Most Recent Analysis and Perspectives

Teacher Quality

Mr. Tough Guy No More

After months of being stern and rigid, a new teacher lightens up, gets personal, and finds a way to connect with his students.

Teacher Quality

Hot for Teachers

Andrew J. Rotherham reviews Relentless Pursuit, a new book by Donna Foote that chronicles a year spent in the "trenches" with four Teach For America teachers.

Politics of Education

Still At Risk

It has been 25 years since the publication of the U.S. Department of Education's explosive report "A Nation at Risk." Its powerful indictment of American education launched the largest education-reform movement in the nation's history. But there's still much work to be done, argues Education Sector's Thomas Toch for Newsweek.

Undergraduate Education

Treat 'em Like Athletes

Low graduation rates exist for all students—especially poor and minority students. If colleges really wanted to graduate more low-income and minority students, they would treat them more like big-time athletes, argues Andrew J. Rotherham for USA Today.

Undergraduate Education

Academic March Madness

In the Los Angeles Times, Education Sector's Kevin Carey and Lindsey Luebchow from the New America Foundation argue amid the spectacle that is "March Madness," far too many student athletes don't graduate from college.

Most Recent Research and Reports

Teacher Quality

Waiting to Be Won Over

In the national conversation on teacher quality, there is considerable debate about what teachers think and what they want. Too often assumptions guide the discussion rather than actual evidence of teachers' views. In a new report, Education Sector and the FDR Group provide that evidence, detailing findings from a national survey of public school teachers.

Undergraduate Education

Graduation Rate Watch

College graduation rates for minority students are often shockingly low. And most institutions have significantly lower graduation rates for black students than for white students. But, as Research and Policy Manager Kevin Carey documents in a new Education Sector report, these high-failure rates are not inevitable: Some institutions are graduating black students at a higher rate than white students.

The Benwood Plan: A Lesson in Comprehensive Teacher Reform

Chattanooga's Benwood Initiative is one of the most widely touted school-reform success stories of recent years. And many credit its success to financial incentives used to lure new teachers to low-performing schools. In this report, Senior Policy Analyst Elena Silva argues that Benwood's success was not just about attracting new talent, but helping existing teachers improve the quality of their instruction.

Teacher Quality

Collective Bargaining in Education and Pay for Performance

Andrew J. Rotherham and Jane Hannaway examine teacher performance incentives and the response of teachers unions in a working paper presented at a recent conference sponsored by the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University.