When Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act in 2015, it intended to send a strong signal: any further encroachment of federal authority on the nation's K-12 schools needed to end. Compared to its more prescriptive predecessor in 2000, known as No Child Left Behind, the new law, dubbed "ESSA" for the Every Student…

Principal effectiveness matters for student outcomes, and strong principal pipelines matter for principal effectiveness. School districts looking to invest in such principal pipelines can use this guide to find the most promising federal funding sources to support their work. Research shows benefits for students and schools from what have come to…

This brief outlines a series of proposals for using federal policy to bolster school leadership. The Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) should highlight the unique role that principals play by targeting funding within the law to build principals' capacity as instructional leaders, culture builders and talent managers. ESEA should also…

Principals are the leverage point for education reforms and the primary drivers of school improvement. A critical part of maintaining a corps of effective principals is rewarding and retaining the best school leaders. Unfortunately, few systems systematically identify principals that make important contributions to student learning or celebrate…

Research across the decades has confirmed that effective school leadership is associated with better outcomes for students and schools. A high-quality school leader affects dozens of teachers and hundreds or thousands of students. It is a pivotal role. From 2011 to 2016, The Wallace Foundation, through its Principal Pipeline Initiative (PPI),…

The primary goal of performance pay for the past decade has been higher test scores, and the most prominent strategy has been to increase teacher performance through financial incentives. If teachers are rewarded for success, according to this logic, they will try harder. If they try harder, more children will achieve higher test scores. The…

This report outlines the case for an education amendment to the US Constitution to reduce radical disparities in the allocation of resources and funds for the education of the nation's public school students. The report argues that an education amendment is the best way to fundamentally reform the "structural arrangements" that are…

With effective teaching a top policy priority, certain school districts, the federal government, and nonprofit groups are renewing efforts to pilot and study strategies for pairing effective teachers with students in low-performing, high-poverty schools. The results could offer clues about how to rectify an imbalance in the distribution of the…

The State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Delaware's annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 3 report for Phase 1 and 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2012 through September 2013. Delaware made…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY IN THE CITY GHETTO FORMS A COMPLICATED CHAIN OF DISCRIMINATION AND LOST OPPORTUNITIES FOR WHICH ALL AMERICANS PAY. COSTS ARE INCURRED FROM POOR EDUCATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, WASTE OF INDIVIDUAL TALENT, RISING CRIME RATES, MILITARY SERVICE REJECTION RATES, AND OTHER SOCIAL PROBLEMS. THE EDUCATION LINK IN THIS CHAIN IS THE…

Accounting for a quarter of a school's impact on student achievement, principals are the leverage point for education reform and the primary drivers of school improvement. School leaders have a greater influence on all students than teachers and are the best long-term investment in effective teaching at scale. Like all professionals, teachers,…