Marc Tucker was president of the National Center on Education and the Economy. For two decades, his research focused on the policies and practices of the countries with the best education systems. This blog is no longer being updated.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Automation, Employment, and the Importance of Vocational Education
Returning from a trip abroad, Marc Tucker explains how Australia has successfully automated almost all of the jobs in its biggest industry and how Singapore has developed a basic education system and a vocational education and training system that will sustain its future economy and workforce.
Education
Opinion
Teacher Quality: Who's on Which Side and Why
Marc Tucker discusses the politics around raising entrance requirements at teacher colleges and improving teacher pay.
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
On Time
Good teaching is not just about conveying the material well, but about helping students make that connection to something they think they can be good at, something they really want to work hard at, something they want to put the time into.
Curriculum
Opinion
Choice and Markets: The Reprise
Marc Tucker argues that there is no evidence that charters, competition, and school choice will produce major improvements in student performance at the scale of a state, province or nation.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Immigration and Education
Ray Marshall, Secretary of Labor in the Carter has turned his attention to national immigration policy. Some might see this as switching fields, but not Ray. As far as he is concerned, if the aim is broadly shared national prosperity, education policy and immigration policy are two sides of the same coin.
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Choice and Markets: Theory and Practice
Marc Tucker argues that school choice and market incentives in education will only serve to make good schools better and bad schools worse.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Chicago Teachers' Strike: Part II
David Brooks is, in my view, one of the most thoughtful and well-informed columnists writing today. So I was delighted to see that he had written a piece on the Chicago teachers' strike. Delighted, that is, until I saw what had written.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
The Politics of the Chicago Teachers' Strike
Marc Tucker weighs-in on the politics of the Chicago teachers' strike.
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
8 Problems With the Common Core State Standards? I Don't Think So
Marc Tucker responds to educator Marion Brady's objections to the common core state standards.
Education Funding
Opinion
Instructional Technology: Villain of the Piece—Or Savior?
Marc Tucker discusses various digital learning tools and their potential to advance student performance.
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Higher Education All Over Again
Marc Tucker reacts to a recently released report, from the Senate HELP Committee, on the troubling realities of for-profit schools.
Classroom Technology
Opinion
The Rise of the MOOCs
Marc Tucker discusses how massive open online courses (MOOC) have the potential to change the higher education landscape.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Manufacturing Jobs: What Will It Really Take to Bring Them Back?
Marc Tucker explains why the low-skill, high-pay jobs that the United States has lost are not coming back and how major education reform is needed in order to educate workers for the manufacturing jobs that will be available.
Education Funding
Opinion
High School: A New Home for the Liberal Arts Curriculum?
Marc Tucker argues that the liberal arts curriculum, although less popular today than it used to be, still has a place in today's education system.