Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

9-12-17 Education in the News

The Atlantic--A Simple Way to Bring Down College-Application Costs

Allowing students to report their own standardized-test scores could ease some of the financial burden of the process.

Shira Zar-Kessler spends a lot of time helping teenagers make schedules. As a college counselor at Match High School in Boston, she makes sure her students, many of whom will be the first in their family to go to college, take the SAT a couple of times, fill out the FAFSA, and submit their applications punctually. She also helps some students figure out when to send their official SAT or ACT scores, required by most colleges as part of their applications. That schedule is not built on some clever strategy. It is based on when and how much their parents get paid to ensure there will be enough money on the debit card to pay fees that can add up to hundreds of dollars.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/09/a-simple-way-to-bring-down-college-application-costs/539289/

James S. Murphy| Sep 11, 2017

 

Education Week--Let Teachers Lead, and Other Ideas for Making Evaluations More Useful

After a performance evaluation, many teachers are simply handed a rubric with their scores, given a brief explanation for each one, and asked if they have questions, according to the Southern Regional Educational Board, a 16-state coalition that works to advance public education. 

While that may comply with state regulations, it's not necessarily going to lead to better teaching.

In a new brief, the SREB offers strategies for improving how administrators provide feedback on teachers' performance. Among them: letting teachers lead the debriefing sessions after evaluations.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2017/09/ideas_for_making_teacher_evaluations_more_useful.html

Liana Loewus on September 7, 2017 10:04 AM