Creating Recovery School Districts to Drive Reforms: Lessons from Louisiana
As states look at building their own recovery school districts, this essay outlines key lessons from Louisiana’s leaders.
Improving the Front-End of the Teacher and Leader Pipeline
This essay looks at the efforts in a handful of states that are moving to simultaneously reform and expand how they oversee the preparation and certification of teachers and leaders.
Beating the Odds: How State Education Agencies Can Better Support School Turnarounds
This essay was written for the PIE Network 5th Annual Policy Summit, September 2011. The authors argue that states can maximize their support for turnaround work by pushing for bold, workable plans, providing technical assistance, helping districts find and train leaders, and offering political cover for tough decisions.
State Education Agencies Overlooked in Education Reform? Talent Is the First Place to Start
This essay was written for the PIE Network 5th Annual Policy Summit, September 2011. The authors note that state education agencies have been tasked with increasing student outcomes on fewer funds and examine whether they are up for the challenge.
Smart Choice Policy: Using Evidence to Inform Policy
CRPE Senior Research Analyst Betheny Gross presented this overview of the latest evidence on choice policies including public school choice, vouchers, and charter schools at the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit 2011, in San Antonio, Texas.
State Capacity for School Improvement: A First Look at Agency Resources
This report examines whether State Education Agencies (SEAs) have the capacity they need to fulfill their expanding roles in turning around schools in need of improvement.
Limited Capacity at the State Level: A Threat to Future School Improvement
This study identifies key functions performed by state education agencies, estimates the relative level of resources devoted to each activity, and explores ways SEAs could free up resources to build school improvement capacity.
Eliminating the Achievement Gap: A White Paper on How Charter Schools Can Help District Leaders
Drawing from the experiences of high-performing charter school networks, this white paper examines why districts struggle to close the achievement gap, what portfolio district leaders can find when they look outside the traditional system for gap-closing solutions, and how new schools are able to do what traditional schools have not.
Growing Number of Districts Seek Bold Change With Portfolio Strategy
A growing number of urban districts across the country are pursuing a “portfolio strategy,” profoundly changing the role of the school district and its relationship to schools in order to bring about dramatically better outcomes for students. This interim assessment summarizes the significant findings from the first three years of CRPEs study of the development of the portfolio strategy in districts nationwide.
On Recovery School Districts and Stronger State Education Agencies: Lessons from Louisiana
This working paper reports on a meeting in which representatives from several states gathered for a candid discussion of the lessons learned from Louisiana’s dramatic school turnaround efforts.
