For the past few months, Marc Tucker, of the National Center on Education and the Economy, has written a series of blog posts in which he lays out his plans for comprehensive reforms to bring more accountability to American education. Tucker began back in February with a post entitled, “NCLB, California and Accountability in all Read more about Marc Tucker: Designing a Better Accountability System[…]
In recent years, policymakers and reform advocates have viewed State Education Agencies (SEAs) as the lead organizations for implementing sweeping reforms and initiatives in K-12 education—everything from Race to the Top grants and federal waivers to teacher-evaluation systems and online schools. But SEAs were not built, nor do they have the technical expertise, to drive Read more about The State Education Agency: At the Helm, Not the Oar[…]
The U.S. Department of Education is developing a 50-state strategy that may finally put some teeth into a key part of the No Child Left Behind Act that has been largely ignored for the past 12 years: the inequitable distribution of the nation’s best teachers. Managing to bring more equity to the distribution of teachers Read more about 50-State Strategy for Equitable Distribution of Teachers[…]
Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post has posted an article by a prominent Finnish education policy expert, Pasi Sahlberg, which argues persuasively that the American focus on teacher effectiveness is missing some key components. Without a shift in thinking about how to reform American education, Sahlberg, who admits some of the large differences between the Read more about Finnish Educator Refutes U.S. Approach to Education Reform[…]
As usual, Marc Tucker offers some incisive commentary on how to improve American schools. What is not so typical about his recent blog post, “The American System for Improving Our Schools,” is that his formula for improvement does not involve any new teaching methods, grant proposals, or changes to teacher preparation. Marc Tucker wants education Read more about The American System For Improving Our Schools[…]
As an increasing number of individuals realize the need for continued education, yet also face the realities of taking care of families in a tough economic climate, some Americans are asking if traditional college or graduate degrees are the solution. Perhaps these degrees do more to show how much money an individual has or how Read more about Badges and Certifications – the new Degree?[…]
Ever feel like education reform efforts are pulling educators in too many, often opposing directions? In a new special issues brief, authors Sheri Leo and Jane Coggshall lay out a suggested approach for creating meaningful coherence across three interdependent education reforms: Common Core State Standards, teacher evaluation, and professional learning. Their new paper is Creating Read more about Bringing It All Together to Promote Student Learning[…]
This blog typically covers topics related to helping students finish their K-12 education successfully, but what about after that? Can American students, once they are college-ready, afford that college tuition? Anya Kamenetz of Third Way offers 6 straightforward ideas for how the cost of a bachelor’s degree could be $10,000. That is the cost for Read more about How a Bachelor’s Degree could Cost $10,000[…]
A suburban Colorado county, Douglas County, has taken conservative school reform efforts farther than any other large school district has before. Douglas county, which has 65,000 students, making it larger than Washington DC schools and as large as Detroit schools, has pursued an aggressive program of school vouchers and market-based pay for teachers. Furthermore, they Read more about Conservative, Suburban School Reform: Can it work?[…]
Schools are now being expected to implement comprehensive and complex reforms. What systemic supports exist for this transformational change? Recently, reformers have turned their attention to the governance structures that support or stand in the way of meaningful reform. In this month’s issue brief, we explore the topic of Education Governance. How should education systems Read more about August Issue Brief – Education Governance[…]
Because education is such a key element driving economic growth, states realize the need to prioritize education, but are often short on answers when facing large budget deficits. Andrew P. Kelly and Daniel K. Lautzenheiser of AEI Education recently released a new report entitled, “Taking charge: A state-level agenda for higher education reform,” that provides Read more about Taking Charge: A State-level Agenda for Higher Education Reform[…]
Meredith I. Honig at AEI Education has penned a new report urging reform of school district central offices. Honig sees these offices as good candidates to lead schools to higher rates of student progress, but because these central offices have traditionally focused on issues of business and compliance, they are not making the grade when Read more about From tinkering to transformation: Strengthening school district central office performance[…]
Marc Tucker, of the National Center on Education and the Economy, was recently commissioned by the Center for American Progress to write a report in which he would outline his plans for education reform in the United States. Tucker, a veteran voice in American education debates, has long studied the similarities and differences between the Read more about Governing American Education: Marc Tucker’s Opus[…]
Well-meaning education reformers are too often content to layer their new proposals atop outdated schools and systems. Unsurprisingly, school improvement efforts have repeatedly failed to deliver the results we had hoped for. Doing radically better will require state, civic, and system leaders to embrace a more coherent and comprehensive push to overhaul antiquated structures, regulations, Read more about A Roadmap for Education Reform: Milwaukee as a Model[…]
State Education Agencies (or SEAs) are a crucial element in translating policy to schools. A new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, in coordination with the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center, “The SEA of the Future“, urges state education agencies to use performance management to support school improvement. Authors Paul Hill, Patrick Read more about The SEA of the Future: Leveraging Performance Management[…]
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has committed $15 million to “catalyze district-based new school design work” that will focus on individualized learning. To support this effort, they have also recently published a report, Opportunity by Design: New High School Models for Student Success. This report calls for a focus on how schools use teaching, Read more about Carnegie Corporation: Rethinking school design to meet demands of new standards[…]