As districts face the recurring problem of ensuring every student has access to a high-quality teacher, a growing number have begun to proactively form deep, mutually beneficial partnerships with teacher preparation programs to produce teacher candidates who match their specific...
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Our updated primer on Common Core-aligned assessments offers policymakers, staff, education leaders and advocates reusable slides that make the case for why we need new and better tests of student learning. The primer also digs into the different testing options...
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It’s time for a more strategic approach to assessment. Schools, school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) need to take a fresh look at what is measured: which assessments we give, when and why, and how the data are used....
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Race to the Top directed billions of dollars to states in order to put in place college and career ready standards, educator evaluations, data systems and school turnaround strategies. Yet after five years, the work of implementing and sustaining these...
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Since its founding in 2008, Education First has helped numerous partners – from funders, to nonprofits, to the Federal Government – establish and facilitate networks of grantees, districts and educators. Effective collaboratives, communities of practice and grantee networks are a...
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In this series of briefs we provide an introduction to important areas for effective K–12/higher education collaboration and alignment. Each brief tackles a different issue: 1) Overall introduction; 2) Defining college- and career-readiness; 3) Adopting college- and career-ready assessments; 4)...
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In this brief we outline what alignment between K-12 and higher education means and how to achieve it in practice. We go into detail on why alignment is important and what the key elements of alignment are. We then offer...
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In this brief we outline how K-12 and higher education can create a shared definition of what college and career readiness means. We found that this shared definition often forms the basis of a broader K-12/higher education college readiness improvement...
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In this brief, we address the dual issues of assessment development and use. More than ever, the K-12 and higher education sectors are working together on the quality of assessments to ensure that scores reflect each students’ readiness after graduation....
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In this brief we describe how K-12 and higher education can collaborate to develop college readiness courses, which ensure that every student is ready to start higher education on their first day. Research shows that students who enter higher education...
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