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To accomplish this, NASBE will work with state-level education policymakers by raising their awareness of the need for deeper learning in preparing students to be college- and career-ready and by creating a national coalition partnership to serve as an expert think tank especially focused on state-level policy and deeper learning, among other actions.

“In addition to mastery of academic content, deeper learning emphasizes skills in critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication, collaboration, and self-awareness,” said NASBE Interim Executive Director Brad Hull. “These have always been hallmarks of an educated person, and fortunately these educational goals are once again entering the conversation as we prepare our students for college, career, and civic readiness in the 21st century.”

Through the length of the grant, NASBE will also build policymaker skills to help them better understand deeper learning and apply that learning to their policymaking, especially regarding assessment, accountability, teacher professional development, curriculum and instructional methods. To assist boards with this, NASBE will produce a deeper learning discussion guide, host conference calls and webinars, and sessions at its annual conferences.

Further, NASBE will award stipends to six states during the project’s second and third years with the intent of raising the visibility of deeper learning as an issue in each state, as well as capacity building. Additionally, NASBE staff and subject-matter experts will conduct in-state policy workshops in each state that receives a grant.

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The National Association of State Boards of Education represents America’s state and territorial boards of education. NASBE exists to strengthen state boards as the preeminent educational policymaking bodies for citizens and students. For more, visit www.nasbe.org.

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Arlington, VA — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spent an unprecedented hour responding to questions from state board of education members on issues ranging from waivers and sequestration to the Department’s use of competitive grants. The discussion took place last Friday, March 15 as part of NASBE’s Annual Legislative Policy Forum. Presiding with Duncan were NASBE President Patrick A. Guida (RI) and Elaine Gantz Berman (CO), chair of NASBE’s Governmental Affairs Committee.

During the meeting, held at the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary Duncan urged state board members to make their collective voice heard in fighting the $1.3 billion in funding cuts to Title I and special education budgets that resulted from the recent sequestration. In his opening remarks, he also noted that if the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is indeed reauthorized this year, drawing on the best policies and practices now being implemented in the states would make for a “great” bill.

In addition, Duncan lauded states’ work in implementing the Common Core, but also urged board members to do more to support educators during the transition as they adapt to the changes. During a lengthy and free-flowing Q & A session, the Secretary assured attendees that the Department’s support for the major assessment consortia – PARCC and Smarter Balanced – will not fade. “We’re in for the long haul,” he said.

In answer to a question about the chances for ESEA reauthorization, Duncan admitted he was not optimistic, but said he and his staff continued to work closely with Senators Tom Harkin (IA) and Lamar Alexander (TN) on development of a bipartisan bill. Again, he said it was critical for members of Congress to hear from state board members on the importance of reauthorization.

As far as providing additional flexibility within federal funding, Secretary Duncan repeatedly said he was committed to “setting the bar high” while giving states and districts significant leeway in figuring out the best ways to reach the goals. But one exception to his own rule, he said, was in defining the parameters for turning around the poorest-performing schools. “Too often in the past, states checked ‘other’ when it came to choosing their primary strategy for turnaround. But kids in these schools can’t wait for ‘other’ to happen,” he said, which too frequently meant little actually changed.

The Secretary was joined by the assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development, Carmel Martin, who advised board members that the Department will soon challenge them to implement accountability systems for teacher preparation programs linked to outcomes.

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(March 6, 2013) – Hope Street Group and the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) have released a Common Core Playbook-Toolkit that both offers specific recommendations for state boards of education and highlights areas of potential concern that may require attention in coming months and years. This resource was created to provide additional support and guidance for state boards of education as they implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Among the recommendations, the Playbook-Toolkit suggests:

• State boards of education focus their role in CCSS implementation on ensuring that supportive board policies are in place and that state board policies which impede or complicate CCSS implementation are eliminated or changed;
• State boards should work to communicate to the public and educators what CCSS implementation means and how they plan to support implementation, alignment of other key areas, and address the issues that arise as a result of implementation;
• To help with the transition, state boards should work with their departments to ensure that the state has an up-to-date technology plan and policy;
• State boards should consider teacher input in planning and decisionmaking for educators’ professional learning.

