The Center on Education Policy has released a report based on an October 2010 survey of state education officials, which discusses state education budgets, implementation timeline for initiatives to support the four American Recovery and Reinvestment Act reform assurances, state education agency capacity, and Race to the Top. The full Read more
The Data Quality Campaign’s (DQC) sixth annual state analysis, Data for Action 2010, reveals that states have made unprecedented progress collecting longitudinal information but have not taken action to ensure data are used to improve student achievement. When the DQC launched in 2005, no state had all 10 Essential Elements Read more
Happy President’s Day! In honor of our federal government, I am sharing an article written by the Center on Education Policy’s CEO Jack Jennings that appeared in the Huffington Post. “Get the Federal Government out of Education? That wasn’t the Founding Fathers’ vision” traces the history of the federal role Read more
February 14th, President Obama made his education budget request for Fiscal Year 2012. The New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project Summary and Analysis explains the president’s request. This brief covers key education proposals, including: Increases in funding for K-12 programs, such as ESEA Title I and special education grants; Read more
Changing circumstances mandate that we shift the focus of higher education policy away from how to enable more students to afford higher education to how we can make a quality postsecondary education affordable. The challenge before the country also mandates a new definition of quality from the perspective of students–so Read more
In direct contrast to the Pathways to Prosperity Project report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (about which I blogged yesterday) Achieve’s sixth annual “Closing the Expectations Gap” report shows that in the six years since the National Governors Association and Achieve co-sponsored the National Education Summit on high Read more
This one is sure to generate some controversy! Please weigh in with your comments! “College- and career-ready” is a phrase we hear often, in connection with student standards, curricula and new assessments. But should it be College- and/OR Career-Ready? The Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Read more
As education budgets across the nation contract in response to the recent financial crisis, many school districts have been forced to lay off a sizeable number of teachers. This raises two important questions: what determines which teachers will be let go, and is the existing policy offer best for students? Read more
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a web site providing convenient and transparent access to key national and state education data, highlighting the progress being made at every level of the education system and encouraging communities to engage in an informed conversation about their schools. This first version of Read more
Marc Tucker of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) co-authored with the Organization for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) the recently released report, “Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education”. The report examines in detail success stories from high-performing and fast-improving nations and highlights for policymakers, Read more
The 15th edition of the Quality Counts Report was released today. Quality Counts 2011 contains in-depth coverage investigating persistent concerns over the halting economic recovery and emerging opportunities for innovation, as state and local officials attempt to move forward despite depleted budgets. It also provides a 50-state update in critical Read more