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Spurred by court rulings requiring states to increase public-school funding, the United States now spends more per student on K-12 education than almost any other country. Yet American students still achieve less than their foreign counterparts, their performance has been flat for decades, millions of them are failing, and poor and minority students remain far behind their more advantaged peers. In this book, Eric Hanushek and Alfred Lindseth trace the history of reform efforts and conclude that the principal focus of both courts and legislatures on ever-increasing funding has done little to improve student achievement. Instead, Hanushek and Lindseth propose a new approach: a performance-based system that directly links funding to success in raising student achievement. This system would empower and motivate educators to make better, more cost-effective decisions about how to run their schools, ultimately leading to improved student performance. Hanushek and Lindseth have been important participants in the school funding debate for three decades. Here, they draw on their experience, as well as the best available research and data, to show why improving schools will require overhauling the way financing, incentives, and accountability work in public education.

The United States Supreme Court's 1954 landmark decision,Brown v. Board of Education, set into motion a process of desegregation that would eventually transform American public schools. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of howBrown's most visible effect--contact between students of different racial groups--has changed over the fifty years since the decision. Using both published and unpublished data on school enrollments from across the country, Charles Clotfelter uses measures of interracial contact, racial isolation, and segregation to chronicle the changes. He goes beyond previous studies by drawing on heretofore unanalyzed enrollment data covering the first decade afterBrown, calculating segregation for metropolitan areas rather than just school districts, accounting for private schools, presenting recent information on segregation within schools, and measuring segregation in college enrollment. Two main conclusions emerge. First, interracial contact in American schools and colleges increased markedly over the period, with the most dramatic changes occurring in the previously segregated South. Second, despite this change, four main factors prevented even larger increases: white reluctance to accept racially mixed schools, the multiplicity of options for avoiding such schools, the willingness of local officials to accommodate the wishes of reluctant whites, and the eventual loss of will on the part of those who had been the strongest protagonists in the push for desegregation. Thus decreases in segregation within districts were partially offset by growing disparities between districts and by selected increases in private school enrollment.

What is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? There are no easy answers but, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett show, for more than 100,000 students each year, the solution is to enroll in an academically selective public high school.Exam Schoolsis the first-ever close-up look at this small, sometimes controversial, yet crucial segment of American public education. This groundbreaking book discusses how these schools work--and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students. The 165 schools identified by Finn and Hockett are located in thirty states, plus the District of Columbia. While some are world renowned, such as Boston Latin and Bronx Science, others are known only in their own communities. The authors survey the schools on issues ranging from admissions and student diversity to teacher selection. They probe sources of political support, curriculum, instructional styles, educational effectiveness, and institutional autonomy. Some of their findings are surprising: Los Angeles, for example, has no \"exam schools\" while New York City has dozens. Asian-American students are overrepresented--but so are African-American pupils. Culminating with in-depth profiles of eleven exam schools and thoughtful reflection on policy implications, Finn and Hockett ultimately consider whether the country would be better off with more such schools. At a time of keen attention to the faltering education system,Exam Schoolssheds positive light on a group of schools that could well provide a transformative roadmap for many of America's children.

Can charter schools save public education? This radical question has unleashed a flood of opinions from Americans struggling with the contentious challenges of education reform. There has been plenty of heat over charter schools and their implications, but, until now, not much light. This important new book supplies plenty of illumination. Charter schools--independently operated public schools of choice--have existed in the United States only since 1992, yet there are already over 1,500 of them. How are they doing? Here prominent education analysts Chester Finn, Bruno Manno, and Gregg Vanourek offer the richest data available on the successes and failures of this exciting but controversial approach to education reform. After studying one hundred schools, interviewing hundreds of participants, surveying thousands more, and analyzing the most current data, they have compiled today's most authoritative, comprehensive explanation and appraisal of the charter phenomenon. Fact-filled, clear-eyed, and hard-hitting, this is the book for anyone concerned about public education and interested in the role of charter schools in its renewal. Can charter schools boost student achievement, drive educational innovation, and develop a new model of accountability for public schools? Where did the idea of charter schools come from? What would the future hold if this phenomenon spreads? These are some of the questions that this book answers. It addresses pupil performance, enrollment patterns, school start-up problems, charges of inequity, and smoldering political battles. It features close-up looks at five real--and very different--charter schools and two school districts that have been deeply affected by the charter movement, including their setbacks and triumphs. After outlining a new model of education accountability and describing how charter schools often lead to community renewal, the authors take the reader on an imaginary tour of a charter-based school system. Charter schools are the most vibrant force in education today. This book suggests that their legacy will consist not only of helping millions of families obtain a better education for their children but also in renewing American public education itself.

