
This issue brief discusses Indiana's performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 2013. The NAEP is the U.S. Government assessment used to rank student achievement.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Midwestern)-Indiana

Education and Literacy, Employment and Labor
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has long advocated that any meaningful understanding of "effective" teaching must be rooted in results for kids. Whatever else they accomplish in the classroom, effective teachers improve student achievement. It seems like commonsense. Yet, until recently, it has been an exceptional way of thinking about teacher quality, totally out of step with teacher policy across the states.
As part of the annual State Teacher Policy Yearbook, NCTQ has systematically collected and analyzed state policies on teacher preparation, training, retention, compensation and other personnel policies. In this paper we provide:
1. A detailed and up-to-date lay of the land on teacher evaluation policies across the 50 states and the District of Columbia Public Schools;
2. An in-depth look at policy in states promising ambitious teacher evaluation systems (states requiring student growth and achievement to be a significant or the most significant factor in teacher ratings), including states' efforts to "connect the dots" and use teacher evaluation results in meaningful ways to inform policy and practice;
3. A compilation of some of the important lessons learned, pitfalls and successes states have experienced on the road to improving teacher evaluation systems.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which aim to assure competency in English/language arts and mathematics through the K-12 curriculum, define necessary but not sufficient preparedness for success in college. The Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP), which describes what a college degree should signify, regardless of major, offers useful but not sufficient guidance to high school students preparing for college study. A coordinated strategy to prepare students to succeed in college would align these two undertakings and thus bridge an unfortunate and harmful cultural chasm between the K-12 world and that of higher education. Chasms call for bridges, and the bridge proposed by this white paper could create a vital thoroughfare.
The white paper begins with a description of the CCSS and an assessment of their significance. A following analysis then explains why the CCSS, while necessary, are not sufficient as a platform for college success. A corresponding explanation of the DQP clarifies the prompts that led to its development, describes its structure, and offers some guidance for interpreting the outcomes that it defines. Again, a following analysis considers the potential of the DQP and the limitations that must be addressed if that potential is to be more fully realized.
The heart of the white paper lies in sections 5 and 6, which provide a crosswalk between the CCSS and the DQP. These sections show how alignments and differences between the two may point to a comprehensive preparedness strategy. They also offer a proposal for a multifaceted strategy to realize the potential synergy of the CCSS and the DQP for the benefit of high school and college educators and their students -- and the nation.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Arts and Culture, Education and Literacy
In the early 2000s, there was considerable discussion about the role of the arts in public education, but little data about the status of arts education in all schools in Minnesota. To answer this need, the Perpich Center for Arts Education launched The Minnesota Arts Education Research Project during the 2010/2011 school year with funding provided by the Minnesota State Legislature through its Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment.
The purpose of this project was to gather, evaluate and disseminate quantitative data regarding arts education in the state. The Research Project was designed to document arts education in every school through a statewide voluntary survey, and combine the survey findings with other information to create a 360-degree view of arts education in the state.
This report is a summary of the status of arts education, education policy and delivery. The intent is to provide decision makers and the public with a clear picture of the status of arts education in Minnesota.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Midwestern)-Minnesota

Children and Youth;Education and Literacy;Employment and Labor
Eduployment: The bifurcation of school and work, education and employment, college and career is out of date and meaningless. We need to use a both/and rather than an either/or framework in going forward. We call this eduployment.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Arts and Culture, Education and Literacy
In the fall of 2011, Quadrant Arts Education Research, in partnership with Michigan Youth Arts, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Michigan Department of Education, and ArtServe Michigan, began a statewide study of arts education in Michigan schools. The project was designed to create a never-before-available picture of arts education in Michigan and institute baseline information for tracking and measuring future progress. This landmark study provides essential data on student access, teacher training, assessment and accountability in arts education in K-12 schools in Michigan. The data provides the groundwork to drive future arts education policy decisions that effect all Michigan students.
The principals of 4163 schools, including 718 private and 293 charter schools, were asked to complete an online survey detailing numerous building-level specifics on arts education in their schools.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Midwestern)-Michigan

Arts and Culture;Education and Literacy
As we enter the 21st century -- the global information age -- we must ensure our students are equipped to thrive in an environment that will require them to be able to shift their thinking and remain open to learning throughout their lives. Flexibility, innovation, improvisation and the ability to communicate across diverse cultures are skills crucial to future success. The arts are the most efficient way to teach those skills. By working to include and sustain the arts as part of a comprehensive K-12 curriculum, we allow students to cultivate the crucial skills they will need to function in a 21st century world.
Arts for All is a dynamic, county-wide collaboration working to create vibrant classrooms, schools, communities and economies through the restoration of all arts disciplines into the core curriculum for each of our 1.7 million public K-12 students. One of the key strategies to ensure high quality arts education is to improve the quality of teaching and learning. We believe that when we help build the skills, knowledge, and confidence of the people who provide arts instruction to students, they are able to translate district policies and plans into high quality student learning. Practical tools and partnership opportunities promote the collective responsibility of classroom teachers, arts teachers, and artists to deliver high quality arts education. The on-going development of teachers and artists increases their ability to raise the quality of arts education.
On Friday, May 7, 2010, Arts for All in partnership with California State University at Northridge, hosted the Arts for All Higher Education Think Tank. This event brought together decision makers throughout the education community to begin to discuss how to strategically address quality arts education in teacher preparation programs in order to impact teacher practice and student learning. Over 60 people attended representing 13 institutions of higher education, 3 foundations, 6 school districts and partners from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, Orange County Office of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
This report is a transcript of those proceedings.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Western) / California / Los Angeles County

As part of its goal to make quality, sequential arts education a reality in all public K-12 classrooms in Los Angeles County, Arts for All connects school districts with effective tools and resources to improve arts learning. The Arts for All School Arts Survey: Measuring Quality, Access and Equity in Arts Education is the most recent of these tools to be introduced. It was developed to measure access to and quality of arts instruction at the school site level as well as to develop a system for collecting and reporting the data. The results are useful to schools and school districts to find out what is working, what's not working, and to point the way toward improvement. But the results can also provide a picture of what's happening across a region.
The following summary describes how the survey was built and its first test in five school districts encompassing 100 schools. As a result of this test, some refinements will be made in the survey, but the survey's strength and utility have been proven. Los Angeles County now has a means of objectively measuring quality and access to arts education and making the results easily accessible.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: