Utilising Bacchi's framework 'What's the problem represented to be?' the literature on managing academic workloads was analysed to explore why workload allocation models are deemed essential in the contemporary university and the assumptions which underpin workload allocations. Whether due to the need for efficient use of scarce resources or…

At the core, budgeting is about distributing and redistributing limited financial resources for continuous improvement. Incremental budgeting is limited in achieving the goal due to lack of connection between outcomes and budget decisions. Zero-based budgeting fills the gap, but is cumbersome to implement, especially for large urban school…

This article seeks to explain the disjuncture between the decline of music education in schools and the importance music has in popular youth culture and in creativity within the new knowledge economy. The data discussed in this article have been derived from analyses of major documents on curriculum reform as well as e-mail responses from music…

Organizational leaders from nearly every sector have been using continuous improvement models and improvement science for years to improve products, services, and processes. Though continuous improvement processes are not new in education, they are relatively new in the state policy arena. In a continuous improvement system, educators use data,…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) playbook series has explored strategies and processes states can use to strengthen CTE program quality and provide students with pathways to postsecondary credentialing and middle- and higher wage career opportunities. In the first three CTE Playbooks, ExcelinEd provided a high-level view of how states can…

This 2015 annual report shares many of the accomplishments achieved by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools in 2015 including the celebration of their 10th anniversary. Among other achievements, the report highlights: (1) At the end of 2015 Congress and the President agreed to an $80 million increase in support for the federal Charter…

Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger (2014) addressed the need for states to align their accountability systems with new college- and career-ready learning standards. The authors recommended a new accountability paradigm that focuses on 1) meaningful learning, enabled by 2) professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by 3)…

As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and…

This brief summarizes the ways that schools and their teachers can simultaneously reach more students with excellent teaching, expand teachers' career opportunities, and sustainably fund higher pay and other priorities. This is based on Public Impact's school models that use job redesign and technology to extend the reach of excellent teachers to…

Greater accountability in public higher education systems is a fact of life in the current political climate. Increasingly, one form this accountability takes is performance funding, which arises from elected officials' need for assurance that taxpayer funds are not only being invested and used properly but are resulting in desired outcomes at…

After twenty years of expanding school-choice options, state leaders, educators, and families have a new tool: course choice, a strategy for students to learn from unconventional providers that might range from top-tier universities or innovative community colleges to local employers, labs, or hospitals. In "Expanding the Education Universe:…

This report is designed to help state and local policymakers identify the policy changes needed to expand access to quality personalized learning in their states and communities, and to give them the tools to make those changes. Each of the 15 policy ideas, or "plays," in this playbook provides background context on the challenges it is…

Higher education institutions in the United States are entering a new era in budgeting. Therefore, institutions are actively engaging in dialogues about the budgeting tools that will most effectively assist them in achieving institutional goals and objectives within their strategic plans and being accountable for the use of scarce resources, as…

The purpose of this research was to address the public policy of adequacy by the creation of a Florida state-wide poverty index model to assist in the distribution of state and local dollars in funding public education. This poverty index model would measure the amount and severity of poverty in every public school within the state each year and…

The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The Celtic Tiger: Ireland Invests Heavily in Higher Education, and Benefits Mightily (Jon Marcus); (2) Western Classic: Nevada's James Rogers Is a Non-Traditional…