2012 Think Twice Reviews
Think Twice is one of the nation's first efforts to serve as a watchdog to review think tank research on public education issues and policies, ensuring that published work meets the quality and standards of university scholarship. As think tank research becomes increasingly important reference sources in public policy debates, media and other critics have called for increased scrutiny to ensure validity and objectivity (click here to see related stories).
The goal of the Think Twice project is to provide the public, policy makers and the press with timely academically sound reviews of selected think tank publications.
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Think Tank Research Quality: Think Tank Research Quality, edited by Kevin Welner of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Patricia H. Hinchey of Pennsylvania State University, Alex Molnar of Arizona State University, and independent researcher Don Weitzman, offers clearly written, jargon-free expert reviews of studies on topics such as vouchers, charter schools, and alternative teacher certification. Friends of The Great Lakes Center receive 20% off phone, fax or mail-in orders...not valid online. |
Recently Released
April 19, 2012
Nation's largest urban school voucher program doesn't
produce
better results than public schools, reviews find
The University of Arkansas' School Choice Demonstration Project released the final reports from a 5-year longitudinal study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. There were more than 30 reports produced. Three reviews were completed on reports No. 29, 30, and 32. The reviews found that the reports simply fail to demonstrate that voucher schools are associated with improved outcomes.
Reports & Reviews for 2012
| Report Reviewed: | Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Final Reports No. 29, 30 & 32 |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP), University of Arkansas |
| The three reports are among more than 30 produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project, which has conducted a five-year longitudinal growth study of the Milwaukee voucher program. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | April 19, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Casey Cobb, University of Connecticut |
| Three recent reports on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas use largely sound methods, but the data they assemble provide little in the way of an endorsement for the 22-year-old school voucher program. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Teachers in the Digital Age of Digital Instruction: Creating sound policy for digital learning |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Thomas B. Fordham Institute |
| This report claims that effective teachers are central to the demands of online instruction and will be even more necessary in the digital age than in the current system. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | April 3, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Luis A. Huerta, Teachers College, Columbia University |
| The review found that the report's use of research was problematic and the report's claims of effectiveness on online instruction are inconsistent with the findings of the research cited. The review found that the report omitted important contrasting research and that the report lacks the empirical base necessary to serve as a preliminary foundation to guide policy and practice. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Our Immense Achievement Gap: Embracing Proven Remedies While Avoiding a Race-Based Recipe for Disaster |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Center for the American Experiment |
| This report claims that desegregation has failed and criticizes efforts to reduce concentrated poverty and achieve racial and socioeconomic integration in schools and housing in Minnesota. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | March 29, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Susan Eaton, Harvard University |
| Eaton's review finds that the report relies heavily on selected research literature to make its arguments but ignores dozens of the most important peer-reviewed research studies that suggest strong relationships between racial, ethnic, economic diversity/desegregation and academic gain | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Thomas B. Fordham Foundation |
| This report provides steps to move the governance of K-12 online learning from the local level to the less restrictive state level and to create a free market for corporate innovation in K-12 online learning. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | March 22, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Michael K. Barbour, Wayne State University |
| Barbour's review finds that it provides no evidence to support its recommendations and concludes that the report is an advocacy document designed to advance an ideological agenda. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | The Louisiana Recovery School District: Lessons for the Buckeye State |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Thomas B. Fordham Institute |
| This report claims that the charter school-driven Recovery School District in New Orleans can be replicated in other urban centers. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | March 20, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Kristen Buras, Georgia State University |
| Buras's review of this report finds that it ignores the fact that charters have not produced significant gains in student achievement and have been criticized by large segments of the African American community due to concerns over access, equity, performance and accountability. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Gathering Feedback for Teaching: Combining High Quality Observation with Student Surveys and Achievement Gains |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |
| This report is the second to come out on the e Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project and focuses on an evaluation method in which videotaped lessons, evaluated by trained raters, are used to assess teachers. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | March 13, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Cassandra Guarino, University of Indianana Brian Stacy, Michigan State University |
