July 2018 Perspective Newsletter

July 2018

New Briefs: Transforming Science Assessment: Challenges and Recommendations for States Since 2013, 39 states and the District of Columbia hav e adopted the NGSS or similar standards, signaling a commitment to high-quality and rigorous science education for all students. Any time state content standards undergo such a significant shift, states must dev elop new assessments to measure student progress toward meeting the new standards. This need presents a number of challenges for state leaders.

How should limited resources and capacity be allocated to dev elop assessments that are more complex than prev ious assessments?

How can states meet tight deadlines to hav e new assessments in place?

Is there a way to ensure that students taking the first generation of new assessments will receiv e sufficient opportunity to learn to be successful on these tests?

Achiev e's new brief explores these and other challenges and presents a set of recommendations for states to consider in tackling them.

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Pathway 2 Tomorrow: Local Education Solutions

Pathw ay 2 Tomorrow : Local Visions for America's Future (P2T) is a new initiativ e that matches responsiv e and agile education policy solutions w ith state and community needs. P2T has launched a Call for Proposals across the field of state and local communities, and w ill support the dev elopment of selected proposals into policy papers and curate the final papers into a catalog of solutions for state and local leaders. I n its second phase, it w ill support state and local coalitions - united by shared policy priorities and intended outcomes - to support the effectiv eness of local control in education through the implementation of responsiv e, local, and regional solutions. A w ebinar w ith more information w ill be held on July 11 from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

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Improving Education Outcomes by Building Data-Driven Relationships When education leaders and researchers w ork together, they can create, conduct, and use research to identify education opportunities and best practices and ultimately use data to improv e education outcomes for students. Successful data-driv en collaboration relies on common goals, clear processes and communication, and a commitment to action. A new resource from the Data Quality Campaign highlights key focus areas that researchers and education leaders should discuss together w hen embarking on a specific research project or at the start of a longer-term partnership.

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2018 Elections and Changes in State Education Leadership

Education Commission of the States has put out a new infographic illustrating the potential impact of the 2018 elections on state education leaders, including chief state school officers, state higher education executiv e officers, and state board members. Take a look to see w hat could be changing in your state.

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From The 74: Newly Formed Seek Common Ground Is a Backbone for Local Advocates Working to Positively Change Public Education Sandy Boyd, former COO of Achiev e and current CEO of the new ly-formed Seek Common Ground, describes how her new group intends to reimagine education adv ocacy in this piece from The 74.

"We believ e that local agenda setting (bottom up, not top dow n) is not only more responsiv e to state and local sensibilities, it also enables real community engagement and shared ow nership of ideas. 'Sticky' policies and practices dev eloped by communities hav e staying pow er. I ssues imposed from afar rarely last; indeed, they often lead to outright hostility.

"Our netw ork also, uniquely, believ es in the pow er of relational, not merely transactional (issue-driv en) adv ocacy. Good coalition building takes inv estment, time, and effort, and leaders w ho are committed to respectful relationship building. I t means listening and throw ing out much of w hat you'v e been taught: instead of ignoring 'unpersuadables,' it's important to seek out those w ho hold different points of v iew . I t means being less certain of your rightness (and righteousness), and more humble. And practicing empathy. This is how to find common ground."

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From Everett, Washington's Herald: High school diploma just not enough for a good job

"We'v e shared the number before from Washington Roundtable that betw een 2016 and 2021, Washington state can expect some 740,000 job openings. That's good new s for those crossing the stage to accept their high school diplomas this month.

"I t's better new s if those high school graduates are considering some lev el of post-secondary education, w hether that's college, other trade or technical training or apprenticeships.

"Because few er and few er jobs w ill be av ailable to those w ith only a high school diploma."

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27 states are considering using performance assessments as part of innov ativ e science assessment system designs through the State Performance Assessment Learning Collaborativ e (SPA-LC).

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