Hot Topics in Education
As an extension of our research advocacy, each month NCEA gathers and shares the latest research and data from across the country on issues affecting K-12 students on the path to college and career readiness (CCR). To examine Hot Topics resources organized by NCEA focus area, use navigation keys provided to the right on this page.
July 2009 Archive
Driving Education Reform with Stimulus Funds: Redesigning Schools and Expanding Learning Time
This issue brief from the Education Commission of the States and the National Center on Time & Learning is part of a continuing ECS series on innovative use of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It examines how policy makers can use funds to lengthen the school day and to address several education challenges, including (1) closing the unrelenting achievement gap; (2) broadening curriculum options in order to better engage students and counter the dropout crisis; and (3) the need to improve teacher skills. Read More…
Guiding Principles for Mathematics Curriculum and Assessment
This paper from the National Council of Teachers of mathematics (NCTM) is intended to guide the development of uniform curriculum expectations or national standards for mathematics education, at a time when the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers (and ACT) lead the Common Core State Standards Initiative this year. Read More…
Leading in a Changing America: Presidential Perspectives from Hispanic-Serving institutions
This fourth in a series of reports, from Excelencia in Education, portrays the perspectives and choices by a group of college and university presidents who are on the front lines of the changing higher education landscape. These leaders offer pragmatic approaches for serving first generation college-going students and visions for the future of higher education that can inform the future of public policy in higher education to serve a changing America. All are presidents of institutions that enroll large numbers of nontraditional college students in some of the largest and most populous states in the country: California, New York, and Texas. Their institutions rank among the top in the country in both enrolling and graduating Latinos. Read More…
The Benefits and Challenges of Registered Apprenticeship: The Sponsors’ Perspective
This report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration provides an overview of registered apprenticeship historically, the current distribution of apprenticeship programs by industry as well as sponsor’s views on program completion, sources of related instruction, the effectiveness of state apprenticeship agencies, and interactions with one-stop career centers. Read More…
The New Teacher Project released this report on June 1, with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in a call to overhaul teacher evaluation systems and policies governing use of evaluation ratings. The study quantifies the problem that excellence goes unrecognized, development is neglected, and poor performance goes unaddressed. It calls for districts and schools to reverse the situation by putting teacher effectiveness at the core of all human capital decisions. Read More…