It's that time once again. Education Week has released its major (and as always, a bit unwieldy) annual Quality Counts report. This year's theme is "A Decade of Standards-Based Education." There are some bright spots, including an interesting regression model that shows increased student achievement linked to more-stringent state-level policies on standards, testing, and accountability. In the category of old news, NAEP scores from 1992-2005 display clear gains in math and flat-lined results in reading. (See here.) Another nonshocker: there is no correlation between equitable school financing and student achievement. (See here.) There's lots to read, including traditional state-by-state grades and analyses at the back of the book, and some thoughtful commentaries, especially one by Diane Ravitch calling for national standards and tests. Give it a read, but try not to lift it one-handed.
