Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education points to data that shows persisting educational opportunity gaps for students of color and low-income students in higher education. Key findings in "Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education" show:
- "Higher education is a key pathway for social mobility in the United States;
- During the past 5 years, the U.S. has seen racial and ethnic disparities in higher education enrollment and attainment, as well as gaps in earnings, employment, and other related outcomes for communities of color;
- Gaps in college opportunity have contributed to diminished social mobility (e.g., the ability to jump to higher income levels across generations) within the United States, and gaps in college opportunity are in turn influenced by disparities in students' experiences before graduating from high school;
- The participation of underrepresented students of color decreases at multiple points across the higher education pipeline including at application, admission, enrollment, persistence, and completion;
- The interaction of race and ethnicity, family income, and parental education can influence educational and labor market outcomes."
Read the Department's recommendations for advancing diversity in higher education in its full report.
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The Impact of Competency-Based Education
AIR released "Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students' Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions", a study which sought to understand which practices are associated with positive changes to student learning during their first year in high school. AIR found that the "distinction between competency-based and more traditional models is not as sharp as expected, and that practices may fall along a continuum, even across classrooms within a school."
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Most PD Does Not Meet the High-Quality Professional Learning Threshold
A new report finds that most teacher professional development does not meet the federal definition of high-quality professional learning. In "Bridging the Gap: Paving the Pathway from Current Practice to Exemplary Professional Learning," researchers use the six criteria of high-quality professional development described in ESSA - sustained, intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-drive, and classroom-focused - to create a framework and assess the professional development experiences of more than 100,000 educators. In four of the six criteria, 80 percent of the programming failed to meet standards.
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Teacher Preparation and the New, Rigorous Accreditation Standards
The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has released findings from its first round review of teacher preparation programs using its 2013 revised accreditation standards. In 14 states, 17 of 21 programs met all expectations. Any program that did not meet the five accreditation standards was put on probation. "The standards place a strong emphasis on outcomes, including the academic achievement of students taught by each program's teachers," according to Education Week.
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Teacher and Principal Performance Measurements and Feedback
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance released early implementation findings from its study on teacher and principal performance measurement and feedback. The impact study looked at three sets of performance measures: observations of teachers' classroom practices, value-added measures of teacher performance, and 360-degree survey assessment of principals' leadership practices. While observation scores generally fell at the upper end of the scale, all three measures differentiated teacher performance. Principal ratings differed based on the measure employed.
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North Carolina Studies Reasons For Teacher Shortages
North Carolina published a report on the health of the teaching profession in the state in an effort to understand its teacher attrition. The report pointed to two major reasons for the attrition: teachers are moving out of state, and they are changing careers. Many of the teachers in both groups were early on in the profession - with less than five years of teaching under their belt. The report also showed that teachers who left the profession last year were less effective than those who stayed. While North Carolina increased its pay for new teachers from $33,000 to $35,000 last year, some argue that the change was not a big enough draw for candidates and believe policy changes are needed to stem attrition. Read more in Education Week.
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*Please note that the articles and events in the NCTR Policy Round-Up do not reflect the opinions of our organization, but rather represent information that we believe will be relevant to you and your programs.
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