How To Improve Annual School District Report Cards
In this video blog, Christine Campbell looks at typical annual school district report cards and explains how districts could make information more meaningful for families and provide better evidence to inform community decision-making.
Designing the Next Generation of State Education Accountability Systems: Results of a Working Meeting
This meeting summary outlines common principles to guide the redesign of next-gen accountability systems.
School Leadership in Washington State: Today’s Leaders and Key Challenges They Face
This brief discusses the ever-increasing importance of Washington State’s school principals and provides descriptive analyses of the principal workforce that uncovers opportunities for improvement.
In New Orleans, the Work Has Just Begun
This week marks nine years since Hurricane Katrina forced evacuation of New Orleans. The rebuilding of public education there has been a real accomplishment. But the schools there have a long way to go. Due to Katrina, 80 percent of the city was flooded and the floodwaters lingered for weeks. The vast majority of families […]
Making School Choice Work Requires Leadership
This commentary was originally published in Education Week on August 18, 2014. It’s a truism in public policy that every solution breeds a new problem. School choice has created new possibilities for families desperate for better options, but it can also create serious access challenges for disadvantaged families. In localities where many state and local […]
How the Portfolio Strategy Evolved from Idea to Action
In 2003, Paul Hill and I, along with James Harvey, wrote a book called It Takes a City. The book was written for mayors, civic leaders, school board members, and involved citizens, as a practical guide on how to formulate a reform plan bold enough to work while dealing with political opposition to change. It […]
Real-Dollar Spending Analyses: One of the best things we ever did
In our 20th anniversary publication, Russlynn Ali wrote about CRPE’s research on real-dollar spending within school districts. Russlynn was the perfect person to assess the impact of our work in this area, because she had drawn on it twice to great effect: once in California to advocate successfully for a more transparent state funding system, […]
Missing Out on Strong School Leaders? A Survey of Principal Hiring and Support in Washington State
This report explores how Washington State school districts hire and support its principals. A 2013 survey of Washington superintendents and principals highlights areas of concern but also reasons for optimism.
Are Charter Schools Working? A Review of the Evidence
This brief summarizes a new review of the available evidence on charter schools and student achievement
A Meta-Analysis of the Literature on the Effect of Charter Schools on Student Achievement
This working paper provides a systematic analysis of the field’s most rigorous studies on charter school achievement.