May 26, 2015

• ASCD Unveils Global Policy Agenda
• Teach to Lead: D.C. Summit
• State Teachers of the Year Weigh In
• Research Round-Up
• Did You Know?

ASCD Unveils Global Policy Agenda 

ASCD has released its Global Policy Agenda (PDF), providing recommendations to promote the success of students, educators, schools, and communities worldwide. As stated by ASCD Director of Public Policy David Griffith, “ASCD is committed to supporting policies that enable growth and success for all students, and we believe the introduction of this Global Policy Agenda lays out a comprehensive vision for international educators to support student achievement.”

Each January, ASCD releases a legislative agenda with recommendations concerning federal education policy in the United States. Yet because of the move to more global societies, many of today’s key education issues must be addressed on an international scale. The ASCD Global Policy Agenda seeks to engage the global education community in conversations about what works in education and shift the discussion towards long-term educational progress that serves the whole child and honors the profession.

The global recommendations aim to:

• Establish a Multimetric Accountability System: An appropriate accountability system should incorporate all subjects, include nonacademic factors, use multiple measures of performance, promote continuous improvement, and report community-level data to highlight our shared responsibility for student success.
• Reduce the Reliance on Standardized Testing: Standardized test scores provide an incomplete depiction of student performance and school quality, and using test scores alone for high-stakes decision making has been shown to narrow curriculum; increase stresses on principals, teachers, and students; and affect teacher morale.
• Promote a Whole Child Education: A whole child approach to education can best prepare students for college, career, and citizenship. As stated by educator and ASCD author Andy Hargreaves, “The whole child is about all achievement, not some achievement, and about the needs of the child in the present as they prepare for life in the future.”
• Honor and Support the Education Profession: Because teachers and school leaders are the two most important in-school factors that affect student achievement, investments in time and resources should be made to provide ongoing professional development for teachers and school leaders and successfully recruit, train, and induct them.

The ASCD Global Policy Agenda (PDF) will be introduced at the upcoming Integrating Health & Social Programs Within Education Systems: A Global Dialogue forum in Paris, France, June 1–3.

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Teach to Lead: D.C. Summit 

A fourth Teach to Lead Summit has been scheduled for July 23–24, 2015, in Washington, D.C., to help educators share and explore teacher leadership ideas and best practices. Educators are encouraged to submit innovative ideas to advance teacher leadership in schools, districts, or states for discussion during the D.C. summit. Submit your idea by Friday, June 5. The Teach to Lead initiative—which aims to leverage teachers in leadership roles while allowing them to remain in classrooms—has grown through the support of 75 organizations, including ASCD.

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State Teachers of the Year Weigh In 

Lack of time is the greatest challenge as a teacher, according to a survey of the 2015 State Teachers of the Year. However, when asked about the greatest barriers to student success, 76 percent of survey respondents stated “family stress,” while 63 percent listed “poverty.” Along the same lines, the educators stated that they would prioritize school funding on antipoverty initiatives, early learning, and access to wrap-around services to have the greatest impact on student learning.

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Research Round-Up 

• State preschool programs have seen a funding increase for the second year in a row, though they have yet to fully recover from massive cuts in 2011–12, according to the 2014 State Preschool Yearbook, which also includes state preschool profiles and rankings for the 2013–14 school year.
• Whether the postsecondary regulatory community can develop an efficient process for approving and overseeing competency-based models—which allow students to receive credit based on skills learned as opposed to time spent in class—is examined in a new American Enterprise Institute report. The report concludes with strategies for improving state, accreditor, and federal oversight of competency-based education programming.
• Comparing state test results to scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a new Achieve report (PDF) shows that there is a 30+ point discrepancy in the majority of states.
• ICYMI: ASCD’s latest Policy Points (PDF) examines the impact of poverty on education and provides recommendations for educators looking to mitigate poverty’s effects.

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Did You Know? 

The reported prevalence of bullying among students ages 12 to 18 dropped to 22 percent after remaining around 28 percent for the past decade. For bullying statistics specific to your state, see your state’s Whole Child Snapshot.

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