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English language learners have become star pupils in the Washington region, drawing accolades for top-performing schools that serve immigrant communities and showing standout results on state reading tests and national rankings.

I see that students can get merit-based pay measured on data other than standardized test scores... Just sayin' is all....

Yay! Stop the brain drain and put your money where your mouth is!

The U.S. plans to implement a universal standardized testing program, where all the states will have the same standards for success. To date some states that may have failing students in math and science could be passing if they lived in another state. Improving the school system nationwide is a goal for the program, hoping that equality in testing standards will create a group of students who all meeting the same requirements.

This article relates to the school voucher article we read this week. It doesn't directly suggest the use of school vouchers but one of the main suggestions by opponets of vouchers was to create stimulating learning opportunities for those kids who come from less affluent backgrounds. This article also suggest the same thing. In subjects like math and reading all kids lose a bit of what they learn and especially in reading w/ the poorer children. This article mentions Fairchild's center which helps promote learning over the summer from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Public schools have begun using portfolio style assessments for individuals in special education, and those who have high test anxiety. It appears these tests are proving successful and are able to fully assess the individuals learning and knowledge of subject matter. The portfolios are a pricey investment for the public schools at $500,000 for the school year and numerous teacher hours spent grading them; but who should put a price on education? I wonder if more schools will begin using portfolios for all assessments over the standarized test?

Attempts are being made to unify education standards nationally - "a step toward a uniform definition of success".

A Montogomery County school has produced literature aptely named "Seven Keys to College Readiness".... which begins from performance in kindergarden. This brochure is aimed to provide information for parents who may or may not know the steps and milestones their children should be making en route to a college degree.

Although this article is not directly related to education policy, I think it provides an important look at the youth culture many students in DC schools experience.

More and more colleges are looking at the option of providing students with three year degrees in order to save time and money for those who know exactly what they want to study. Although several schools across the nation have pondered the idea and others offer 3-year degrees, many enrolled students are opting to stay for an extra year for social and academic reasons.

This article provides an interesting commentary on what some schools are defining as "successful" academic paths.

Opinion article on President Obama's plan to fund an early childhood education program. Although biased, the author provides a fact-based argument about the costs of starting such a program in the U.S. Aimed to increase the intelluctual abilies of young children, this program would fund a pre-K education for kids across the nation.

As someone who has been going through hell all year because my sole evaluator has a chip on her shoulder, I can tell you that I love the idea of using master teachers as a complementary system of evaluation alongside administrators.