We believe that UPD was put on this Earth to help states, districts, and schools perform at fundamentally higher levels. Kids and parents deserve it, and our ever-globalizing economy needs it. As I reflect on our…
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As I sat down to write this entry, my day was interrupted most unusually.  Doug texted me the picture to the left.  The caption said simply, “Say hello to 26th street and the railroad track.”…
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Michael Usdan and Arthur Sheekey just wrote a great commentary on the complex and evolving relationship between federal policy, the State Education Agency, and the human capacity to get it all done. In their essay,…
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We have blogged about the topic of that last video post before, including a reference to Herzberg’s classic “One more time, what motivates employees?” And just like Herzberg, Daniel Pink points out that the three…
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Every once and a while that friend that sends you three forwards a day hits on something interesting.  The other day, I received a link to a YouTube video from RSA that is a very…
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It seems simple, right?  Offer bonuses to teachers that bring big gains in student achievement, and you’ll get better performance out of your teachers.  But, a pack of studies over this past year seems to…
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A great article in Slate from Christopher Beam highlights a CompStat program in Los Angeles which will begin to use predictive statistics alongside traditional CompStat figures.  CompStat traditionally tracks a slate of common crime stats…
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As you may have seen in the news, The New York City Police Department is conducting a comprehensive review of its crime stats.  Over the past months, reports have emerged that Precinct Commanders felt pressured…
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A quick report from the trenches. We’ve been working these past weeks in Rhode Island helping stand up their more complex projects with Race to the Top and to help them performance manage the many…
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Our good friend Justin Cohen over at the “Turnaround Challenge” hit it spot on the in an entry on the relationship between good policy and good execution.  Justin mentions a Matt Yglesias quote on (of…
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