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C-SAIL Blog

    Learn about standards implementation directly from stakeholders across the system – teachers, principals, policymakers, and researchers.

    Our blog presents posts by C-SAIL researchers, Center partners, and guest colleagues to examine the impact of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards on teaching and learning; interpret state and national policies affecting CCR standards implementation; and present resources for education practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. We pay special attention to the experience of English language learners and students with disabilities, as well as the progress of standards reform in our partner states—California, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas.

    The views expressed by the C-SAIL bloggers do not represent the views of the Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) or its funder, the Institute for Education Sciences (IES).

    Differences in Teacher Perceptions of State Policies
    Laura Desimone | May 1, 2017

    Do teachers of different grades, subjects, and types of students view their state policies differently? In this post, Laura Desimone discusses how teachers in C-SAIL's partner states differ in their view of the policy environment by analyzing responses to our district surveys.

    • Policy Attributes Theory
    • Teaching and Instruction

    Interactive Maps, Explained: A Preview of the Broader Implications of our State CCR Policies Maps
    Katie Pak, Adam Edgerton | April 5, 2017

    C-SAIL researchers Katie Pak and Adam Edgerton take a close look at our newest maps, alternative scoring scales, and what's ahead for our map project.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Policy Attributes Theory
    • Standards Implementation

    Should California’s New Accountability Model Set the Bar for Other States?
    Morgan Polikoff | March 27, 2017

    Morgan Polikoff weighs in on California's pilot accountability dashboard which, he says, "has some value," but he still "has concerns."

    • Accountability

    Measuring Nostalgia
    Adam Edgerton | February 27, 2017

    Does nostalgia, or a policy environment's shared emotion toward education, influence implementation? How can we measure nostalgia to inform implementation? C-SAIL's Adam Edgerton weighs-in on the importance of understanding local context.

    • Policy
    • Standards Implementation

    How do educators perceive policies in their state?
    Laura Desimone | February 22, 2017

    C-SAIL co-director Laura Desimone discusses how district leaders, principals, and teachers in Texas and Ohio differ in their perceptions of their states' policy environments.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Policy Attributes Theory
    • Standards Implementation

    Standards Implementation: Partners' Perspectives
    Katie Pak | February 13, 2017

    Highlights from C-SAIL's November 18 conference on state standards implementation with key administrators in our partner states California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas. Our panelists discussed their states' unique contexts, innovations, implementation challenges, upcoming initiatives, and advice for other states.

    • Standards Implementation

    New Online Reporting System on State STEM Assessment Policies
    Guest Blogger: Rolf Blank | February 9, 2017

    A new online reporting tool, developed in part using C-SAIL's research on state assessments, provides state and local education leaders with up-to-date details on state STEM assessment policies.

    • Testing

    Policy evaluation, shiny objects, and sustained educational improvement
    Morgan Polikoff | January 31, 2017

    There is a high demand for rapid evidence about policy effects, and the early evidence often contributes overwhelmingly to shaping the narrative about whether policies are working or not. But are we rushing the research? asks Morgan Polikoff.

    • Policy

    Beyond Proficiency: Toward a Better Measure for School Success
    Morgan Polikoff | January 3, 2017

    For the past dozen years the primary metric for measuring school performance in most states has been the proficiency rate. But a new regulation from the Department of Education allowing performance indexes go a long way toward improving the design of accountability policy and reducing unintended consequences, says Morgan Polikoff.

    • Accountability

    Was Race to the Top Too Much of a Race?
    Adam Edgerton | November 10, 2016

    With the Obama administration drawing to a close and the Department of Education partially retreating from 15 years of highly active, interventionist education policy, Adam Edgerton analyzes the effects of the signature Obama education policy, Race to the Top.

    • Accountability
    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Common Core State Standards
    • Policy
    • Standards Implementation

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