Published Articles & Media
On Bears and US Secretaries of Education
We should get accustomed to the idea of intense debates over future secretaries for as long as the US Department of Education wields such significant authority.
The $7 Billion School Improvement Grant Program: Greatest Failure in the History of the U.S. Department of Education?
The final IES report on the School Improvement Grant program is devastating to Arne Duncan’s and the Obama administration’s education legacy.
Civil Society and Job Training
Instead of trying to use public policy to develop training programs for the workforce of the future, let's instead rest our hopes on a vast array of small-scale, nimble, local solutions crafted by civil-society actors.
100 Must-Read Articles on the Shape of 2016
Here are 100 of my favorite articles of 2016.Together I think they paint an arresting picture of an extraordinary year.
A Flexible Way Forward for a Wobbly Standards-and-Testing Apparatus
What if we create a common pool of test items that states would use on a voluntary basis?
Uncle Sam and America’s Schools in the Trump Administration
The most important question for any incoming Republican president is, “Are you hoping to advance particular programs or a steady, coherent conservative philosophy?”
School Accountability and the Infinite Information Problem
We should recognize the government's limited ability to collect, analyze, and make use of the extraordinary amount of information relevant to school quality and family preferences.
Graduation Rates: What Does a Diploma Tell Us?
As policymakers reconsider the "college for all" mindset, they face tough questions about what a high school diploma should mean and how best to ensure that every young adult has the chance to build a professional future that’s honored, fruitful, and rewarding.
How Chartering Makes Possible An Entirely New Approach to Accountability
The leadership of an urban district should ask state policy makers for permission to apply charter-type accountability to all schools in the district.
The Accountability Legacy of a Hundred-Year-Old Decision
Our current understanding of “state accountability systems” is a reflection of a decision made one hundred years ago to have a single government provider of schools.
