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This report analyzes the efforts of schools and school districts to improve academic achievement, particularly among students who have been historically underserved. Three case studies provide insights into both the potential of using deeper learning as a reform strategy that can lead to greater equity in academic outcomes and the obstacles that have prevented others from obtaining similar results.
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Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state assessment systems must be designed to measure higher-order thinking skills and understanding. This report, published in partnership with the Council of Chief State Schools Officers (CCSSO), details how states can use performance assessments—including portfolios, projects, and extended-performance tasks—to assess what students know and are able to do.
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The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes a number of important requirements and opportunities to advance equity in U.S. education. A new report by the Learning Policy Institute, Equity and ESSA: Leveraging Educational Opportunity Through the Every Student Succeeds Act, outlines the equity implications of ESSA and discusses ways in which the federal government, states, districts, and schools can promote equity for underserved children and youth. The report was released in conjunction with a briefing on Capitol Hill.
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The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represents an opportunity for states, districts, and schools to equitably design education systems to ensure that historically underserved students are prepared for the demands of the 21st century. This report details the equity implications of ESSA and provides recommendations for ways in which states, districts, and schools can leverage the new law to enhance equitable educational opportunities and close persistent achievement gaps.
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In scores of rigorously conducted studies, social psychologists have demonstrated that brief interventions, designed to combat students’ negative feelings, can have a powerful and long-lasting impact on students’ academic futures by changing their mindsets before they get to college.
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The Learning Policy Institute was named as one of 12 organizations nationwide to receive a grant award from the Assessment for Learning Project to fundamentally rethink the role of assessments in advancing student learning and improving our k-12 education system.
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Renewing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was once considered a long shot, but in December 2015, the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law. Will federal regulators encourage states to take advantage of the new flexibility provided by ESSA to move teaching and learning purposefully into the 21st century? And will states assure these opportunities are made available to all students, rather than an elite few?
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By Linda Darling-Hammond and Patricia Gandara | How we can create 21st century learning opportunities for all students? In this op-ed, authors argue that a wide range of structural inequalities contribute to ongoing learning and achievement gaps. They identify three high-leverage policy areas to promote equity and deeper learning: adequate and flexible K-12 funding based on pupil needs, educator standards that focus preparation programs on deeper learning, and more supports and fewer constraints to enable innovative instruction and assessment.
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A recent California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning noted that nationally, fewer than half of eligible young people ages 18-24 voted in the 2012 elections, and that the U.S. recently ranked 139th of 172 democracies around the world in voter participation. Is the standard approach to teaching civics failing to prepare students for their future roles as voters, jurors, and civic leaders?
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The pace of knowledge growth accelerates every year, with technology information now doubling every 11 months. Our world is being transformed by these new technologies, as well as shifting demographics and the demands of a global economy. Our children need to be prepared for this new world and all its complex realities. And that requires new approaches to learning.
