Early in 2010, EdSource released a landmark study on middle grades education in California. "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" looked at the critical 6th- to 8th-grade years in the context of standards-based education. The analysis identified a comprehensive set of practices that differentiated higher from lower schoolwide academic…

This paper examines the underlying political and institutional theories that policymakers are embracing as they approve of new mayoral takeovers of public schools, discussing what has fostered this recent governance change that reverses the century-old progressive effort to remove mayors from school governance. Some of the reasons for mayoral…

State government has begun to take the lead in educational curriculum development, because state leaders perceive a direct link between economic development and school curriculum. Includes two figures. (MD)

As the chief elected officials of their cities, mayors have a rightful role in promoting the interests of public school students and parents who live there, as well as the interests of taxpayers who help fund the school district. Without a strong education system, mayors will find it more difficult to recruit new businesses, strengthen economic…

Discusses 10 years of research on intergovernmental relations in education policy and examines current intergovernmental issues. Overall, governmental action at all levels is revealed to be largely unproductive. The author states that policies need to be more robust and sophisticated without losing sight of the realities of the classroom and that…

The history of intergovernmental relations in educational policy has been dominated by regulations, categorical programs, and technical assistance by higher levels of government to stimulate or require lower levels to make changes in policy and practice. This paper summarizes recent research collected by the Consortium of Policy Research in…

The best response to this period of retrenchment and lack of support for education is more aggressive political activity at the state and local levels. The key to success is building coalitions among educational interest groups and potential allies in other services. Although the federal government greatly expanded its support of education in the…

This paper analyzes some major political and fiscal trends that will shape governments' approaches to equal educational opportunity for children with special needs during the 1980's. The growing conflict between the school finance reform movement--a group that desires to redesign public school curricula to include special needs programs whatever…