The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has generated considerable buzz in education circles and the general media. But how much has really changed, and what does this mean for states as they begin the process of implementing a new federal education law? In this article, we apply principal-agent theory to explore intergovernmental relations under…

This article analyzes how the Obama administration used executive power to grant waivers from federal education policies and assesses whether they used this power differently than previous administrations and in other sectors (e.g., health or welfare). The executive use of waivers to shape state policy is not a new trend. However, we find that…

This article examines the historical relationship between political power and the pursuit of education and social equality from the Reconstruction era to the present. The chief argument is that education equality is historically linked to and even predicated on equal political power, specifically, equal access to the franchise and instruments of…

Building on the premise that closing achievement gaps is an economic imperative both to regain international educational supremacy and to maintain global economic competitiveness, I ask whether it is possible to rewrite the social contract so that education is a fundamental right--a statutory guarantee--that is both uniform across states and…

Many policymakers feel pressure to claim that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is boosting student performance, as Congress reconsiders the federal government's role in school reform. But how should politicians and activists gauge NCLB's effects? The authors offer evidence on three barometers of student performance, drawing from the National Assessment…

Concludes that the federal government currently lacks an information system that is broad enough and detailed enough to facilitate the processes of policy development and program coordination. (Author/AM)

Replies to several authors who critiqued an article on scientific culture and educational research, reiterating the original article's core argument that harnessing the epistemological and methodological diversity of the field to advance its common goals is difficult but essential work. Encourages further debate on the issues addressed in the…

This outline of the organizational structure for the new department of education lists propositions to guide the reorganization of educational research and innovation activities and discusses the potential functions of several new department offices. (RLV)

Agrees with Feuer, Towne, and Shavelson's article about scientific culture and educational research and with the National Research Council Report upon which it was based, but contends that science does not mean the same thing to everyone, nor have distinctions between educational science and other sciences been well made in either report. Examines…

The National Research Council report "Scientific Research in Education" claims to present an inclusive view of science as it responds to federal government attempts to legislate educational research. This author argues, however, that the report in fact narrowly defines "science" as positivism and "methodology" as quantitative. These definitions…

Addresses two issues from Feuer, Towne, and Shavelson's article, which examined scientific culture and educational research. Agrees that legislative mandates that give preference particular methodological approaches would be ill-informed and misdirected, recommending a mandate for rigorous peer review of federally funded work combined with funding…

Presents an interview with Emerson J. Elliott, Commissioner of Education Statistics, on the subject of leadership, government service, and the relationship between research and statistics. Some principles of leadership that are distinctive to the federal bureaucracy are addressed. (GR)

Under the stewardship of the Department of Education, recent acts of Congress confuse the methods of science with the process of science, possibly doing great harm to scholarship in education. An otherwise exemplary National Research Council report to help clarify the nature of educational science fails to emphasize the complexity of scientific…

In the context of a controversial award decision by the National Institute of Education (which contradicted the Project Review Board's recommendation), discusses peer review in competitions for federal research grants. Concludes that the principle of peer review needs clarification and that federal contracting procedures are ill-suited to the…

Asserts that both the Feuer, Towne, and Shavelson article on scientific culture and educational research and the recent National Research Council (NRC) report must be understood in the context of current federal discourse focused on experimentally derived causal explanations of educational program effectiveness. Notes that the NRC report risks…