Are parents an untapped resource in improving and reimagining K-12 education in Kansas City? What do they think would enhance student learning and what are they willing to do to help their children get the education they deserve? These are among the questions explored in an in-depth survey of 1,566 parents with children now in public school in the…

Over the past 15 years, federal, state, and local officials have pursued a broad range of reforms aimed at ensuring that the nation's public school system is more accountable--that it delivers a rich, full education for children in communities across the country. New research from the Kettering Foundation and Public Agenda suggests that there…

It's been a decade since former President Bush proposed and Congress passed the No Child Left Behind law. The goal of this law was to raise student achievement and reduce the gap between different groups of students, especially white and minority students. The law's passage reflected a broad consensus among elected officials, business leaders and…

"Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making" is the third installment of the Cutting Edge series, which aims to help colleges engage faculty, scale successful interventions, and create a strong culture of evidence through use of data to strengthen their institutional change and student success efforts. Though the authors…

Nearly all observers agree that America's system of higher education is facing what Daniel Yankelovich has described as "a far different world than the one that existed in even the recent past." The new normal seems to be defined by escalating operating costs and declining funding and by more students seeking higher education with less preparation…

This is the second guide of the Cutting Edge Series and is designed to help colleges apply strategies that will allow successful institutional change and student achievement initiatives to reach more students. Section 1 of this guide lays out the most common obstacles to successful scaling and serves as a sobering reminder of the complexity of the…

Surprisingly, given the level of leadership anxiety about math and science education in the United States today, national research conducted by Public Agenda shows that the number of parents who worry about whether local schools are teaching enough math and science has declined since the mid-nineties. In 1994, 52 percent of parents said that it…

The American Diploma Project, an influential consortium that includes Achieve, Inc., The Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation believes that expectations about what youngsters learn in high school must be raised dramatically. According to the group, "the diploma has lost its value because what it takes to earn one is disconnected…

This report is the third in a series of "Reality Check" reports finds that five years into the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and over a dozen years into the so-called standards movement in American education, the public now sees these reforms as "necessary, but not sufficient." This is consistent across a number of indicators…