Will the digital-learning movement repeat the mistakes of the charter-school movement? How much more successful might today's charter universe look if yesterday's proponents had focused on the policies and practices needed to ensure its quality, freedom, and resources over the long term? What mistakes might have been avoided? Damaging scandals…

This review of teaching standards in six states (California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas) focuses on the structure, target audience, and selected content of the standards to inform California's revision of its teaching standards. The report was developed at the request of key education agencies in California. The review…

Digital learning makes possible the "unbundling" of school provisions--that is, it allows children to be served by providers from almost anywhere, in new and more customized ways. At the same time, because it destandardizes and decentralizes educational delivery, digital education is far harder to bring under the yoke of the…

This article examines the case of the Winston Society, a short-lived wikispace created by a high school English teacher to foster collaborative knowledge-making and social activism among educators. Through an examination of the wiki, questionnaires, and a focal group interview, this paper describes an examination of reasons the "Winston…

In this Education Policy Brief, the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy at Indiana University examines the necessity for future funding of educational technology in the state of Indiana and the relationship between technology and student academic achievement, the hallmark concern of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). In…

About two years ago, Ohio's school district, like many other districts nationwide, was beginning to feel the first effects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Reading scores at many of Ohio's elementary schools were unacceptably low, and one school in particular--Fairmount Park Elementary School--had been labeled as "in need of…

Innovations, ETS's corporate magazine, provides information on educational assessment for educators, school leaders, researchers and policymakers around the world. This issue on how classroom assessments in five U.S. states and several foreign countries expand educational opportunities for all students. Articles in this issue include: (1) Keeping…

As China and India threaten the supremacy of the U.S. economy, the nation's best hope for keeping pace is putting educational technology funding to use to galvanize education. A report from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, "Results that Matter," provides a compelling list of statistics from a variety of sources displaying U.S.…

Online learning is growing rapidly across the United States within all levels of education, as more and more students and educators become familiar with the benefits of learning unconstrained by time and place. Across most states and all grade levels, students are finding increased opportunity, flexibility, and convenience through online learning.…

Since Mueller vs. Allen (1983), several legal decisions have attempted to clarify what is the appropriate relationship between religion and public education in a democratic society. During this time, the United States legal system has shifted, moving the historic "establishment clause" away from a strict "separationist" view…

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), state education agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) have stepped up activities to broadly expand their data collection and reporting systems. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has advocated strongly for states to build robust student-level longitudinal data systems based on…

Written by an interdisciplinary group of experts in education, psychology, sociology, and other fields, this landmark handbook provides a thorough examination of U.S. secondary education from the private academies of Colonial America to the comprehensive high schools and alternative schools of today. This accessible compendium is a treasure trove…