Who's Who in Education Policy: A Primer by Christopher Swanson

Thank you, Christopher Swanson, for identifying the movers and shakers in US education policy in Influence: A Study of the Factors Shaping Education Policy. Swanson asked leading education policy experts to identify and rate highly influential agents or “Influentials” across four different categories – Studies, Organizations, People, and Information Sources. Topping the list of studies was the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), while the US Congress, US Department of Education, and the Gates Foundation were top contenders in the Organizations category. Top-ranked person? Bill Gates, of course, who kept company in the People category with Mike Smith of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Chester Finn, Jr., of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, and Kati Haycock of the highly influential Education Trust. NAEP took the top spot in the most influential information source, followed by Education Week. Other information sources viewed as influential include the New York Times, the Washington Post, Public Education Network’s PEN Weekly NewsBlast, the Fordham Foundation’s Education Gadfly, and Eduwonk.

Still Children Left Behind?

The BIG news this week was the release of data from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Also known as "The Nation's Report Card," NAEP is the only national standardized continuing assessment. It assesses the performance of students aged 7, 12, 14, and 17 in reading, math, science, writing, US history, civics, geography, and the arts.

Given the tremendous investment in NCLB over the past six years, a positive change in student performance, including a narrowing of the achievement gap between students of different ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, would have been expected. But, no. Instead, as the Education Trust pointed out in a quick and dirty analysis published on the day the Department of Education released the report, reading achievement in our nation's high schools has actually declined since 1998 and there is a similar trend in science achievement. And the large achievement gap between students of color and white and Asian students still exists in similar proportions as it did in the pre-NCLB era. Ironically, these findings were released simultaneously with the Department's 2005 High School Transcript Study, which reported, among other things, that more students are enrolling in higher-level courses and the average GPA is on the rise (appoximately a third of a letter grade higher than in 1990).

So, what gives? The Education Trust staff point a finger at disparities in teacher quality, pointing out that high-minority, high-poverty schools have lower teacher quality than their peers. Their point is well-taken, given the research to date that supports the strong relationship between teacher quality and student achievement. There is a growing momentum to address this issue of teacher quality. Look at, for instance, the recent report of the Commission on No Child Left Behind that called for improving the effectiveness of teachers. And the President's FY08 budget included a huge increase in funding for the Teacher Incentive Fund program, which encourages school districts and States to develop "innovative performance-based compensation systems that reward teachers and principals for raising student achievement." Improving teacher quality will be a significant issue in this and coming years.

Recommended: This Week in Education Blog

One of my favorite ed policy blogs is by Alexander Russo, a former Senate education staffer and journalist now part of Education Week's strong stable of writers. He covers the major education news and trends with a political edge and slightly offbeat sense of humor. Check it out sometime at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/thisweekineducation/.

Recommendations on High Schools from the Commission on NCLB

The long-awaited report of the Commission on No Child Left Behind was issued yesterday, and it was filled with recommendations on how to improve the controversial law. High schools, previously sheltered from the penetrating reach of NCLB, could, if the commission's recommendations were adopted, face increased accountability. Among the commission's recommendations: to require districts with large concentrations of struggling high schools to develop and implement comprehensive, districtwide high school improvement plans; and to require states to create and implement a 12th grade assessment.

Certainly the nation's high schools need an overhaul. The graduation rates are abysmal, and students are entering the job market and higher education too often ill-prepared. If properly supported by ample technical assistance and, yes, funding, required comprehensive high school improvement plans could be a significant aid in reforming high schools. But another state-developed assessment? Please, no.

Let me add that NCLB has brought about some positive change. Beyond asserting a level of federal control not hitherto seen, its insistence on measuring the progress of each school, each district, and each state, and ensuring that low-income students, students with disabilities, LEP students, and students from other minority groups are also making adequate progress, is very positive and long overdue. But its tendency to rely on "scientifically based research" and quantitative data to the exclusion of other valid forms of inquiry and its allegiance to the core subjects (really just Math and Language Arts) has turned education into a cold, lifeless shell. Achievement can be measured in other ways, and learning can happen, indeed thrive, beyond math and reading.

Science Education is Where in the President's Budget?

The squabbling in the nation's capitol continues over the President's proposed budget for FY08. Wednesday’s session before the House Committee on Science and Technology was filled with bickering, although the overall funding for the National Science Foundation was slightly increased. At issue was the apparent reduction in funding for science education and particularly in the area of teacher training. Considering the strong association between teacher quality and student achievement, this does at first glance seem to be a wrong move.

Technorati Profile