"A Nation at Risk" sounded the call for school improvement and offered recommendations for bringing it about. "No Child Left Behind" was even more prescriptive in its approach to raising student achievement. However, as the author of this article points out, for all their recommendations and strategies, both reform efforts neglect the essential…

All of the admissions research says that prospective students and their parents want to know something about the mysterious people who do the professing. They want to ask questions in a public forum; they want to visit classes; they want private meetings with department chairs; and they want admissions people to call them on the phone to explain…

The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) provides a framework for public universities to provide evidence of success and increase public confidence. The goals of the VSA are threefold: (1) Demonstrate greater accountability and stewardship to the public; (2) Enhance effective educational practices by measuring educational outcomes; and (3)…

This article examines the challenges faced by a Portuguese technical university that is striving to develop its research base within a developing science, technology and higher education system. The paper identifies lack of resources, and also organizational factors, as particular challenges. These include faculty inbreeding, career structures and…

It would be extremely satisfying for career and technical educators to have plenty of students sign up for their programs. In addition, it would be a more satisfying for them if they can make money out of their programs. In this article, the author provides ideas on how teachers can get the industry involved in their programs.

One of the most important strategies for stopping school decline is recognizing its signs early on and promptly applying appropriate interventions. In this article, the author identifies 11 indicators of school decline that are associated with inadequate and inappropriate responses to the challenges of budget cuts, state and federal mandates, loss…

State oversight for teacher preparation programs mostly ignores the impact of graduates on the K-12 students they teach, and it gives little attention to where graduates teach or how long they remain in the profession. There is no evidence that current state policies hold programs to high standards in order to produce teachers who can help…

Our current system for holding U.S. teacher education programs accountable doesn't guarantee program quality or serve the needs of schools and students. State oversight for teacher preparation programs mostly ignores the impact of graduates on the K-12 students they teach, and it gives little attention to where graduates teach or how long they…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) To Be Continued: Congress Passes Continuing Resolution to Keep Government Running, Buys Time to Pass Appropriations…

In 2007, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began implementing a schoolwide reform called the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) using funds from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) and private foundations. Under the TAP model, teachers can earn extra pay and responsibilities through promotion to mentor or master teacher as well as annual…

This paper considers whether high schools in competitive environments use grade inflation to attract and retain families, perhaps in addition to more constructive responses. Two measures of grade inflation are used: the cutoffs used by each school to assign a letter grade to a percent score and high school grade point average after controlling for…

Congress established the Transition to Teaching (TTT) program to serve "high-need schools" in "high-need districts" (local education agencies or LEAs). The program is authorized under Title II, Part C, Subpart 1, Chapter B of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965," as amended by the "No Child Left…

Economic projections for California indicate a continuation of the trend toward a more highly skilled economy. Projections of educational attainment for the future population tend to predict a wide gap between the levels of skills the population is likely to possess and the level of skills the economy is likely to need. This issue of California…

This note looks at the quality of the information on family income that selective colleges rely on to increase equality of opportunity by recruiting high-ability, low-income students. Individual family income estimates embedded in the College Board's search parameters are compared, for 635 recent Williams matriculants, with their incomes as…

In the winter of 2006-2007, The New Teacher Project (TNTP) engaged in an extensive review of teacher staffing policies and practices in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). TNTP investigated the impact of CPS staffing rules through several avenues: (1) Review of CPS Teachers contract; (2) Analysis of Human Resources transaction data; (3) Surveys of…