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The Power of Numbers

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Learn more about Anne Wicks.
Anne Wicks
Anne Wicks
Don Evans Family Managing Director, Opportunity and Democracy
George W. Bush Institute

Two articles that vary in focus both demonstrate the power of valid and comparable data to help us identify obstacles and then move efficiently to effective interventions to improve student outcomes.

As the fight continues to reform education to improve outcomes for all students, there are two things we all agree on: the importance of helping struggling students succeed and making sure that high-performing students remain challenged.

In a recent article on Real Clear Education’s website, Hanna Skandera, Secretary of Public Education at New Mexico’s Department of Public Education and chair of the George W. Bush Institute’s Education Reform Advisory Committee, is interviewed about the recent improvement in student outcomes in New Mexico.

“We made the commitment to high standards for students and educators,” Skandera said. “We already did a lot of that hard work. We’re in a place now where we’re not only seeing real progress but we can set those aggressive goals and measure how students are doing.”

In another article authored by Mark Dynarski, Education Reform Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute, Dynarski discusses how researchers are struggling to understand the reason for rising high school graduation numbers in the U.S. mainly due to a lack of research. He also reiterates the importance of evidence-based practices in work to improve high school graduation numbers.

Although the two articles vary in focus, they both demonstrate the power of valid and comparable data to help us identify obstacles and then move efficiently to effective interventions to improve student outcomes.

Read more:

http://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2017/05/22/education_rising_in_new_mexico_110159.html

https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-we-dont-know-about-high-schools-can-hurt-us/