Education Reform
Learn more about efforts to improve schools, especially through policy changes
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Teacher Power Can Be the Force for Education. What Would That Look Like?
Teachers working in new and different ways with each other and their students could be the solution to learning that has evaded us.
States
The Steps Some States Are Taking to Redefine Student Success
"We can’t go back to the way it’s always been done," says the head of the group that represents state education chiefs.
Standards
Explainer
What’s the Purpose of Standards in Education? An Explainer
What are standards? Why are they important? What's the Common Core? Do standards improve student achievement? Our explainer has the answers.
Policy & Politics
Opinion
The Education Community's Views on School Improvement Have Fundamentally Changed
Since the publication of a seminal report on education, reform measures are more controversial and disruptive.
School & District Management
Opinion
5 Habits of a School 'Rethinker'
As education leaders make post-pandemic reforms, they would do well to pause and reflect before enacting haphazard changes.
School & District Management
Opinion
Why Do Schools Cling to 'Stupid' Ideas?
Educators and policymakers often go along with ineffectual policies, not knowing what else to do.
School & District Management
A Fading School Reform? Mayoral Control Is Ending in Another City
Chicago will phase out mayoral control of its schools by 2027, becoming the latest city to drop the model.
International
Opinion
School Reform Is Tough All Over, Not Just in the U.S.
Even though some reforms produce evidence of student success, that often isn't enough to overcome political hurdles.
School & District Management
Opinion
Schools Are Trying to Do Too Much
The practice of "unbundling" offers education leaders a way to rethink what they do and how they do it.
School & District Management
Opinion
Education Reform Hasn’t Failed ... Yet. 3 Overlooked Instructional Strategies
Three proven components of effective teaching could make all the difference between poor to middling and high-student achievement.
School & District Management
Opinion
Teachers and Parents Are Skeptical of 'New Reforms.' Leaders Can Break the Cycle
When we are enamored with promising ideas, it can be tough to understand why other education stakeholders don't see it the way we do.
School & District Management
Opinion
Memo to Ed. Leaders on School Improvement: The Right Questions to Ask Now
Rethinking prepandemic practices—staffing, technology, school choice, and more—is well worth your time, writes Rick Hess.
Policy & Politics
Opinion
Teachers' Unions Are the Rorschach Test for School Reform
Critics see special interest groups opposing common-sense reforms, but advocates see champions of workplace democracy and the common good.
Policy & Politics
Opinion
Teacher-Evaluation Policies Have Flopped. Where Did They Go Wrong?
Responsible education advocates know that the measure of an idea is not how promising it seems in theory but how well it works in practice.