Florida voters' overwhelming approval last week of a constitutional amendment slashing their property taxes--and potentially costing schools millions of dollars in funding--illustrates the vexing trade-offs policymakers nationwide face in trying to reduce one of the most unpopular of all taxes. While lower tax bills may make homeowners happy, they…

In the current evolving economic environment, developing and implementing effective processes to improve the skills and capability of employees are seen as central to improving individual, organizational and national performance and global competitiveness. Recognizing that universities and colleges are critical to their state's growth and economic…

This paper presents Stan Jones' testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. In his testimony, he talks about a new American majority of students that is emerging on campuses, especially at community colleges. These students must delicately balance long hours at jobs they must…

As the student success movement has come of age at America's community colleges, much effort has gone into state-level reforms coupled with college-level efforts, on the theory that relying on individual institutions alone to bring change at scale across states and the nation will take too long and cost too much. But if centralized authority is…

Almost immediately after he was named Commissioner of Education in March 2011, Stephen Bowen traveled to school districts across Maine and spoke to students, teachers, school administrators and community members about what they saw as the challenges confronting Maine's schools and what role they saw for the Maine Department of Education in…

The Race to the Top (RTTT) program, announced by the Obama Administration in 2009, represented the largest competitive grant in the history of U.S. education. Despite the amount of money available and the dire condition of most state budgets in that year, however, some states chose not to apply for funding and the remainder submitted applications…

Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act offers an opportunity to invest in programs with the greatest educational and economic benefits. Members of Congress should look to states for flexible, innovative, bipartisan strategies to gradually grow pre-k programs. This brief highlights some of the most promising state efforts to…

By late 2008, the United States was in the midst of its most severe economic recession since the 1930s, brought on by a collapse in real estate prices and exacerbated by the failure of many large banks and financial institutions. Heeding calls from economists, Congress and the Obama administration passed a historic law in early 2009 to stimulate…

The legal source of schools' use of response to intervention (RTI) is a matter of federal and state special education laws, although its implementation is largely a matter of general education practice. The only mention of RTI is in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and it is limited to identification of students with…

Educational reform in the United States is perpetually evolving. Much of the recent reforms have concentrated on high-stakes testing and assessment, but a parallel effort has been emerging in the field of vocational and career education. Prompted partly by federal legislation--most recently by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act…

The content of this edition of the State Governance Action Report was informed by newspaper reports, online reports, state and institutional Web sites, and conversations with state and higher education leaders. It is current through February 1, 2011. Much of this legislative activity comes at a time when the fiscal conditions of states are…

This article offers an analysis of the origins, evolution, and impact of the Obama administration's Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program and places it in the broader context of the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act and the shifting intergovernmental relations around education. RTTT is fundamentally about two things: creating…

Universalization of primary education has been high on the policy agenda in India. This book looks at the reproduction of social inequalities within the educational system in India, and how this is contested in different ways. It examines whether the concept of "education for all" is just a mechanically conceived policy target to chasing…

The 2011 Governors Education Symposium, co-hosted by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Hunt Institute, focused on advancing education reform with limited resources, improving postsecondary completion and productivity, preparing career- and college-ready students and measuring and evaluating effective teaching.…

Background/Context: Market models of school reform are having a major impact on school districts across the country. While scholars have examined many aspects of this process, we know far less about the general effects of marketization on public participation in education and local education politics. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of…