Do States Lack the Capacity for Reform?
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,…
read more
You Can’t Comply Your Way to Common Core Implementation
Forty-five states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS, developed by a state-led initiative, are intended to align instructional expectations across…
read more
Motivation Animation
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…
read more
Value-Added Data and Special Education
At a gala for the American Association of People with Disabilities in March, Education Secretary Arne Duncan affirmed the current administration’s commitment to maintaining high expectations for special education populations, noting that “students with disabilities…
read more
Don’t Cross the Streams
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…
read more
Education Reform and Counter Insurgency
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…
read more
What it Takes to Be Ready for Race to the Top
If you missed Rick Hess’ blog interviewing Louisiana State Education Chief Paul Pastorek after the RTT Decisions were made, note two things. First, in lieu of some of the shenanigans coming out of New Jersey and…
read more