Going back a quarter century to 1992, our last three presidents all made education an integral issue of their campaigns. However, education has been largely absent during the 2016 presidential contest. Why is education not drawing much attention? For most people, education is not as urgent as national security and the economy. Much of education's…

Income-share agreements (ISAs) are an emerging idea for helping students pay for college. Under an ISA, investors provide upfront sums of money toward students' college tuition and other associated costs in exchange for a fixed percentage of the recipients' earnings after graduation. This paper--the first in a series examining private financing in…

Competency-based education (CBE) has garnered significant attention lately from reformers and policymakers. Put simply, CBE awards credit based on what students have learned rather than how much time they spend in class. Competency-based programs identify specific competencies, develop assessments to measure mastery of those competencies, and then…

Free after-school tutoring, known as supplemental educational services (SES), was brought to life by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002. SES was designed to provide extra academic assistance to low-income students in schools failing to make accountability targets. SES is a cautionary tale, for there has never been an experiment like it in…

As school choice programs expand in the United States, it is crucial to consider how the design of these programs shapes the supply and demand of parents' educational offerings. To better understand the school choice landscape from the viewpoint of current and would-be participants in choice programs, the authors administered an extensive survey…

The path to economic mobility increasingly runs through postsecondary education. Although the combination of rising tuition prices and a difficult labor market have raised questions about the value of education after high school, degree and certificate holders are still better off than those with just a high school diploma. As a group, young…

Competency-based education (CBE) programs are growing in popularity as an alternative path to a postsecondary degree. Freed from the seat-time constraints of traditional higher education programs, CBE students can progress at their own pace and complete their postsecondary education having gained relevant and demonstrable skills. The CBE model has…

Excitement is growing about the potential for competency-based education (CBE) to become a transformative force in higher education. Yet while much of the attention paid to ever-expanding CBE efforts focuses on student and institutional priorities, little effort has been made to understand the perspectives and needs of the employers who must hire…

Above all else, the American creed is one of liberty and opportunity. In the 21st century, whether the topic is economic opportunity, responsible citizenship, or political engagement, the role of education is more significant than ever before. That means political and civic leaders committed to a vision of opportunity--and especially to equal…

In recent years, competency-based education (CBE) has made considerable inroads in higher education. Various institutions have developed or begun developing a range of programs modeled on competency-based principles. CBE is viewed by many, and with good reason, as a potential means to deliver a more effective educational experience at a lower…

In 1988, Albert Shanker, head of the United Federation of Teachers, suggested that small groups of teachers could design charter (performance-based)schools as alternatives to local public schools. In theory, charter school teachers would be held in check by a performance contract but would be otherwise free from rules, norms, and regulations that…

School choice is an education reform premised on a simple proposition: give families more choices, and they will find schools that best fit their children's needs. In short, school choice aims to create a marketplace of schooling options. School choice programs will succeed or fail based on how well they are able to create this marketplace and how…

Democracy requires well-informed citizens, with the habits and mind-set required to maintain a free and self-governing society. Teachers, in turn, are key to establishing those habits of heart and mind on which democracies rely. As such, teachers benefit from exposure to professional development (PD) opportunities that refresh and augment their…

Andrew Kelly, the director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at the American Enterprise Institute, shares his views on the concept of risk-sharing in higher education. The author presents the question: How would a risk-sharing policy--where colleges bear some financial responsibility for a portion of the federal loans that their students do…

There is currently more focus than ever on the importance of earning a college degree. At the same time, many students and parents are dubious that America's expensive, one-size-fits-all higher education system can adequately educate students for an ever more diverse and sophisticated world of work. There are other educational options that are…