Worth A Read

A weekly selection of thought-provoking research and commentary focused on education reform.

From The Great Lakes Center For Education Research & Practice

Opt-out movement likely inconsequential for teacher evaluations
04/09/2015
Brookings – Brown Center Chalkboard – Matthew Chingos

Matt Chingos talks opt-outs, New York evaluations, and policy implications for value-added models. “The broader lessons is that while opt-out may have some success as a political strategy, it is unlikely to have much of a direct, broad-based impact on the teacher evaluation system in New York or any other state.”

Don’t opt out of standardized tests, Ann Arbor superintendent asks parents
04/07/2015
MLive – Lindsay Knake

Lindsay Knake shares a request from Ann Arbor (Mich.) schools superintendent to parents, asking them not to opt-out of the interim assessments. The Michigan Department of Education recently informed districts in Michigan that there is no policy for opting out of standardized testing, and that schools who miss percentage requirements will be held accountable. Parents in Michigan have the right to opt-out of tests, but there is no policy that holds schools harmless for large numbers of opt-outs.

Charter Schools, Special Education Students, And Test-Based Accountability
04/07/2015
Shanker Blog – Matthew DiCarlo

Matt DiCarlo discusses special education students, charter schools, and accountability. “Regardless of why it occurs, this gap does seem to exist in most places (and it may be even larger if one looks at students with the most severe disabilities), and some charter school supporters are calling on operators to address it. I have no idea if charter schools could be effective in serving this student population if they made more a more concerted effort to do so.”

There are many more links on the original site.