Monthly Blog Archives: July 2011

Reports from Dell Scholars who have been waiting to receive their financial aid award letters are disappointing. The cost of attending college is up and, compared to years passed, grant aid is greatly reduced or completely gone. And in the midst of the debt ceiling debate, the federal Pell grant program is looking more and more vulnerable.

Preliminary results in some school districts show positive outcomes from efforts to build educator’s skills in diagnosing data and adjusting instruction to meet student needs. But the jury is still out on the impact of using data primarily to evaluate teacher performance. Year-end results from three different districts offer directional insight into what approaches seem to be driving the greatest gains.

A new study shows correlations between obesity, GPA and nicotine addiction in adolescent girls and young women... and indicates that when it comes to comorbid public health and social issues, we need to stop battling one another for funds and political influence, and work together on both prevention and treatment.

Powerful though existing educational data standards are, they were developed for purposes other than giving educators on-demand access to the actionable information they need to make quick, accurate diagnoses of their students’ strengths and weaknesses. Ed-Fi answers that need.

Performance improvements at Chicago's struggling Marshall Metro High School uncover important lessons for anyone interested in ways to effectively employ data in turn-around efforts.

We collect piles of information about students. Why do teachers face the first day of class with so few facts on hand?

While dropping out of school and moving straight into business may be viable for some individuals, it’s hardly a scalable approach to creating a skilled 21st century workforce or fostering an equitable society.

When it comes to school reform, we need to get beyond the simple ‘this way’ versus ‘that way’ debate and focus on finding scalable, student-centered, quality-based solutions that work for all children.

Nationally, almost seven percent of the schools that receive School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds are charter schools. That violates the spirit of charters that grant autonomy in exchange for quality and accountability.