The Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center (OhSFEC) is implementing a comprehensive, scalable approach to enact state policy for family and school engagement at local levels. Joyce Epstein and Barbara Boone report how OhSFEC's research-based design, implementation, and evaluation of a leadership ladder has enabled state leaders to support…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was designed to remedy the wrongs of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Yet Andrew Saultz, Jack Schneider, and Karalyn McGovern explain that, so far, it has failed to fundamentally alter how the federal government interacts with schools. They discuss the need for federal authority over issues of equity in education…

In 2016, the federal government proposed and adopted the Every Student Succeeds Act, which retracted the federal government's prior control over states' teacher evaluation systems, permitting more local control. Kevin Close, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, and Clarin Collins collected information from states to determine the degree to which states were…

As the Every Student Succeeds Act is returning authority over teacher evaluation policies back to the states, policy makers at the state level have the opportunity to revise their policies. But who will they listen to when it comes to potential reforms? The author surveyed education policy makers to determine to what degree teachers, education…

When troubling attendance data in New Britain, Conn., caught district leaders by surprise, they reconsidered their focus on truancy in the older grades and turned their attention on their elementary schools. With support from local philanthropy and assistance from Attendance Works, the district significantly reduced the incidence of chronic…

American education must prepare students for a world where the opportunities for success require the ability to compete and cooperate on a global scale. The federal government has played a critical role in fostering foreign language and area studies expertise at the post-secondary level. Now is the time for the federal government to engage in a…

Examines the evidence establishing that teaching is a semiprofession and looks at the reasons for this in the conditions of the workplace and in the way these conditions have been set by the state and by local districts. (IRT)

The Reagan administration in California used what some considered inflammatory rhetoric and seemed rigid, but in actual dealings it impressed many observers as flexible and willing to compromise. (Author/IRT)

Those commenting on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act find themselves at an interesting juncture. Debates over projected outcomes of the law have now begun to give way to certainty. An August 2002 piece the author edited and distributed to school administrators in Indiana, titled "The Grim Reaper," pointed out that, as it was being…

State government is taking a more active role in defining field experiences and requiring input from professional and consumer groups. It is also monitoring the programs and practices of teacher education programs more actively. (Author/IRT)

Control over local schools, even in the heartland, no longer rests securely in hands of local communities. Since passage of Colorado's first state finance law 17 years ago, power has shifted inexorably from the school board meeting room in Colorado Springs to state house in Denver. However, state's demands for local accountability outstrip demands…

Uses data from a multistate, multidistrict study of education reform conducted by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) at the University of Pennsylvania to examine the roles of federal, state, and local governments in standards-based reform and how intergovernmental relationships have influenced education-reform policies and…

In the 21st century, Americans find themselves living in an increasingly interconnected world in which the marketplace is global and in which peace and stability require greater knowledge of different regions, cultures, and languages. In this article, the authors call on all education stakeholders to help internationalize our K-12 schools.

Examines the effect of the increase in the power and influence of the state and federal governments on teacher education. Argues that more governmental influence is not a promising approach to the solution of the problems facing education. (IRT)

Presents four versions of American educational history highlighting centralization/decentralization issues, American faith in schooling, and cascading national and international changes requiring extraordinary reforms. These diverse stories all arrive at the same conclusion--a need for national goals and performance standards to guide…