New York State's system of public elementary and secondary schools is in steep decline, but it is salvageable. The roots of its problems pre-date the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, but the system's response to that challenge accelerated discontent with the schools and harmed students. The damage of those years will not be undone if…

Mayoral control and accountability is one of very few major education reforms that aim at governance coherence in this nation's highly fragmented urban school systems. A primary feature of mayoral governance is that it holds the office of the mayor accountable for school performance. As an institutional redesign, mayoral governance integrates…

Making robust and reliable information about schools accessible is one of the most powerful ways to foster engagement and promote informed decisions that will shape our communities. Though education data is frequently collected and aggregated at the state level, data is rarely synthesized across cities. This report provides comparable information…

This is the 2012 Yearbook of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA). This Yearbook contains the following papers: (1) Editors' Sidebar (George Perreault and Luana Zellner); (2) The Hour Glass Economy: The Social Justice Challenge for the 21st Century (Fenwick W. English); (3) Maintaining the Human Touch in…

This paper explores the impact of recent economic volatility on higher education and discusses the lessons learned and the strategies for the future. The author believes that America's higher education is in danger, but has an extraordinary opportunity. Several reports point to the country's lagging behind other advanced countries in educational…

The U.S. Senate will soon render its advice and consent to the nomination of Chicago Public Schools Chief Arne Duncan to be secretary of education. The word "education" is not mentioned in the Constitution, and the federal government has historically played a limited role in funding and regulating public education across the country. The…

Results from national reading assessments reveal that millions of young people leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills required for career and college success. Young adults who lack reading and writing proficiency will likely be relegated to the ranks of unskilled workers in a world where literacy is an absolute…

There are almost 3,000 charter schools operating in the United States. In Arizona about 500 charters enroll about 74,000 students. The question of whether charter schools "work" is, therefore, of considerable interest to policymakers and the public nationally and in Arizona. To charter school proponents, the fact that charters exist is…

States are the primary policymakers in several important areas of K-12 education. Given their dominant role in educational funding and regulation, states not surprisingly have been the primary initiators of the latest wave of educational reform starting in the mid-1980s. In this paper, the authors sought to test indirectly for the effects of…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) House Prevails in Cutting Education Below Senate Bill and the President's Request: Final FY2005 Education Budget…