Our classrooms haven't kept pace with innovation. The Ford Model T represented breakthrough technology in its day--more than 100 years ago--but it wouldn't serve us well today. Likewise, our traditional classroom model from the same era doesn't work well for far too many students and teachers. In fact, as a result of this outdated model, it is…

On February 18-19, 2016, representatives of 10 states participating in the Credit When It's Due (CWID) initiative attended a convening held at the University of Utah. The meeting was led by the CWID Research Team and sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Kresge Foundation, on behalf of the CWID Funders Collaborative. The…

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting financial crisis are forcing millions of students to reconsider their educational plans--a development that's likely to increase the number of students transferring among institutions in the years ahead. Affordable and close to home, community colleges in particular are now poised to attract more students…

I analyze two bills from the state legislatures of California (SB 1174) and Arizona (SB 1242) that propose to expand bilingual education where English-only education was previously the default. Using a critical discourse analysis lens to conduct a directed content analysis, I ask who bilingual education is for, why it is offered, and how the…

Higher education is ripe for innovation. While emerging technological developments such as digital courseware and mobiles apps have made it easier than ever for people to engage with learning resources, significant issues of access and equity persist among students from low-income, minority, single-parent families, and other disadvantaged groups.…

The United States is in an era of high-stakes evaluation of educators (i.e., teachers and principals), the results of which are used to inform human capital decision making (i.e., recruitment, hiring, retention, and dismissal), which in turn impacts school capacity and student learning. The present article describes the School System Improvement…

After two decades of major education reforms without seeing major gains for low-income students, state leadership is coming to the conclusion that there is something inherently wrong with America's K-12 system. States have called into question the time-based system built around the Carnegie unit and are now rapidly advancing an alternative. By…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

This article discusses the effect of Arizona's language policies on school districts serving Native American students. Although these policies were designed to restrict the access of Spanish-speaking immigrant and citizen students to bilingual education programs, their reach has extended into schools and school districts serving Native Americans.…

If a district head or state superintendent wanted to intensify the focus of his curriculum on 21st century skills, he would do well to pay a visit to Tucson's Catalina Foothills School District (CFSD). There on the Arizona city's northeastern edge, educators and administrators have decided to go all in on 21st century skills, and in so doing have…

Today, the United States spends about twice as much on higher education as the average developed nation, but many other countries are doing a better job of graduating more students at substantially lower expense. To provide more high-quality degrees and credentials at lower cost, colleges and universities must become high-performing institutions.…

Colleges and universities negotiating their recovery from the most severe recession in nearly a century are currently implementing a welter of hastily devised measures aimed at reducing operating costs, becoming more efficient, and restoring a prior equilibrium. Administrators reacting to the downturn should not restrict their focus to the short…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this document focuses on the normal and documented activities that could be described as leading to strategic choices and implementation efforts in the Arizona universities. The strategic planning literature is…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this document looks at ways to approach future changes in Arizona, focusing on how they will affect the higher education needs of the state. It is important to consider long term outlooks in order to better…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this document focuses (in Part I) on the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of future changes and their relationship to the Arizona Universities; and, (in Part II) provides background materials for…