Preparing students to enter the workforce and attracting and retaining good teachers are Americans' top educational priorities for the next administration in Washington, regardless of who wins the upcoming presidential election, the 2024 PDK Poll finds. While eight in 10 or more Americans pick those two items as priorities, other policy priorities…

Drawing upon their new edited volume of essays looking back on the school reforms of the Bush and Obama years, the authors explain just how few of those reforms went according to plan. Some of the unexpected outcomes were positive, they note, pointing to the improvement of school data systems and the bipartisan compromise that put an end to No…

The 2020 PDK Poll of the Public's Attitude Toward the Public Schools finds that more than half of adults consider public education highly important in their choice for president. And regardless of political party, most Americans agree that the administration in Washington should focus on attracting and retaining good teachers to the profession and…

In the election battle between former Gov. Mitt Romney and President Obama, the writer looks at Obama's record and concludes he's earned a second shot, especially considering how different his policies are from his competitor's. Amid a climate of scarce resources and even scarcer political goodwill, President Obama has taken steps to provide all…

Answering the question of how a Romney administration would tackle education requires us to keep three things in mind. First, education is a minor issue in this election and would be a secondary concern for a Republican President focused on economic growth, the deficit, tax cuts, and reversing the Affordable Care Act. Second, there are few stark…

A paramount duty of education is to prepare young people for their role as citizens in a democratic society. Voting is one of the important responsibilities of a citizen but statistics indicate that young people often don't vote and don't believe they have a stake in the outcome of the presidential election. Storypath is a teaching strategy that…

Being a principal, superintendent, dean, provost, or president carries a wide array of responsibilities and burdens. An inevitable part of being a leader is that some decisions are very hard to make which means that leaders carry a huge emotional burden. Author Rick Ginsberg identifies strategies that educational leaders have identified as helping…

Although Thomas Jefferson's view of freedom was the cornerstone of the Declaration of Independence, this founding father owned 170 slaves to run his 5,000 acre plantation. This article describes a unit developed by the Monticello (Virginia) Education Department that teaches secondary students about slave Isaac Jefferson while exposing them to…

Examines presidential attitudes toward education and speculates on how a second Reagan term or a Mondale presidency would affect education. (MD)

President Reagan lists six steps for returning excellence to American education: restore discipline, end drug and alcohol abuse, raise academic standards, encourage good teaching, restore local control, and teach the basics. (MD)

Examines the process of selecting a new college president from the perspective of the chairman of the search committee. (IRT)

Reports on a survey of the attitudes of college (two- and four-year) and university presidents and school superintendents toward doctoral degrees earned in external degree programs. (IRT)

In anticipating what educators might expect from President Reagan, the author examines the positions Reagan has taken as a practical politician, as a right winger, as a presidential candidate, and as a moderate. (IRT)

Presents President Carter's responses to seven questions that were designed to reveal his position on the federal role in education. (IRT)