Connecting schools and students to community members is a mutually beneficial effort that can transform education and society. In this article, Josh Schachter, founder of CommunityShare--an innovative nonprofit initiative that catalyzes real-world learning experiences by connecting teachers and students with the wisdom, skills, and lived…

In this article, the authors analyze the current situation in Portugal, in terms of the relationship between basic education and higher education, focusing on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in these processes. Moreover, this piece also addresses the quality of student preparation in basic education for a positive and successful experience…

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift became president of the education innovation organization LearnLaunch in July 2019. In 1998, Swift was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. Three years later, when Governor Paul Cellucci resigned to become U.S. ambassador to Canada, Swift became the youngest female governor in U.S. history. Besides…

Organizational expert, Jim Collins, is the author of "Good to Great" (2001) and "How the Mighty Fall" (2009) and coauthor of "Great by Choice" (2011). Collins also authored a monograph entitled, "Good to Great and the Social Sectors," and presented his findings at the 2007 NAIS Conference. Recently, Collins…

This article features an interview with Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings. In this interview, Hastings relates that he told the "Wall Street Journal" in 2008 that he started looking at education--trying to figure out why our education is lagging when our technology is increasing at great rates and there's great innovation in so many other areas…

While Massachusetts has received accolades for its high scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, absolute results from standardized tests tend to correlate strongly with family income and parental education. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education…

Eddie Reisch is currently working as a policy advisor for Te Reo Maori Operational Policy within the Student Achievement group with the Ministry of Education in New Zealand, where he has implemented and led a range of e-learning initiatives and developments, particularly the Virtual Learning Network (VLN). He is regarded as one of the leading…

Teacher tenure rights, first established more than a century ago, are under unprecedented attack. Tenure--which was enacted to protect students' education and those who provide it--is under assault from coast to coast, in state legislatures, in state courtrooms, and in the media. In June 2014, in the case of "Vergara v. California," a…

In an interview with Educational Leadership, Frederick M. Hess talks about greenfield schooling--a policy approach that attempts to knock down the formal and informal barriers that stand in the way of innovation in education. Greenfield schooling, he explains, "doesn't imagine that we should go around razing districts or schools or taking…

Students, teachers, administrators, community members, and policymakers are collectively responsible for ensuring that the literacy learning required to earn a living and lead a well-rounded life is available to all. To meet that responsibility, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) urges legislators to practice civil discourse by…

In fall 2007, nine Catholic colleges and universities began a collaborative process to explore ways Catholic institutions of higher education (CIHE) could increase effective support of pre-K-12 Catholic schools. This new organization, Catholic Higher Education Collaborative (CHEC), committed to hosting a series of six conferences focused on…

In this update the National Governors Association presents the testimony of Honorable Bill Ritter, Jr., as submitted to the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee. Ritter speaks about the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a joint project by the National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) to…

Based on a series of state and city case studies published by the Progressive Policy Institute and Education Sector, this report summarizes states' experiences with charter schooling, particularly the role of state charter school laws in shaping a state's charter sector. We identify and examine the areas of the law that have the greatest impact on…

A central and repeated idea in education is the continuous need for change. This paper explores how to assess the ways change can be incorporated into the curriculum, and why stability is also important. The example of team teaching shows the way a concept may become accepted as a "fact" in spite of many weaknesses of the approach.…

To an unprecedented degree, this is the era of educational entrepreneurship. Dynamic new thinkers have waded into the world of K-12 education, founded influential organizations, and shattered familiar conventions. They have developed new models for delivering instruction and recruiting teachers and at the same time have applied old-fashioned…