When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law in 2002, the U.S. national high school graduation rate was 72.6 percent. Today, the national high school graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 81 percent and the number of low-graduation-rate high schools has declined considerably. While this progress is notable,…

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…

This policy brief examines standards-based approaches that hold promise for shaping a common vision of skilled teaching commensurate with the national goal of preparing all students for college and careers. Numerous studies confirm that teachers are the most significant school-based factor in improving student achievement, particularly for the…

First introduced in 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has evolved over time, emphasizing education reform priorities that mirror the changing national education policy conversation. The most recent iteration of ESEA, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), was enacted in 2001. It emphasized improving outcomes for…

This report makes a research-based case for federal provision of out-of-school complementary learning supports from birth through high school, particularly for poor children, so that all students gain the skills that economists, educators, and employers agree are necessary for success in the 21st century. Four decades of consistent research…

THE INVESTIGATOR IDENTIFIED AND ANALYZED FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965, USING AN INPUT-OUTPUT SYSTEMS MODEL TO ORGANIZE RELEVANT FACTORS INTO MEANINGFUL PATTERNS. INPUTS WERE PHENOMENA, BOTH PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL, OCCURRING OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES OF A POLITICAL SYSTEM, AS A…

The Joint Federal/State Task Force on Evaluation (the Belmont Group) is currently developing a Joint Comprehensive Evaluation System (JCES) for the federally funded programs under the federal acts listed above. It is planned that JCES will replace the multiplicity of evaluation systems (and paper work) under the separate existing programs. This…

Many believe that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 represents the most sweeping national education reform legislation in decades. NCLB's provisions have created numerous potential opportunities and challenges for career and technical education (CTE), including in the following areas: (1) teacher quality; (2) expansion of the Education…