harder to Educate? Evidence from Washington DC
www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP96.pdf *
In this working paper, the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education examines student performance and demographic data from public charter school and traditional public school students in the District during the 2002-2003 school year.  The authors conclude that charter school students are neither harder nor easier to educate than students in traditional public schools in DC.

 

 

Charter Schools: Policy and Practice
www.edweek.org/chat/transcript_11-18-2004.html
In a November 18 online chat, Andrew Rotherham of the Progressive Policy Institute and Michael Goldstein of the MATCH Charter School respond to questions from across the nation about charter schools.  The District of Columbia is mentioned for its high number of charter schools and its funding options for facilities.  Other topics discussed include student performance and accountability.

 

 

Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program
www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/choice/pcsp-final/index.html
This US Department of Education report focuses on the federal Public Charter Schools Program (PCSP), which distributes money for states to start charter schools or disseminate charter school practices.  The PCSP is a common source of operations funding for charter schools.  The report finds that charter schools are more likely to serve low-income and minority students and less likely to serve special education students.  By definition, charter schools have greater autonomy and fewer state-certified teachers than  traditional public schools.  Authorizers typically sanction charter schools for compliance or finances, as opposed to student performance.

 

 

Info Brief: Does Highly Qualified Mean High-Quality?
www.ascd.org/publications/infobrief/issue39.html
In surveys and interviews with educators, the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality finds that: 1. Teachers feel that the federal definition of highly qualified overemphasizes content knowledge, while underemphasizing instructional practice; 2. Urban and rural districts have neither the funding nor the strategies to attract and retain highly qualified teachers; and 3. States and districts want more guidance and technical assistance from the federal government.

 

 

Is National Board Certification an Effective Signal of Teacher Quality?
www.cna.org/documents/CavaluzzoStudy.pdf *
The author finds that ninth and tenth grade students of National Board Certified math teachers outperformed their peers whose teachers did not have this certification in the Miami-Dade Public Schools.  Long-term implications include paying National Board Certified teachers more in order to attract effective teachers to school districts.  In the short-term, districts and schools can adopt methods consistent with National Board Certification.  For more information about National Board Certification, please visit the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

 

 

National Institute of Statistical Sciences/Education Statistics Services Institute Task Force on Graduation, Completion, and Dropout Indicators
www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005105
This joint task force between the National Institute of Statistical Sciences and the Education Statistics Services Institute recommends that states follow a cohort of students with limited exclusions to measure high school graduation, drop out, and completion rates.  The task force suggests that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) assist states in developing data systems, collecting data, and reporting data in comparable forms.  Task force members also encourage the NCES to continue estimating these rates to verify data quality and to study student outcomes after high school.

 

 

Remaking High School
www.asbj.com/current/coverstory.html
This cover story from the American School Board Journal summarizes high school reform efforts across the country.  The authors relate the high incidences of college remediation and unreliable data on high school dropout and graduation rates with districts’ efforts to break large high schools into small academies with increased teacher collaboration.  Barriers to success include resistance from teachers, parents, and students.

 

 

The 2004 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning?
www.brookings.edu/GS/brown/bc_report/2004/2004report.htm
This year, the annual report from the Brookings Institution: 1. Analyzes the math items from the fourth and eighth grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); 2. Surveys professional development experiences among teachers; and 3. Examines the redesigned federal Blue Ribbon Schools awards.  The first section confirms earlier findings that NAEP math items assess knowledge below grade level.  The second section finds that the teachers with the least experience are not getting enough content training.  The final section approves of the changes to the Blue Ribbon program but suggests that the Department of Education look more rigorously for outstanding schools.

 

 

Students as Allies in Improving Their Schools: A Report on Work in Progress
www.whatkidscando.org/studentallies/pdfs/saa_finalreport.pdf *
This report discusses the What Kids Can Do “Student as Allies” initiative, which leads students and teachers in five cities in using their own research to take action in their schools.  Sponsored by the MetLife Foundation, the program is designed to increase student engagement, improve student-teacher relationships, and provide youth leadership opportunities.

 

 

A Straightforward Comparison of Charter Schools and Regular Public Schools in the United States
www.post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/papers/hoxbyallcharters.pdf *
Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby finds that students at charter schools perform better in math and reading than students at neighboring traditional public schools.  This study analyzes data on 99% of American charter school students.  The author set out to improve on the methodology used by the recent AFT study on charter schools*, by greatly increasing the sample size and comparing students with similar backgrounds.

 

 

Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy
www.all4ed.org/publications/ReadingNext/ReadingNext.pdf *
Five nationally renowned educational researchers establish 15 recommendations for helping our country’s eight million struggling young readers between the fourth and twelfth grades.  The recommendations address  classroom practice and school wide strategies.  This paper was developed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Alliance for Excellent Education, and the Adolescent Literary Funders Forum.

 

 

Vouchers and Public Policy: When Ideology Trumps Evidence
www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP95.pdf *
Authors from the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education argue that support for and against using vouchers to send children to private schools is mostly based on ideological preferences, as opposed to evidence that vouchers impact academic achievement.  For evidence suggesting that voucher programs improve learning for African-American students in the District, see The Education Gap by William G. Howell and Paul E. Peterson.