| Guarino and Stacy's review of this report concludes that it adds to the research base, but that it omits some relevant information and that key details regarding the study design and methodological approach are lacking. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | The Costs of Online Learning |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Thomas B. Fordham Foundation |
| This report analyzes the cost drivers of virtual and blended-learning schools compared to traditional brick-and-mortar schools and determines that it's far cheaper for students to be education online. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | March 6, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Jennifer King Rice, University of Maryland |
| Rice’s review of this report finds that it doesn’t use empirical evidence to determine if it’s cheaper for students to be educated online. Rice indicates that the approaches used in the report are too general and not evidence based. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | On Her Majesty's School Inspection Service |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Education Sector |
| This report urges American educators to look to an English system of school inspections as a means of assessing schools and as a tool for better understanding and improving student achievement. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | February 28, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Steven Jay Gross, Temple University |
| Gross' review of this report finds that it lacks any research base and has little to offer in terms of informing education reform in the U.S. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | The Long-Term Impact of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | National Bureau of Economic Research |
This report concludes that teachers whose students show high gains on standardized test scores continue to have a positive impact on the students later in the form of reduced teenage pregnancy rates, increased college attendance and increased future earnings. |
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| Think Twice Review Date: | February 16, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Dale Ballou, Vanderbilt University |
| Ballou's review acknowledges that the report is impressive in many ways, but that important tests for bias were omitted and it failed to account for external factors which could impact test scores such as good parenting. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | What's Trust Got to Do With It? A Communications and Engagement Guide for School Leaders Tackling the Problem of Persistently Failing Schools |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Public Agenda |
| This report offers strategies for building public and parental support for federal school turnaround strategies. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | February 7, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | William J. Mathis, University of Colorado-Boulder |
| Mathis's review of this report finds that it endorses turnaround strategies without addressing the large body of research that raises questions about their effectiveness and is dismissive of the views of those who do not support such strategies. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute |
This report claims that public school teachers are paid 52 percent more than fair market rates and that teachers are less intelligent than other workers of comparable education and experience. |
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| Think Twice Review Date: | January 31, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Jeffrey H. Keefe, Rutgers University |
| Keefe’s review finds that the report is based on a faulty assessment that relies on “an aggregation of spurious claims” to make its case. Keefe concludes that the study isn’t merely useless, but that it could lead to ill-informed and harmful policy decisions that could further undercut public education. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Charter-School Management Organizations: Diverse Strategies and Diverse Student Impacts |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Mathematica Policy Research Inc. and Center on Reinventing Public Education |
| At the heart of this study of charter management organizations (CMOs), is an impact analysis which found that a small number of CMOs boosted middle-school student achievement. | |
| Think Twice Review Date: | January 19, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Bruce Fuller, University of California-Berkley |
| Fuller's review of this study finds that though it offers insights into features of successful CMOs, it overreaches when interpreting key findings from the very small, selective subset of CMOs used. | |
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| Report Reviewed: | Gateways to the Principalship: State Power to Improve the Quality of School Leaders |
| Publisher/Think Tank: | Center for American Progress |
This report from the Center on American Progress, proposes a range of state policies for improving principal effectiveness and student achievement. |
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| Think Twice Review Date: | January 10, 2012 |
| Reviewer: | Margaret Terry Orr, Bank Street College of Education |
| Orr's review of the report finds that it ignores existing research on the subject, lacks evidence for the approaches it advocates and sidesteps both state and professional policies that directly address the sorts of problems it purports to remedy. | |
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Previous Reports & Reviews:
Think Twice Reviews Released In 2011
Think Twice Reviews Released In 2010
Think Twice Reviews Released In 2009
Think Twice Reviews Released In 2008
Think Twice Reviews Released In 2007
Think Twice Reviews Released In 2006
Previous Weekly Reports:
Current Weekly Report
2010 Think Twice Weekly Reports
2009 Think Twice Weekly Reports
2008 Think Twice Weekly Reports
2007 Think Twice Weekly Reports
2006 Think Twice Weekly Reports
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Two New Think Tank Reviews Published … Elsewhere
Examining the Funding and Activities of Free Market Education Think Tanks
US Think-Tanks: Casualties In The War of Ideas
Far-Right "Think Tanks" (Propaganda Mills) – Who Are Those Guys?
Let The Buyer Beware [ Executive Summary | Full Report ]
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