Natick students to take part in international exam

Some Natick High School 15-year-old students will be participating in a test next year that administrators hope will help the school see how it compares nationally and internationally. Natick High School last school year participated in a pilot version of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development test. This school year, it is among more […]

American schools, by holding steady on international test scores released today, are falling further behind the world’s top-performing countries in reading, science and especially math. While alarms sound across the country about the state of U.S. education, voices from all directions are stressing that it is not the rankings that matter, but how school systems […]

Assessment tests must measure performance against students around the world, not just the country Educators need to have a clear understanding of how well we’re educating students, not just in comparison to other students within the region or the nation but throughout the world. As the country moves beyond the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) […]

In states across the country, teachers and school leaders are working to implement the new Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. When implemented well, the standards can empower and guide educators to work much more deeply with students and help improve their critical-thinking and real-world problem-solving skills while mastering core content. […]

In our 21st century global economy, U.S. students need new skills and a stronger knowledge base more than ever before. Educators and communities across America are responding by shifting toward higher expectations, better instruction, and deeper learning. As teachers work with young people to help them reach new academic heights, we need assessments that can […]

America Achieves has partnered with New Leaders, a national nonprofit focused on developing transformational school leaders, to produce this series of videos focused on school leadership. The principals featured were identified by New Leaders’ Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) awards program as exemplar leaders of high-poverty schools that have demonstrated impressive gains in student achievement. […]

America Achieves has partnered with New Leaders, a national nonprofit focused on developing transformational school leaders, to produce this series of videos focused on school leadership. The principals featured were identified by New Leaders’ Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) awards program as exemplar leaders of high-poverty schools that have demonstrated impressive gains in student achievement. […]

Our best school leaders all have one thing in common: They develop and support the teachers in their schools. The principals featured in these videos work to ensure their teachers routinely reflect on their practice, receive meaningful feedback, and connect student learning to their own practices. These principals regularly observe teachers, lead evaluations that identify […]

There was a time when middle-class parents in America could be — and were — content to know that their kids’ public schools were better than those in the next neighborhood over. As the world has shrunk, though, the next neighborhood over is now Shanghai or Helsinki. So, last August, I wrote a column quoting […]