Educational Innovations Series – serie

This timely book brings together a remarkable group of authors who examine the federal role in education policy and reform during the past fifty years. As Frederick M. Hess and Andrew P. Kelly note in their introduction, the book represents a determined effort to move beyond familiar and predictable debates and instead to focus on a number of questions that deserve careful and sustained attention: “What have we learned from the last half-century of federal involvement, especially the last decade or two of significant federal activity? What have we learned about which goals Uncle Sam is well-suited to pursue? What have we learned about how federal efforts play out and about the limits of what federal activity can effectively accomplish?” These questions are of heightened importance at a time when the federal role in education has expanded so dramatically—and when federal education policy is being so vigourously debated. This book—with a diverse and dynamic lineup of leading figures in education research, policy, politics, and innovation—is an indispensable contribution to our current reconsideration of education policy.

Debates over teacher quality are among the most heated exchanges in the education reform arena. But while scholars and policy makers grapple with questions about teacher preparation, compensation, and evaluation, the role of teachers is changing. In schools across the country, educators are experimenting with new models for recruiting, training, and supporting teachers, and are innovating strategies for deploying their talents through differentiated roles and the use of technology. Most of the policy measures currently under consideration, however, are designed with a one-size-fits-all approach.Teacher Quality 2.0 argues that much cutting-edge work in teacher quality is happening in nontraditional environments such as online or hybrid learning, where teacher roles can be very specialized, or in charter schools that are experimenting with new approaches to staffing. The editors examine fruitful innovations taking place on the margins of the traditional education sector that promise to improve teacher quality in a more strategic way. More flexible approaches to teacher quality, the editors caution, require vigilance against backwardlooking policies that “bake in” traditional assumptions about teachers’ roles.The editors of this provocative volume have convened a diverse array of contributors to explore these emerging practices and investigate how current research and policy initiatives may affect the next generation of innovation in teaching.

Policy Patrons offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of decision making inside four influential education philanthropies: the Ford Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The outcome is an intriguing, thought-provoking look at the impact of current philanthropic efforts on education.Over a period of several years, Megan E. Tompkins-Stange gained the trust of key players and outside observers of these four organizations. Through a series of confidential interviews, she began to explore the values, ideas, and beliefs that inform these foundations’ strategies and practices. The picture that emerges reveals important differences in the strategies and values of the more established foundations vis-à-vis the newer, more activist foundations—differences that have a significant impact on education policy and practice, and have important implications for democratic decision making.In recent years, the philanthropic sector has played an increasing role in championing and financing education reform. Policy Patrons makes an original and invaluable contribution to contemporary discussions about the appropriate role of foundations in public policy and the future direction of education reform.

In Educational Entrepreneurship Today, Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane assemble a diverse lineup of high-profile contributors to examine the contexts in which new initiatives in education are taking shape. They inquire into the impact of entrepreneurship on the larger field—including the development and deployment of new technologies—and analyze the incentives, barriers, opportunities, and tensions that support or constrain innovation.Over the past decade, entrepreneurship has moved from the periphery to the center of education reform. Policy measures, philanthropic support, and venture capital increasingly promote initiatives that drive innovation within and outside the traditional education sector. These initiatives have included spectacular successes, like Khan Academy, Teach For America, and Wireless Generation, as well as highly visible failures, like the InBloom data warehouse.Educational Entrepreneurship Today offers critical perspectives on the impact of entrepreneurship and also includes lessons from leading entrepreneurs, in which they use case studies drawn from their own experience to illustrate the realities of leading disruptive change in education and pose guiding questions for the next generation of innovators.In a time of increasing polarization around education policy, this timely, frank, and insightful volume shows how we can begin to create systems in which entrepreneurial ideas and fresh thinking are welcomed, constructively employed, and held accountable for the public good.

