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Sector Spotlight
Inside Higher Ed profies new Education Sector report on higher education accountability.
For Release: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems
New report rates the effectiveness of every state higher education accountability system, calling attention to the need for policy change.
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Education Sector's Andrew Rotherham on Bloggingheads.tv
Education Sector's Andrew Rotherham talks with Dana Goldstein of The American Prospect about education on "Bloggingheads."
Education Sector - Research and Reports
Featured Research and Reports
Measuring Skills for the 21st Century
Leaders in government, business, and higher education are calling for today's students to show a mastery of broader and more sophisticated skills like evaluating and analyzing information and thinking creatively about how to solve real-world problems. But standing in the way of incorporating such skills into teaching and learning are widespread concerns about measurement. In this report, Senior Policy Analyst Elena Silva examines new models of assessment that illustrate that the skills that really matter for the 21st century can be measured accurately and in a common and comparable way.
Recent Research and Reports:
Diplomas and Dropouts
This report from Education Sector's Kevin Carey, along with AEI's Frederick M. Hess, Mark Schneider, and Andrew P. Kelly, spotlights the dramatic variation in graduation rates across 1,300 of the nation's colleges and universities.
Ready to Assemble: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems
States need strong higher education systems, now more than ever. In a new Education Sector report, Chad Aldeman and Kevin Carey rate the effectiveness of every state's higher education accountability system in 21 categories, ranging from how well states measure student learning outcomes to how well states link accountability information to funding. Learn how your state measures up.
Food for Thought: Building a High-Quality School Choice Market
In this new Education Sector report, Policy Analyst Erin Dillon looks beyond schools to other markets operating in low-income, urban neighborhoods for strategies to improve the supply of high-quality education options and the informed demand necessary to take advantage of those options.
Are We There Yet? What Policymakers Can Learn From Tennessee's Growth Model
As Congress gears up to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, so-called "growth models" to measure school performance are sure to be a major item of debate. But while growth models can help develop better school accountability systems, there are important issues that state and federal policymakers should be aware of as they consider expanding their use, argues accountability expert Charles Barone in this new Education Sector Technical Report. Value-added expert William L. Sanders responds to this paper.
Beyond the Bubble: Technology and the Future of Student Assessment
In a new Education Sector report, Chief Operating Officer Bill Tucker argues that technology has the potential to drastically improve our current assessment systems and practices, leading to significant improvements in teaching and learning in the nation's classrooms.
Ready to Assemble: A Model State Higher Education Accountability System
Today's colleges and universities are plagued by a host of problems: low graduation rates, high tuition rates, and poor student performance. But higher education has few incentives to address these problems. Thus, policymakers who want to fix the problems of American higher education need to create stronger accountability systems. In this new Education Sector report, Kevin Carey and Chad Aldeman describe the current state of the art in state higher education accountability and provide a set of guidelines for designing a model system.
Changing the Game
To resolve dramatic disparities in educational achievement and ensure future American workers are globally competitive, the federal government needs to change the game in public education, argue Co-director Andrew Rotherham and New American Foundation Fellow Sara Mead in a new report released by the Brookings Institution.
Achieving Teacher and Principal Excellence: A Guidebook for Donors
In this guidebook written for the Philanthropy Roundtable, Co-director Andrew J. Rotherham provides philanthropists a solid grounding in the nature of the human capital challenge. It explores the current policy landscape, most effective interventions, and opportunities for donors seeking to achieve an excellent teacher and principal for every child.
Plotting School Choice
Allowing students in low-performing schools to attend better schools in other districts seems like a winning strategy. Interdistrict choice, many argue, will give students more options and a greater chance to achieve. But there are a number of factors that limit the potential of interdistrict choice, cautions Policy Analyst Erin Dillon in this new Education Sector report.
School Funding's Tragic Flaw
In this report from Education Sector and the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), Kevin Carey and Marguerite Roza examine funding disparities between two seemingly similar schools in Virginia and North Carolina. Carey and Roza find that the federal, state, and local policies designed to distribute education funds systematically provide more money to higher-income students and wealthier schools.
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.
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.