New Day for Learning

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New Day for Learning

• Opportunities for Reform
• Laura Harris, National Governors Association
  Center for Best Practices

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• Rule 1 Never allow a crisis to go to waste.
• Rahm Emmanuel, White House Chief of Staff

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The Crisis in Education

• 700,000 of 20-year olds in the U.S. today dropped
• out of high school. By retaining just half of
  them,
• the government would collect
• "45 billion via extra tax revenues and reduced
  costs of public health, of crime and justice, and
  in welfare payments."

Levin, Belfield, Muennig and Rouse (2007)
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Opportunities for Change

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
  
• Race to the Top Fund (5 Billion)

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The Four Assurances

• College and career-ready standards and high
  quality assessments
• Pre-K to college longitudinal data systems
• Teacher equity and effectiveness
• Low-performing schools

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Opportunities for Change

• The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a
  significant and historic opportunity for states
  to collectively develop and adopt a core set of
  academic standards in mathematics and English
  language arts

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Common Core Standards Initiative

• Fewer, clearer, and higher
• Articulate to parents, teachers, and the general
  public expectations for what students will know
  and be able to do, grade by grade, and when they
  graduate from high school
• Internationally benchmarked
• Research and evidence based
• Ready for states to adopt

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A New Day for LearningElements

• Expanding the definition of student success
• Using research-based knowledge about how students
  learn best
• Integrating various learning approaches and
  places
• Fostering intentional collaboration across all
  sectors
• Providing new opportunities for leadership and
  professional development

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A New Day for Learning Moving Forward
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Aligning Education Reform with A New Day for
Learning

• Align academically-focused ELOs with the Common
  Core Standards.

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Aligning Education Reform with A New Day for
Learning

• 2. Connect teachers to ELOs.

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Aligning Education Reform with A New Day for
Learning

• 3. Link ELOs into statewide data systems.

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Aligning Education Reform with A New Day for
Learning

• 4. Make the lowest-performing schools ground
  zero for innovative reform.

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Learn More NewDayforLearning.org nga.org
Contact me lharris_at_nga.org