April 2011 Issue
Deliverology 101: How to Implement School Reform
Sir Michael Barber, a former senior education advisor to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and now head of McKinsey’s Global Education practice, joins us this month to discuss his new book, Deliverology 101. Knighted for his success in bringing positive change to the English school system, Barber says that most school reform efforts are unsuccessful for one primary reason: failed implementation. His book focuses on the steps needed for education leaders to successfully carry out their plans and to accomplish meaningful results, whether it’s on the state or local level. Continue
Return on Educational Investment: An Evaluation of U.S. Educational Productivity
A year-long study of the efficiency of the American public education system is the subject of this update from the Center for American Progress. The study is the first-ever attempt to evaluate the productivity of almost every major school district in the country by measuring the academic achievement a school district produces relative to its educational spending. Continue
April 2011 Discussion Points
In our April 2011 Discussion Points, we look at the eight characteristics that make an effective school board; the need for a new system to measure teacher quality in high schools; and a report on the success of early childhood intervention programs. Continue
April 2011 Article Summaries
Article summaries for April include “Are Common Core Standards Coming to Your State?” from the American School Board Journal and “Minimum Grading/Maximum Learning" from Principal Leadership magazine. Continue
Exploring A Systemic Approach to School Turnarounds
A new report from AIR and the California Collaborative on District Reform highlights the successes that eight California districts achieved by taking a common approach and leveraging their resources at the district level to improve struggling schools. Continue
Progress and Challenge: Reducing the High School Dropout Epidemic
A recent report demonstrates that while there are many challenges, there is good news to report and progress being made in efforts to end the national dropout epidemic, even in schools from lower-income, urban and rural districts that were previously thought to be hopeless. Continue