Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Grade Level: Middle School (6-8)

Results of President Obama’s Race to the Top

From the Publisher: “This study examines the effects of Obama’s Race to the Top [funding initiative] on education policymaking around the country. The overall findings . . . indicate that Race to the Top had a meaningful impact on the production of education policy across the United States. In its aftermath, all states experienced a marked surge in the adoption of education […]

A Blueprint for Creative Schools

The task force from the createCA coalition authored this guidance document which presented critical issues in education and made a series of policy recommendations to embed the arts into the fabric of the educational system. Two overarching themes are found throughout the Blueprint: infusing the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning (critical thinking, communication, collaboration […]

Empowering Parents with Data: Ensuring Parents Have Data to Make Informed Choices

This two-page infographic presents results from a state survey on parents’ access to their own children’s data. According to the publishers, while most states create student progress reports, only 17 states provide parents with access to data that would allow them track their children’s individual progress over time. The publishers also report the number of states […]

Why Education Data?

This website provides a broad number of resources and tools to help policymakers and educators develop a successful data-use communications strategy. Spanning multiple topics, the resources cover the power of communications, using data to measure teacher effectiveness, and seizing important data-use communications opportunities such as back-to-school nights and state testing periods. According to the publishers: “DQC […]

Making whole-child education the norm

This policy brief describes research and policy initiatives that can make social and emotional skills a focal point in children’s education. The authors review the literature on how social and emotional skills develop, and how they are important drivers of cognitive skills, school, and life outcomes. The brief then discusses the role of educational policy […]

Independent Reviews of Instructional Materials

These reports were created as a resource for teachers, parents, state and district officials, and others with an interest in identifying Common Core-aligned instructional materials. The initial wave of reviews considered 20 published, K-8 math instructional series and “graded” them on a three-point scale. Although the reports are funded by entities with large commercial interests […]