The Education Consumers Foundation

What's New at the Foundation

New chart shows effective schools in Johnson City and Washington County

The ECF recently recognized seven schools in Johnson City and Washington County through its Most Effective Schools program. See those schools charted on their TCAP and value-added performance in this PDF file.

2008 School Performance Charts for Tennessee elementary and middle schools - now available

The 2008 edition of the Education Consumers Foundation's School Performance Charts are now available. Anyone interested in school performance in Tennessee can use these interactive and intuitive charts to compare the value-added performance of schools and districts against others in the state.

Education Sector Publishes "The Benwood Plan," a Report on the Use of Value-Added Data in Tennessee

Education Sector, an independent education think tank, has published a report on the Benwood Initiative in Hamilton County, Tennessee. This initiative, sponsored by the Benwood Foundation, leverages information made available by the state's value-added system to promote effective instruction.

Movie Trailer: Two Million Minutes

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately two million minutes until high school graduation. How do they spend their time in the US, as compared with India and China? Click here to see a trailer for this new movie.

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Dec. 19 Editorial in The Hendersonville Star News: "The value of value-added data"

Click here to read the text of an editorial piece by Dr. J.E. Stone of the Education Consumers Foundation regarding the Foundation's outreach efforts in Sumner County.

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Article in The Hendersonville Star News on ECF's outreach efforts to Sumner County residents

The December 7 edition of The Hendersonville Star News featured an article titled "Report on school accountability creates dialogue," which highlighted the Foundation's work in distributing detailed information on school performance to every household in Sumner County. Read the article here, and our commentary here.

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Education Consumers Foundation releases new report: Effective Schools, Common Practices

The ECF sent a researcher to interview principals of six of the most effective schools in Tennessee; read the Foundation's new report to learn about the 12 practices that all of these six schools have in common

Education Consumers Foundation recognizes Tennessee's most effective elementary and middle schools

The ECF has launched a recognition program in Tennessee to highlight the achievements of the top 20% of elementary and middle schools as measured by value-added performance. Click here for more information.

Update: see here for an article in the Johnson City Press on the ECF Most Effective Schools initiative.

ABCTE versus NBPTS

Two organizations offer advanced certification opportunities to teachers: the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Dr. George Cunningham, a member of the Education Consumers Consultants Network (ECCN), compares the two and provides his analysis in this new brief.

Garrison Keillor Speaks Out

The host of A Prairie Home Companion, and author of numerous books, makes the case for the No Child Left Behind Act and Reading First in this article on Salon.com.

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See Direct Instruction in Action

Despite its proven effectiveness, Direct Instruction has not been universally accepted in education. Those familiar with the controversy, but unfamiliar with the method itself, may be surprised by how well-liked it is by parents and students. Go here for a series of online videos made available by the Fairfield-Suisun (CA) Unified School District. And go here to read an article on Project Follow Through, a decade-long research project that conclusively proved the effectiveness of direct instruction.

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Answers to frequently asked questions about value-added achievement from residents of Sumner County

The Education Consumers Foundation recently sent detailed information on the performance of local schools to every household in Sumner County. The Foundation received several questions from Sumner residents as a result; go here to review some questions with our responses.

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ECF produces online video explaining TVAAS and School Performance Charts

The ECF has created a 10-minute video to help consumers interested in school effectiveness understand Tennessee's TVAAS value-added system and the Foundation's own School Performance Charts. Click here to go view the video.