This article provides an in-depth look at how K-12 students should be introduced to Machine Learning and the knowledge and skills they will develop as a result. We begin with an overview of the AI4K12 Initiative, which is developing national guidelines for teaching AI in K-12, and briefly discuss each of the “Five Big Ideas in AI” that serve as the organizing framework for the guidelines. We then discuss the general format and structure of the guidelines and grade band progression charts and provide a theoretical framework that highlights the developmental appropriateness of the knowledge and skills we want to impart to students and the learning experiences we expect them to engage in. Development of the guidelines is informed by best practices from Learning Sciences and CS Education research, and by the need for alignment with CSTA’s K-12 Computer Science Standards, Common Core standards, and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The remainder of the article provides an in-depth exploration of the AI4K12 Big Idea 3 (Learning) grade band progression chart to unpack the concepts we expect students to master at each grade band. We present examples to illustrate the progressions from two perspectives: horizontal (across grade bands) and vertical (across concepts for a given grade band). Finally, we discuss how these guidelines can be used to create learning experiences that make connections across the Five Big Ideas, and free online tools that facilitate these experiences.

This \"water cooler\" column features e-mail conversations between Erin Koning and three teachers--Beth, Jenna, and Patrice--and is a reflection of their participation in a Chicago Public School (CPS), professional development series designed to support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in grades K-12. At the beginning of the 2011 school year, CPS launched the Early Adopter Professional Development Workshop, and 64 schools across the district were selected to begin the implementation of the CCSS for all grades at each school. Schools were selected through a survey process using criteria designated by the Department of Literacy (DOL), Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The purpose of the Early Adopter Program was for CPS teachers to build instructional plans that were aligned to the CCSS in literacy so that all CPS teachers had a resource from which to draw as they began their own work planning CCSS aligned to the curriculum.

With adoption of the Common Core (CCSS) in a majority of U.S. states came development of new high-stakes exams. Though researchers have investigated CCSS and related policies, less attention has been directed toward understanding how standards are translated into testing. Due to the influence that high-stakes tests exert on classroom teaching, research is needed to investigate what kinds of changes in test content are associated with CCSS, as well as the potential impact of these changes on students and teachers. Accordingly, this case study examines changes made to one high-stakes exam by comparing pre- and post-CCSS literacy tests administered to high school students in New York. The study responds to the following: (1) How did the adoption of CCSS alter the design of high school literacy exams in New York? (2) To what extent do exams represent measures of college readiness as opposed to early college equivalence? (3) What are the implications of CCSS exam adaptations for the goal of preparing students to be college and career ready? Findings suggest that the rush to implement more rigorous CCSS exams resulted in an exceedingly long and difficult exam that is more representative of early college equivalence rather than of college readiness.

A survey administered in the spring of 2013 by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) inquired into the implementation of Common Core State Standards at that time. Based on self-reports by state officials, the survey found that curricula aligned to the common core were already being taught in at least some districts or grade levels. All states surveyed had developed and disseminated plans for implementation and nearly all had conducted analyses comparing the common core standards to previous state standards. While state-level efforts are under way, national organizations and firms are also engaged in developing materials and preparing educators to revamp instruction and supervision around the common core standards. The fact that the standards have been adopted by so many states makes possible cross state partnerships that could not have taken place when each state developed its own standards. Publishers are also moving to develop new materials based on the standards. One of the largest such efforts is being undertaken by Pearson, a major publisher based in London. With input from members of teams that wrote the standards, Pearson is creating a series of K-12 curriculum materials that will be delivered completely online, through tablets like the iPad. They will include projects for students to complete, texts and digital materials to support students in conducting their projects, and assessments to check student understanding. The true test of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, and of public support for it, will come over the next few years, as states carry through with their implementation plans. Despite the challenges, states and districts are attempting to make it happen in tens of thousands of schools across the country.

The purpose of this study was to show how school-based agricultural education (SBAE) complements the philosophies and practices of Education Nation and the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Education Nation touts the importance of common core standards, industry ties, college and career preparation and community involvement. Using qualitative content analysis, four researchers reviewed journal articles, meeting proceedings, magazines, texts, agricultural education documents and Education Nation media outlets to conclude that agricultural education espouses the principles put forth by Education Nation. Reviewed literature was classified into four categories representing important parts of the SBAE program: influential philosophers, teaching methods/approaches, FFA and supervised agricultural experience (SAE) programs. After reviewing journal articles, meeting proceedings, magazines, texts, agricultural education documents and Education Nation media outlets, researchers found that agricultural education’s use of individualized instruction, innovative teaching methods, community involvement and career and collegiate preparation embodied the beliefs of Education Nation. Agricultural education’s use of the three-circle model of classroom instruction, FFA and SAE provides an example for the implementation of Education Nation’s principles in real—world classroom settings.

The authors consider two reform initiatives -- the implementation of Common Core Curriculum Standards and policies holding educators accountable for student performance -- and highlight research indicating that new initiatives often suppress the performance in the short term as practitioners learn new procedures. Accordingly, they argue that simultaneous implementation of these reforms creates difficult and unfair circumstances for educators and that educational reform would be more equitable and effective if implemented more deliberately.