International Perspectives in Higher Education offers a balanced perspective on how different countries approach key policies and what the United States can learn from those programs. Jason D. Delisle and Alex Usher have gathered a diverse group of experts to examine systems across the globe with a focus on the trade-offs between access, cost, and quality.  The book explores a set of cross-cutting global topics such as free tuition, restricted versus unrestricted access, and the structure of student loans, drawing out the similarities and differences across countries. It also provides single-country case studies from Chile, Australia, and Brazil, paying close attention to the context in which specific reforms arose and the unintended consequences of implementation. Too often, programs found in other countries are presented as silver-bullet solutions to be lifted from one country and grafted on to the US system. This book, however, advocates for a careful examination of the strategies other countries are enacting—the political, historical, and demographic context, as well as the trade-offs among different outcomes—before deciding whether they would work here.  Delisle and Usher provide an understanding of the interplay among various higher education reforms and the opportunities and challenges involved in undertaking similar reforms in the US context. Given the tremendous challenges facing the US system, their work establishes a solid foundation for policy debates moving forward.

Education, Equity, and the States examines how variations in state governance determine how federal initiatives are implemented and makes recommendations for approaching reform from this perspective. The book defines the key ways in which state policy environments differ from one another, illustrates how those differences matter, and encourages reformers to account for these disparities to achieve more sustained and equitable improvement.  Drawing on original research, Sara E. Dahill-Brown highlights three major factors that differ from state to state: the number of districts (fragmentation); the degree to which education governance is separated from other political issues (exceptionalism); and how much state legislation tends to impinge on local autonomy (local control). She examines the historical and political trends that have shaped differences among the states and how they affect the impact of education reforms. By identifying typical patterns in state governance, Dahill-Brown suggests ways to work with varying governance structures to lead to more successful and equitable outcomes.  Dahill-Brown argues that reformers at every level must routinely assess the appropriateness of their consensus-building and collaboration strategies. With the increasing importance of states in education, her work makes a notable contribution to our understanding of the landscape of education reform.

Written by two leading experts in education research and policy, Common-Sense Evidence is a concise, accessible guide that helps education leaders find and interpret data and research, and then put that knowledge into action.In the book, Nora Gordon and Carrie Conaway empower educators to address the federal Every Student Succeeds Act mandate that schools use evidence-based improvement strategies. Recommendations include utilizing existing research; generating evidence on the success of their own improvement efforts; and building an organizational culture of evidence use.The authors walk readers through the processes for determining whether research is relevant and convincing; explain useful statistical concepts; and show how to quickly search for and scan research studies for the necessary information.The book directs readers through case studies of typical scenarios including a superintendent trying to reduce chronic absenteeism; a middle school math department chair trying to improve student performance on exams; and a chief state school officer attempting to recruit teachers for rural schools.Common-Sense Evidence helps education leaders build capacity for evidence-based practice in their schools and districts.

Written by two leading experts in education research and policy, Common-Sense Evidence is a concise, accessible guide that helps education leaders find and interpret data and research, and then put that knowledge into action.In the book, Nora Gordon and Carrie Conaway empower educators to address the federal Every Student Succeeds Act mandate that schools use evidence-based improvement strategies. Recommendations include utilizing existing research; generating evidence on the success of their own improvement efforts; and building an organizational culture of evidence use.The authors walk readers through the processes for determining whether research is relevant and convincing; explain useful statistical concepts; and show how to quickly search for and scan research studies for the necessary information.The book directs readers through case studies of typical scenarios including a superintendent trying to reduce chronic absenteeism; a middle school math department chair trying to improve student performance on exams; and a chief state school officer attempting to recruit teachers for rural schools.Common-Sense Evidence helps education leaders build capacity for evidence-based practice in their schools and districts.

Between the State and the Schoolhouse examines the Common Core State Standards from the initiative’s promising beginnings to its disappointing outcomes. Situating the standards in the long history of state and federal efforts to shape education, the book describes a series of critical lessons that highlight the political and structural challenges of large-scale, top-down reforms.Education policy expert Tom Loveless argues that there are too many layers between the state and the classroom for a national standards approach to be effective. Specifically, he emphasizes the significant gap between states’ roles in designing education policy and teachers’ roles as implementers of policy. In addition, he asserts that top-down policies are unpredictable, subject to political and ideological pressures, and vulnerable to the pendulum effect as new reforms emerge in response to previous ones.One of the most ambitious education reforms of the past century, the Common Core aimed to raise student success, prepare larger numbers of students for both college and careers, and close achievement gaps. Yet, as Loveless documents, a decade later there remains a lack of significant positive impact on student learning.Between the State and the Schoolhouse marks an important contribution to the debate over the standards movement and the role of federal and state governments in education reform.