National High School Center
Linking Research and Resources for Better High Schools
The National High School Center is a central source of information and expertise on high school improvement issues for the Regional Comprehensive Centers. Our work includes identifying effective programs and tools, offering user-friendly products, and providing high-quality technical assistance to support the use of research-based approaches within high schools.
Spotlight
Ask the Expert
Starting Jan. 12th, the National High School Center will feature an “Ask the Expert" column. Dr. Lou Danielson, former director of OSEP and acting director of research for the National High School Center will serve as January’s expert focusing on tiered intervention on the high school level. Nettie Legters will serve as February’s expert discussing dropout prevention and Todd Flaherty will serve as March’s expert highlighting best practices in building capacity for high school improvement on the state, district, and school level. Learn more ….
Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-class Education
Underscoring the link between a world-class education and a sound U.S. economy, the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve have issued a report offering sweeping recommendations to internationally benchmark educational performance. The report, Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-class Education, provides states a roadmap for benchmarking their K-12 education systems against those of top-performing nations. The report explains the urgent need for action and outlines what states and the federal government must do to ensure U.S. students receive a world-class education that provides expanded opportunities for college and career success. (December 2008)
Measuring Skills for the 21st Century
Leaders
in government, business, and higher education are calling for today's students
to show a mastery of broader and more sophisticated skills like evaluating and
analyzing information and thinking creatively about how to solve real-world
problems. But standing in the way of incorporating such skills into teaching
and learning are widespread concerns about whether or not they can be measured.
In Measuring Skills for the 21st Century, Education Sector Senior
Policy Analyst Elena Silva argues that they can indeed be measured accurately
and can serve as common metrics of student achievement. Silva examines a number
of new assessment models that do this and that demonstrate the potential to
measure complex thinking skills at the same time that we measure a student's
mastery of basic skills and knowledge. These emergent models, she concludes,
are critical to meeting our educational goals—to ensure that teachers and
students can monitor and improve the learning process—and our
accountability goals—to ensure that schools are giving all students what
they need to succeed. (December 2008)
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