For years, the debate about American education was like a bad marriage. The arguments were about everything but the core issue--instructional quality. The other issues--education finance, school choice, standards--all matter, but are secondary to the importance of effective instruction. In the labor-intensive education field, effective instruction…

In 1997, the Buckeye State embraced a new approach to public-education delivery, launching a pilot program of community (charter) schools. Since then, the state's community schools sector has grown tremendously. During the 2013-14 school year, 390 schools served approximately 124,000 students--seven percent of students statewide. Despite its…

Never before has more been asked of State Education Agencies (SEAs), commonly known as state departments of education. In recent years, policymakers at the state and federal level have viewed the SEA as the default entity for implementing new and sweeping K-12 initiatives--everything from Race to the Top grants and SEA waivers to teacher…

To shore up the $46 billion pension debt the state has accrued over the past several decades, Illinois has been using its teachers as a piggy bank. New legislation adopted in December 2013 will raise the retirement age for mid-career workers and limit the amount retiree pensions can increase with inflation over time. State and national union…

This report examines the ongoing effort to revamp teacher evaluations. After collecting and synthesizing data from 17 states and the District of Columbia, it provides five major lessons for policymakers. New evaluation systems are just one part of sweeping changes in American schools. Because the number and extent of these changes are daunting,…

Since Head Start's last reauthorization in 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, has implemented significant reforms that are improving the program. In "Renewing Head Start's Promise: Invest in What Works for Disadvantaged Preschoolers," Sara Mead offers several recommendations to enable…

This report, the first in the series, points out that, while urban families increasingly have access to a variety of school options--including charter schools--many rural families have just a single school option. There are numerous examples of rural charter schools that have done great things for students while also benefiting the larger…

It is widely acknowledged that innovation will be necessary to dramatically improve public services in America. But innovation in the public sector doesn't happen in a vacuum; innovation happens at the nexus of policy, research, capital, and practice. This project looks at one case study--education--by analyzing some of the key aspects of an…