“The critical role of state boards of education around CCSS becomes even more important as we move forward,” said NASBE Deputy Executive Director Brad Hull. “We know the standards by themselves are not likely to result in higher student achievement without concurrent state efforts that include improved teacher development, induction, and evaluation processes, aligned instructional materials, and robust student intervention systems for those struggling to meet standards. At NASBE we are committed to ensuring policymakers have the best resources available to help them in CCSS implementation, and we are pleased to join Hope Street Group in working to fulfill that goal.”

The Playbook-Toolkit developed by Hope Street Group and NASBE helps state boards of education think about how state board policy can help educators and administrators prepare students for college and careers. Using research, best practices, and lessons learned from across the country, this online toolkit, found on both the Hope Street Group Teacher Evaluation Playbook and the NASBE Common Core State Standards website, provides resources for implementation and promising practices from around the country.

The Common Core State Standards are based on research thoroughly vetted by a host of educators. They indicate what is expected of students at each grade level and advocate teaching core concepts beginning in kindergarten. Forty-five states, five territories, and the Department of Defense Education Agency have adopted both the English language arts (ELA) and math CCSS.  The state boards of education played a significant role in the adoption, or recommendation of adoption, in all of these states. With the adoption and implementation of these research-and-evidence based, internationally benchmarked standards, states nationwide have taken the necessary steps that will better prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and the workforce in this 21st century global economy.

Says Dan Cruce, Vice President of Education, Hope Street Group, “Partnering with NASBE to bring the CCSS Playbook-Toolkit allows us to take the best practices and lessons learned which Hope Street Group offers in teacher evaluation implementation and extend it to Common Core.  CCSS is an education reform that will dramatically impact every facet of teaching and learning, and state boards need to be informed, engaged and at the table every step of the way. This toolkit will help make board members more educated participants.”

Hope Street Group has identified CCSS implementation and effective teacher supports as its next areas of work after extensive conversation with a wide variety of stakeholders. It was through these conversations that the enormous impact of CCSS on public education was better understood, as well a clear connection between CCSS implementation and the need to ensure that teacher supports are developed and refined in regard to these issues. National Association of State Boards of Education has long been studying CCSS implementation and its effects on students, educators and policymakers. In “Implementing the Common Core,” the September 2012 issue of NASBE’s award winning journal, The State Education Standard, the organization looked at how states are moving from adoption to implementation. Now, partnering with Hope Street Group on the Playbook-Toolkit, they are able to offer tools, techniques and best practices for implementation.

Hope Street Group works to strengthen the foundational underpinnings of our economy—education, healthcare and jobs—by identifying and promoting rational methods of incentivizing better outcomes. We are fiercely bipartisan and relentlessly results-oriented. We bring together a variety of experienced practitioners, including creative business minds, nonprofit leaders and visionaries in government of all political stripes to collaborate in the pursuit of policy innovation. We then use our findings as a megaphone to influence and inform policy, and help to implement and spread the ideas that are working on the ground. www.hopestreetgroup.org

The National Association of State Boards of Education represents America’s state and territorial boards of education. NASBE exists to strengthen State Boards as the preeminent educational policymaking bodies for citizens and students. For more, visit www.nasbe.org.

NEW YORK (February 26, 2013) Great school principals rarely just happen. They need to be cultivated by school districts, and a major new Wallace Foundation publication describes nine major steps districts can take to do just that.

Districts Matter: Cultivating the Principals Urban Schools Need distills insights from school leadership projects and major studies supported by the foundation since 2000 to highlight key district actions to boost school leadership, including drawing up meaningful job descriptions and mentoring novice principals.

“We know that leadership is second only to teaching among school-related influences on learning, and effective principals enable teachers to do their jobs well,” said Jody Spiro, director of education leadership at Wallace. “If we are serious about improving education in the nation’s urban schools, school districts must make school leadership a top priority. The good news is that’s happening in a growing number of districts. This report offers policymakers, district leaders, training providers and others valuable lessons about what districts can do to cultivate effective principals for their schools.”

Read and/or Download the Full Report by clicking the button below: