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Sector Spotlight
"Waiting to Be Won Over" in the News
Read the latest news coverage about our national survey of public school teachers and companion release event.
For Release: Waiting to Be Won Over
Education Sector report examines teachers' opinions on their evolving profession, teachers unions, and a range of current district reforms.
Job Opening: Senior Policy Analyst
Education Sector seeks a senior policy analyst to lead one of our key initiatives: a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project to explore and identify strategies to increase the effectiveness of current and future K–12 accountability systems.
"Graduation Rate Watch" in the News
Read news coverage of our report about college graduation gaps among minority students.
We are currently accepting applications for internships for fall 2008. Applications for are accepted on a rolling basis and need-based stipends are available. Apply today!
Education Sector - Research and Reports
Featured Research & Reports
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.
Recent Research and Reports:
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.
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.
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.
Rush to Judgment: Teacher Evaluation in Public Education
The troubled state of teacher evaluation is a glaring and largely neglected problem in public education. Co-director Thomas Toch and Robert Rothman of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform examine the causes and consequences of the crisis in teacher evaluation, as well as its implications for the current debate about performance pay.
ES Review: Selections From 2007
From the promise of virtual schooling to the plight of Sallie Mae, the second edition of the ES Review brings together, in one setting, some of our best work from 2007.
A Sum Greater Than the Parts: What States Can Teach Each Other About Charter Schooling
States with a significant charter sector know firsthand that the success or failure of a charter school is not a matter of chance, but subject to variances in state laws and a state's educational, political, and regulatory climate. In this report, Sara Mead and Andrew J. Rotherham draw on the experiences of 12 states, proposing those lessons that are necessary for charter school quality and growth.
Leading the Local: Teachers Union Presidents Speak on Change, Challenges
Presidents of 30 local teachers unions in six states speak candidly about their views on a number of education issues, revealing that they are focused on far more than the traditional union priorities of wages, hours, working conditions, and due process for their members.
Information Underload: Florida's Flawed Special-Ed Voucher Program
Despite its growing popularity and the extensive attention it has received from both state and national education reformers,
Laboratories of Reform: Virtual High Schools and Innovation in Public Education
Virtual schools are growing rapidly, serving over 700,000 students in the 2005–06 school year. But these schools are proving to be more than just another delivery system for students; they are bringing about reforms that have long eluded traditional public schools.
Leading Lady: Sallie Mae and the Origins of Today's Student Loan Controversy
Over the past 40 years, the student loan industry has evolved from a relatively small, government-sponsored program into an $85-billion-a-year industry with thousands of lenders and industry-related companies. But, in recent months, the industry—and its biggest player Sallie Mae—have been at the center of controversy and calls for reform.
Eight for 2008: Education Ideas for the Next President
To kick off the 2008 Presidential "Ideas Primary," Education Sector offers eight education ideas for our next president. These are pragmatic solutions to real problems that both parties can support.
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