This paper examines the development and administration of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Schools--a new testing instrument of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development--to demonstrate the relevance of heterarchical processes to educational governance. Drawing suggestively across new "relational"…

This article is part of a Bridgespan Group research project that focuses on a new wave of district-led "innovation zones" that holds promise to overcome the challenges of turning around failing schools and deliver significant improvements in student outcomes. This new wave provides a subset of district schools with control over staffing,…

This report summarizes the Bridgespan's Group latest research project, "School District Innovation Zones: A New Wave of District-Led Efforts to Improve Economic Mobility." The report focuses on a new wave of district-led "innovation zones" that holds promise to overcome the challenges of turning around failing schools and…

In April 2021, New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) and the Philanthropication thru Privatization Project (PtP) released a joint proposal that the federal government should invest a substantial portion of the windfall proceeds from future auctions of public airwaves (spectrum) to seed a new Digital Equity Foundation dedicated to…

This multiple-site case study of 24 intermediary organizations (IOs) engaged in postsecondary public policy examined how they identify policy issues and move issues, problems, and solutions onto the higher education policy agenda. Specifically, this study used agenda-setting theory to examine how IOs construct higher education policy issues,…

This paper makes the case for a shift in the policy strategy to improve K-12 education. It argues for investment in an infrastructure to develop the knowledge base on effective teaching and learning, and to prepare new teachers according to that knowledge base. As in medicine, the infrastructure would be located within practice settings, and…

This article is part of a Bridgespan Group research project that focuses on a new wave of district-led "innovation zones" that holds promise to overcome the challenges of turning around failing schools and deliver significant improvements in student outcomes. This new wave provides a subset of district schools with control over staffing,…

This article examines the OECD's new PISA-based Test for Schools ("PISA for Schools") program. PISA for Schools is part of the expanding education work of the OECD, building upon main PISA to enable school-to-schooling system comparisons. We examine the development of PISA for Schools, the nature of the instrument, and some initial…

The building that houses Brooklyn Friends School's (New York) preschool, lower, and middle divisions stands on a quiet one-way street in an otherwise bustling downtown Brooklyn business district. After most students head home for the day, others come to the school to participate in the Horizons Program. The Horizons Program at Brooklyn Friends…

This paper demonstrates the value of embracing digital technology in order to effect positive change in a non-governmental (NGO) charity organisation, in this case the Irish Charity Crosscause. The outcome of the research was the creation of a charity video, Crosscause: Making a Difference, to showcase humanitarian work in Ireland and Romania with…

The Oliver community, only a couple of miles northeast of the city's business core, is just a sliver of East Baltimore that could be easily overlooked. Once a stable neighborhood filled with sturdy brick row houses, thriving churches and small businesses, Oliver declined--along with much of the city--over the course of several decades, beginning…

Public colleges and universities have long turned to institutionally related foundations ("IRFs") to raise private support and manage endowments and other financial assets. From the start, however, IRFs have also served as vehicles enabling public institutions to engage in real estate transactions and related entrepreneurial ventures…

Though several excellent literature reviews and research syntheses have been conducted, and thoughtful frameworks and models have been proposed, I believe it is time for the evaluation field to tackle the "hard stuff" of evaluation capacity building (ECB). This entails engaging staff in ECB activities, building the evaluation capacity of…

A decade ago, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), working with a national task force, developed an illustrative memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was widely promulgated and served as a model for agreements at many institutions and systems. This…

It is widely understood that school districts face significant barriers to designing and implementing sustained improvements in chronically underperforming schools. In particular, the size and complexity of urban districts pose daunting challenges to advance significant reform efforts, despite glaring need. A new wave of district-led…