"The Great Schools Partnership is pleased to offer a series of free webinars on critical school-improvement topics for educational leaders and teachers."

"Created by the Great Schools Partnership, the GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM is a comprehensive online resource that describes widely used school-improvement terms, concepts, and strategies for journalists, parents, and community members."

"Now, almost two decades later, I wish I'd known a few things about myself, about teaching, and about my students. Some of what I wish I'd known could have been shared with me -- some I just had to live and learn from. So I offer this reflection both for new teachers as well as for those who support them. And so if you work with a new teacher, I'm hoping you might stop by their room in the next few days and share some insights from your own experience. And if you are a new teacher, then I'm hoping these reflections might help you feel validated, hopeful, and resourceful."

"One day, in front 36 riotous sophomores, I clutched my chest and dropped to my knees like Sergeant Elias at the end of Platoon. Instantly, dead silence and open mouths replaced classroom Armageddon. Standing up like nothing had happened, I said, "Thanks for your attention -- let's talk about love poems.""

"Competency-Based Education Is Working"

"Bullseye is a public radio show about what's good in popular culture. With a keen editorial eye, Bullseye sifts the wheat from the chaff, and brings you hot culture picks, in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary creative people and irreverent original comedy. Bullseye is equal parts funny and fascinating. Whether you're already plugged in to the culture map, or looking for a signpost, Bullseye will keep you on target."

"Over the last several months, those of us at Start Empathy - along with a core group of Ashoka Fellows, leading educators and partners - have worked to identify, distill, and categorize dozens of promising empathy building insights and activities. In short, we've been asking people: "What works?" What we've received ranges from simple tips to group problem solving exercises to teacher training guides, and they all help advance our central goal: unleashing empathy as both an input and output of our education syst"

"Based at the University of California, Berkeley, the GGSC is unique in its commitment to both science and practice: not only do we sponsor groundbreaking scientific research into social and emotional well-being, we help people apply this research to their personal and professional lives. Since 2001, we have been at the fore of a new scientific movement to explore the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior-the science of a meaningful life. And we have been without peer in our award-winning efforts to translate and disseminate this science to the public."

"This paper presents an overview of New Hampshire's efforts to implement a pilot accountability system designed to support deeper learning for students and powerful organization change for schools and districts. The accountability pilot, referred to as Performance Assessment of Competency Education or PACE, is grounded in a competency- based educational approach designed to ensure that students have meaningful opportunities to achieve critical knowledge and skills. These opportunities are judged by the outcomes students achieve and not by inputs such as seat time. Therefore, students must achieve these competencies before moving on to the next major learning targets and/or graduating from high school. High quality performance assessments play a crucial role in the PACE system because of the need to have assessments that measure the depths of student understanding of these complex learning targets. Performance assessments are used as both summative and interim measures in the PACE system as a way to document student learning of the competencies and to support remediation or extension interventions. The paper describes the system of assessments being implemented as part of the PACE pilot as well as providing a discussion of the technical quality issues the state is working to address as part of this accountability pilot. For example, being able to produce valid and comparable annual determinations for all students each year is a considerable technical challenge as well as documenting the degree to which all students are held to the same threshold expectations (equity). The paper concludes by relating the PACE initiative to the push for deeper and more meaningful learning for students. "

"The education model used in many classrooms across our country can find its roots in the 20th century-in which students, organized by age, move at the same time and pace through their learning experience. Yet after decades of research and experiences in the K-12 classroom, coupled with a world where technologies have transformed the opportunities available to us, this system no longer makes much sense. Competency-based education transforms this traditional model. It shifts the focus of learning from time to mastery, from purely summative assessments to formative experiences and most important, creates personalized pathways for each student to move at their own pace and ability to meet their learning needs"

With this report Third Way is continuing NEXT-a series of in-depth commissioned research papers that look at the economic trends that will shape policy over the coming decades. In particular, we're bringing this deeper, more provocative academic work to bear on what we see as the central domestic policy challenge of the 21st century: how to ensure American middle class prosperity and individual success in an era of everintensifying globalization and technological upheaval. It's the defining question of our time, and one that as a country we've yet to answer.