Background: Media play an important role in shaping public perceptions of education policies, yet few studies have explored how research evidence is included in media coverage of education reforms. Purpose: In this study, we investigate how research appears in the public discourse of student achievement in the context of the reauthorization of the…

In June 2009, The New Teacher Project's study, "The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness", drew national attention to the issue of ineffective teacher evaluation systems. The study documents how teacher evaluation systems ignore variations in performance, giving virtually all…

Less than a year after his inauguration, U.S. President George W. Bush secured passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, the cornerstone legislation of his administration. It was signed into law on January 8, 2002 and cost taxpayers $26.5 billion, the largest dollar increase ever in federal aid. No Child Left Behind is a revised version of the…

A review of the accomplishments of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act by the 93rd Congress will focus on use of federal funds by parochial schools. This article is an attempt to clarify basic issues which concern nonpublic school participation in ESEA benefits. (SM)

The September report on the 36th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools did not go into the finer demographic distinctions that most polls explore. In this article, the author takes a closer look at the data to analyze how various subgroups of the population view the parties' and candidates' stances…