On Top of the News
Opting In to Enthusiasm for the Common Core Tests
4/2/14 | New York Daily News

Behind the Headline
Uncommon Success
Summer 2014 | Education Next

While newspapers are reporting on parents who are opting their kids out of state testing, students in Brooklyn who attend Uncommon Schools charters are gearing up for the tests in “wacky and joyful” ways. As Brett Peiser, CEO of the Uncommon Schools network explains, the annual state test “offers a great opportunity to check our progress against other schools — whose results may show us where we can learn and grow and become even better for our students next year. As professionals, our teachers want to know how well their hard work paid off.” He continues

What’s more, because the state exams are now based on the Common Core — a much more rigorous and data-driven standard that reminds educators and parents of what our kids need to know to be successful in college — they allow us to check our progress against the ultimate bar of whether our students are learning the right skills. It keeps us all focused on what matters most to kids: their future.

Brett Peiser is profiled by Peter Meyer in the Summer 2014 issue of Education Next.

-Education Next