Policy Briefs on Education Issues

The Center funds policy briefs on important education issues. Policy briefs are written by recognized academic experts in each topic and include a summary of existing research available as well as policy recommendations. Briefs published in 2010 include:

The "Common Core" Standards Initiative: An Effective Reform Tool?
William J. Mathis, Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder

This policy brief explores the "common core" standards initiative embraced by the Obama administration as a means for increasing student achievement and ensuring global economic competitiveness. Author William Mathis raises questions about the development of common core standards and provides an overview of the relevant research on this topic. Mathis also includes a series of recommendations for moving forward with the common core standards initiative.

Executive Summary
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Equal or Fair? A Study of Revenues and Expenditures in American Charter Schools
Gary Miron and Jessica L. Urschel Western Michigan University

This report is the most comprehensive to date on the question of whether charter schools are inadequately funded compared with traditional public schools. Miron and Urschel find that though charter schools typically do get less funding than traditional public schools, this is primarily because traditional schools have additional obligations including special education, student support services, food and transportation services which charter schools do not provide (or spend less on).

Executive Summary
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Teach For America: A Review of the Evidence
Julian Vasquez Heilig, University of Texas at Austin
Su Jin Jez, Ph.D., California State University, Sacramento

This policy brief offers a comprehensive review of research on the Teach For America program and its impact on student achievement. The authors argue that the research is decidedly mixed at best. The brief includes recommendations for policymakers and school districts regarding TFA.

Executive Summary
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Urban School Decentralization and the Growth of "Portfolio Districts"
Kenneth J. Saltman, DePaul University

This policy brief focuses on the portfolio approach to school reform being used in an increasing number of large urban districts including New York, Chicago, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. This approach has been promoted by education reform theorists and some in the Obama administration as a vital and necessary solution to the problems, especially, of urban districts despite the fact that it has unclear advantages, no proof of past success and known high costs.

Executive Summary
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Schools Without Diversity: Education Management Organizations, Charter Schools, and the Demographic Stratification of the American School System
Gary Miron, Jessica L. Urschel, William J. Mathis,* and Elana Tornquist
Dept. of Educational Leadership, Research & Technology
College of Education
Western Michigan University

*University of Colorado at Boulder

This report, which is a comprehensive examination of enrollment patterns in charter schools operated by Education Management organizations (EMOs), finds that charter schools run by EMOs are segregated by race, family income, disabilities and English language learner status as compared with their local public schools districts.

Executive Summary
Policy Brief