Student achievement's trick masks student growth's treat

Nadja Young
Nadja Young|October 20, 2011

Halloween is around the corner and children everywhere will wear masks throughout their neighborhoods for a night of trick-or-treating fun and, likely, too much candy. A masking has also occurred in education policy with the No Child Left Behind Act, sans the candy at the end of the night. That [...]

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Part 1 of the 3 R's: Relentless Rigor

Nadja Young
Nadja Young|July 14, 2011

Most of us grew up playing some type of sport and dreaming of becoming a collegiate or professional athlete. For me, it was a focus on dance and striving to be a professional ballerina. At some point we realized that in order to make this dream a reality, we’d have [...]

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The Three R’s Series: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships

Nadja Young
Nadja Young|July 5, 2011

Last week, I attended the International Center for Leadership in Education’s Model Schools Conference in Nashville, TN, where I learned about many forward-thinking education initiatives taking place across the country. My colleagues and I also had the privilege of facilitating a SAS(r) EVAAS for K-12 presentation from two principals at [...]

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Artistry and Creativity in STEM

Nadja Young
Nadja Young|May 20, 2011

As I write my first blog entry for SAS State and Local Government, I thought it would be prudent to provide a little personal background. I grew up in a family of artists- with 5 musicians, 2 painters, 1 sculptor, 1 dancer, and 1 composer. I studied business, became a [...]

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Innovation in Government: A 2011 refresher

Brian Whittington
Brian Whittington|January 4, 2011

Most people don’t think about government when they hear the word “innovation”, but it’s happening, and has been since long before “The Great Recession.” However, the current economic conditions have certainly moved things along. Government responds very similarly to private industry when faced with challenges. SAS manages to do relatively [...]

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Race to the Top winners reinforce importance of measuring schooling effectiveness

Lindia Harbaugh
Lindia Harbaugh|August 26, 2010

The long awaited winners of the second round of Race To The Top were announced yesterday. Race To The Top is about education reform to improve schools and is based on four assurances: 1) Raising standards and improving assessments. 2) Recruiting, retaining and supporting effective educators and ensure equitable distribution [...]

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A data-driven path to graduation, and what graduation means to me

Lindia Harbaugh
Lindia Harbaugh|June 25, 2010

It’s that time of year. Caps and gowns, photos and parties. Time to begin a career or go off to college. For those starting a career the learning is over, right? Well, for those of us in the work force we know first-hand, this isn’t the reality if you want [...]

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