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 Postcards from the Past 
A new, occasional blog post in commemoration of CER’s 20 years in business and the historical events that have taken place during our history and the history of the education reform movement.

In its annual “Quality Counts” release, the researchers at Education Week took a different approach to state evaluations in response to evolving policies surrounding accountability and standards over the past decade.

According to a January 2001 edition of Newswire, Maryland earned an ‘A’ grade, higher than the ‘B’ grade it’s been given for 2014.

Even then, K-12 achievement indicators needed to be taken with a grain of salt, evidenced by an independent review that found MD test scores painted an inaccurate picture of actual student proficiency.

Education Week is to be commended for adapting its review, but more needs to be done to take into account the gains posted in certain states and what kind of reforms have been implemented. These factors would also be more reflective of the widening public consensus surrounding choice and accountability-oriented policies.

That’s why we have the Parent Power Index, an interactive tool that measures action and results in education, and whether policymakers have measurably taken steps to empower parents with choice and transparency.