The “Noble Lie” of Evidence-Based Turnaround Strategies
The Every Student Succeeds Act abandons the prescriptive approach to school improvement embraced by both the No Child Left Behind Act and the Obama Administration’s flexibility waivers. Instead, states are empowered to craft their own “evidence-based” strategies to turn around struggling schools and districts. But what does an evidence-based turnaround strategy look like? CRPE recently […]
Measures of Last Resort: Assessing Strategies for State-Initiated Turnarounds
This paper provides the first comprehensive review of the research to date on state interventions, assessing the advantages and limits of five common turnaround approaches and outlining key ingredients for success.
Linking State and Local School Improvement
The new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives heavy deference to “local control.” School districts, charter schools, and communities are meant to be in the driver’s seat. And they are. States don’t improve student outcomes—schools and families do. State agencies have limited authority to intervene in low-performing schools, for example, and have limited staff, […]
Can Civil Rights Institutions Keep Up as Public Education Evolves?
The NAACP’s resolution to oppose charter schools left thousands of black families whose children attend charter schools stunned. How could such a revered institution fail to recognize their beliefs and interests? Organizations like NAACP have earned our trust and respect. Decades of fighting on behalf of the powerless have given them good standing among politicians, […]
Coming to a City Near You: Common School Performance Measures
One of the great promises of public school choice was the opportunity for diverse schools to develop unique performance measures, but the price has proven to be high. When schools set their own bar for success, families faced with a dizzying array of options can struggle to meaningfully compare the quality of public schools in […]
Sticking Points: How School Districts Experience Implementing the Portfolio Strategy
This analysis of trends across portfolio districts shows where cities are making progress on strategy implementation and where they are getting bogged down.
Apples to Apples: Common School Performance Frameworks as a Tool for Choice and Accountability
CRPE’s new paper focuses on developing a common school performance framework, tool for measuring performance of an individual school using a defined set of metrics that is common to schools across different agencies or governing bodies.
An Outdated District Lens: Why State of Our Cities’ Focus Is Too Narrow
The Bush Institute recently released State of Our Cities, a compelling new data tool for viewing public school conditions and outcomes for over 100 cities. The project’s scope is impressive, but in some cases it misses the mark by equating a single school district with an entire city’s public education system. Our 2015 report, Measuring […]
Wells Fargo and the Atlanta Schools Testing Scandal
To people in education, the Wells Fargo scandal sounds eerily familiar. Top executives tried to increase performance by setting ambitious goals for opening new accounts, and attaching big rewards and penalties. Managers believed internal reports showing that the performance incentives worked. The incentives did work to some extent, in that the number of bona fide […]
Why Schools Shouldn’t Go It Alone on Personalized Learning
This is the fourth in our series of “Notes From the Field” on personalized learning. Principals and teachers trying to personalize their students’ learning are charged with radically reimagining the classroom. It’s a tall order that requires educators to take risks, move outside their comfort zones, and essentially overhaul much of their jobs. What we’re seeing […]