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It's that time when schools are getting geared up for the return of their kids, a good time to reflect upon progress and plans.  As I've been reviewing some state and district data (that is surprisingly hard to find even with all the push to make it publically available), I've been thinking about the state of achievement testing given all the activity related to teacher effectiveness, new schools, turnarounds and other efforts.  

While I'm thrilled that the feds have provided a bit more clarity and money on fixing low-performing schools than the last administration, I've been amazed that there has not been more thoughtful discussion about what's worked and how to successfully pull off a turnaround.    A thanks goes to Andy Smarick for raising critical questions, thoughtful analysis while Public Impact provides some great resources. 

Check out the latest "best" high schools list.  While I have serious concerns about the limited metrics for this list (AP and IB participation, not success), it's a great list of schools.   Interestingly 15 of the top 100 schools nationally are charters.  This is many times more what you'd expect given the small number of charter high schools.   While I'm guessing that there are also a disproportionately high number of charters at the bottom (come on NACSA get these authorizers to close them), it does suggest that there is something to having small charter high schools.  

There was time not too long ago when most folks following charter quality (and the various policy battles) were only focused on the schools.  Thankfully, The National Association of Charter Authorizers (NACSA) is now really hitting stride by working with authorizers and providing leadership about a charter sector that is first and foremost about school quality.   Their latest report with some great information on authorizers can be found here. 

It's high school graduation season.  For many, this is a great time to celebrate the hard work with a look forward to entering college ready to learn.  For far too many others, the coming seasons will be a time for dead-end low wage jobs and/or enter college unprepared to do the work.  

New York, NY - (March 4, 2010) - Responding to reports today that New York State was invited to the final rounds of President Obama's federal "Race to the Top" contest for K-12 education, a diverse group of education advocates congratulated Education Commissioner David Steiner, Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and the Board of Regents and called upon the State Legislature to move quickly to put New York in the strongest position possible when it presents its case to the U.S. Department of Education in Washington in the coming weeks.