Teacher evaluation can make a difference — if done well, concludes a National Council on Teacher Quality study of Dallas, Denver, the District of Columbia, Newark, New Mexico and Tennessee. Unlike some evaluation systems, which ended up giving nearly all teachers the same rating, these six systems were able to distinguish between teachers at different levels of effectiveness. A “highly effective” teacher who works in a high-poverty District of Columbia school can earn a $25,0

Young people go to college to search for him/her/xe-self, explore, experiment, discover a passion . . . Or perhaps to retake algebra, stumble through classes that won’t fulfill a major, go into debt and drop out without a credential. Flexibility leads to failure for most students at unselective two- and four-year colleges, writes Tina Rosenberg in the New York Times. Colleges have decided that structure leads to success. Many are creating “guided pathways” that help students

Eighty percent of new community college students in the City University of New York system test into remedial reading, writing and/or math, reports the New York Times. “At the end of one year, only half of all students in remediation have advanced out of those classes.” CUNY is revamping remediation in hopes of boosting success rates, reports the Times. Future students will take a different placement test with a retest option if they come close to passing. Associate degree pr

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “free college” plan won’t help low-income and working-class students, writes Mikhail Zinshteyn. The Cuomo plan is “completely a handout to the middle class,” says Matt Chingos, an Urban Institute scholar. Students from families with incomes up to $125,000 would benefit. Those whose families earn $40,000 or less would not. They already receive enough federal and state aid to pay for tuition, though they may struggle to pay for living expenses. New