Conserving Principal and Teacher Talent
Reformers taking over a troubled big-city school system are understandably pessimistic about the educators they inherit. How could there be any good teachers or principals in a district where not even one child in ten achieves on grade level? At CRPE, we have learned from working with more than 40 urban districts that such despair […]
Policy Barriers to School Improvement: What’s Real and What’s Imagined?
This report examines federal, state, and district barriers that principals say hinder their ability to make innovative school improvements.
Understanding the Charter School Special Education Gap: Evidence from Denver, Colorado
This study uses student-level enrollment data from Denver to provide evidence on what drives the special education gap between charter and traditional public schools.
20 Years of Expertise // Transformative, Evidence-Based Ideas
In this compilation of essays, leading researchers and reformers share their views on how CRPE has impacted education reform over the last 20 years.
In-Depth Portfolio Assessment: Shelby County Schools, Memphis, TN
This report on the newly merged Shelby County Schools’ (TN) provides an assessment of where the district stands in relation to the portfolio strategy’s 7 components.
Innovation in Progress: Proceed with Caution
A new study released last week provides first glimpses at how blended learning is affecting student performance. The report, published by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and SRI International, is rich with information about blended-learning programs and implementation details, but the study’s new contribution to the field is that it presents an impact analysis […]
Buried Treasure: An Impossible Job? The View From the Urban Superintendent’s Chair
Over a decade ago, CRPE conducted a set of leadership studies funded by the Wallace Foundation’s Leaders Count Initiative. Of all the reports we produced, perhaps the most interesting was on the urban superintendency. (Other reports focused on the job of the principal, principal shortages, principal licensure, human resource development, and key indicators of school […]
Charter Regulation: How Much Is Too Much?
In a recent USA Today piece, Rick Hess and Mike McShane blasted what they see as a trend toward charter school re-regulation. Rick and Mike argue that charters are losing their ability to innovate thanks to lots of new rules and restrictions imposed by government. I’m with them in spirit, but the specifics matter a […]
Getting from Here to There in Governance Reform
Andy Smarick, Ashley Jochim, and I have been exchanging posts on new roles for school districts and state education agencies. We agree government should set goals and hold providers accountable for performance but rely on independent parties to run schools and deliver services. But we are exploring differences about what kinds of government institutions are […]
Buried Treasure: A New Look at Inequities in School Funding
In May 2002, CRPE produced a little publication with a huge audience. “A New Look at Inequities in School Funding: A Presentation on the Resource Variations Within Districts,” by Marguerite Roza and Karen Hawley Miles, was the most accessed publication on crpe.org for more than a year. One reason it was so popular was that […]