Financial support to developing countries' education sectors remains low. More and better-targeted resources would unlock large social returns. Education is a critical national investment to raise incomes, tackle deep-seated inequalities, meet obligations for the fundamental rights of children, and enable shared success in delivering the…

Despite overall declines on college enrollment, various accredited and unaccredited providers of postsecondary education delivery are thriving. This success is driven by the economics of the internet and a market structure that allows students to choose and pay for them. Burck Smith, who is the founder of StraighterLine, a company that helps…

Performance-based funding is a resource distribution strategy used in education to reward service providers for the outcomes they achieve. Institutions that produce above-average results earn additional financing, while those that fall short may face funding reductions and may be targeted for technical assistance to address their performance…

Sometimes what colleges and universities must do to generate revenue is consistent with their academic goals. But often they must choose one over the other. The financial transaction that produces most educational revenue in the United States is "cash-for-credits." Many states allocate their own funding by the credit hour as well,…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) playbook series has explored strategies and processes states can use to strengthen CTE program quality and provide students with pathways to postsecondary credentialing and middle- and higher wage career opportunities. In the first three CTE Playbooks, ExcelinEd provided a high-level view of how states can…

"Linking Resources to Results" explores the deliberate approach--including specific goals, a clearly articulated grantmaking strategy and benchmarks for measuring progress--the Chicago Public Education Fund used to help the Chicago Public Schools recognize, reward and deploy high-quality teachers. The case study is intended to help…

In this paper the author explores how colleges whose primary mission is undergraduate education can strategically allocate resources in a way that reduces costs and prioritizes teaching and learning. He starts from a provocative thought-experiment--what would it cost to educate undergraduates at a hypothetical college built from scratch?--and uses…

One way to improve struggling schools' access to effective teachers is to use selective transfer incentives. Such incentives offer bonuses for the highest-performing teachers to move into schools serving the most disadvantaged students. In this report, we provide evidence from a randomized experiment that tested whether such a policy intervention…

In its fiscal 2011 budget request, the Obama administration has laid out its intention of carrying forward key teacher-effectiveness policies within the economic-stimulus law into the next edition of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In doing so, the budget proposal would invest heavily in competitive grants for new ways of recruiting,…

The United States faces a period of opportunity for reinvention unlike any other, and the need for dramatic reform extends to higher education. Today, the United States is at a crossroads, facing unprecedented challenges in meeting expectations and upholding values that have long distinguished the nation. For the benefit of every American,…

The literature on teacher hiring and assignment tends to omit definitions of these key terms. An exception in Cohen-Vogel and Osborne-Lampkin (277), who define teacher assignment as "the reciprocal process between school management and teachers to guide decisions about who will teach, where they will teach, and what they will teach." But the…

There are very real barriers to using people, time, money, and technology well in today's public schools systems. To begin to break down these barriers, the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) has created a framework to prioritize seven urgent restructuring priorities. The authors have found that these areas represent the largest opportunities for…

Billions of education dollars are trapped each year. At this time of continued budget shortfalls when every dollar spent on education must yield maximum returns in student outcomes--states are frequently tying the hands of districts. While funding adequacy and equity must remain a priority for states, ensuring that limited resources are used as…

Colleges may frequently be overspending by offering students larger financial-aid offers than are actually necessary to entice them to enroll, according to a working paper released in May by three economists. In a detailed examination of the admissions practices of two selective private colleges, the economists found that the colleges generally…

"Education at a Glance 2012: Highlights" offers a reader-friendly introduction to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) collection of internationally comparable data on education. As the name suggests, it is derived from "Education at a Glance 2012", the OECD's flagship compendium of education statistics. However, it…