IMPROVING PUBLIC EDUCATION THROUGH RESEARCH

2010 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. It is a collaboration of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University and the Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder and is funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and practice.

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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.

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Reports & Reviews for 2010

Report Reviewed: The Impact of a Universal Class-Size Reduction Policy: Evidence from Florida's Statewide Mandate
Publisher/Think Tank: Program for Education Policy and Governance at the Kennedy School, Harvard University

This report analyzes statewide achievement data for school districts in Florida and purports to find that Florida's constitutional amendment limiting class size, "had little, if any, effect on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes."

 
Think Twice Review Date: July 14, 2010
Reviewer: Jeremy D. Finn, The University of Buffalo- SUNY
Finn finds that the study doesn't actually address the effect of class size reduction on student achievement and has four major flaws which, when taken together, invalidate it as an evaluation of class-size reduction.
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Report Reviewed: Charter School Autonomy: A Half-Broken Promise
Publisher/Think Tank: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, with Public Impact

This report argues that autonomy is a prerequisite for there to be innovative, effective charter schools.

 
Think Twice Review Date: May 26, 2010
Reviewer: Charisse Gulosino, University of Massachusetts-Boston
In her review, Gulosino finds that the report assumes the positive impact of autonomy, but provides no empirical evidence to support this. She indicates that the report is of very little value to anyone concerned with charter schools including policy makers, school leaders, parents and charter supporters.
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Report Reviewed: Has Progress Been made in Raising Achievement for English language Learners
Publisher/Think Tank: Center for Education Policy

This report urges finds that states have generally made progress in raising the achievement of English Language Learners (ELLs) under No Child Left Behind.

 
Think Twice Review Date: May 19, 2010
Reviewer: Jeff MacSwan, Arizona State University
MacSwan finds that the CEP report has significant weaknesses in its research methods which undermine its findings. Further, he indicates that given the limitations in the data, it is inappropriate to draw conclusions from the data summarized in the report.

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Report Reviewed: Teacher Layoffs: Rethinking "Last-Hired, First-Fired" Policies
Publisher/Think Tank: National Council on Teacher Quality

This report urges making teacher layoff decisions on the basis of teacher quality and performance as opposed to the seniority system used by most school districts.

 
Think Twice Review Date: May 12, 2010
Reviewer: Richard Ingersoll and Lisa Merrill, University of Pennsylvania
The reviewers credit the report for being straightforward and reasonable, but point out that the reforms it proposes are neither new nor unique and are very challenging to implement.
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Report Reviewed: They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools
Publisher/Think Tank: Cato Institute

This report contends that the figures most commonly associated with spending on K-12 public education do not include all relevant expenditures, and that the real costs are much higher than reported.

 
Think Twice Review Date: May 5, 2010
Reviewer: Vaughn Altemus, University of Vermont
Altemus concludes that the report's claim that public education is overpriced is much overstated because it counts capital expenditures twice. Altemus indicates when this error is eliminated, the report's main argument collapses rendering it virtually useless for policymaking.
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Report Reviewed: Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Case for National Standards
Publisher/Think Tank: Cato Institute

This report argues that national curriculum standards will have a very limited effect on education reform and concludes that universal school choice (free market model) is the best way to reform education.

 
Think Twice Review Date: April 21, 2010
Reviewer: William J. Mathis, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mathis applauds the report's useful summary and critique of the research on national standards, but says its conclusion that the free market is the best way to reform education is simply unsupported. Mathis writes that, as logic, this conclusion, "is the equivalent of saying that since elephants can't fly, frogs will."
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Report Reviewed: Fix the City Schools: Moving All Schools to Charter-Like Autonomy
Publisher/Think Tank: Reason Foundation

This report argues for the decentralization of urban school districts and cites increased student achievement in post-Katrina New Orleans as support for city schools moving toward a "portfolio" of schools model.

 
Think Twice Review Date: April 15, 2010
Reviewer: Katrina E. Bulkley, Montclair State University
In her review, Bulkley points out that the heavy reliance on New Orleans is a significant weakness of the report as there are numerous reasons unrelated to the portfolio approach that can explain some or all of the student gains. Additionally, Bulkley criticizes the report for its reliance on selected, biased examples as opposed to systematic research.
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Report Reviewed: Stuck Schools
Publisher/Think Tank: Education Trust

This report aims at providing a framework for identifying schools that are simultaneously low-performing and low-improving and in most need of school turnaround strategies.

 
Think Twice Review Date: April 7, 2010
Reviewer: Jaekyung Lee, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Lee's review of this report finds it relies on misleading data and unreliable methodology. Lee indicates that, "the report's methods are so simplistic, arbitrary and poorly fitting to the report's own assumptions that it is more harmful to sound policymaking than helpful."
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Report Reviewed: Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School Students in Milwaukee, 2003-2008
Publisher/Think Tank: School Choice Wisconsin

This report argues that Milwaukee students who use vouchers to attend private schools graduate in larger numbers than do students who attend traditional Milwaukee public schools.

 
Think Twice Review Date: March 31, 2010
Reviewer: Casey D. Cobb, University of Connecticut
Cobb's review of this report praises it for its technically sound analysis and results that are descriptively useful. However, Cobb cautions that any real claims about whether the voucher program is actually causing higher graduation rates must depend upon a much stronger research design.
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Report Reviewed: America's Private Public Schools
Publisher/Think Tank: Thomas B. Fordham Institute

This report identifies public schools across the U.S. that enroll very few students from low-income families (private public schools) and argues that the existence of these "exclusive" schools justifies the support of publicly funded vouchers to private schools.

 
Think Twice Review Date: March 24, 2010
Reviewer: John T. Yun, University of California, Santa Barbara
Yun's review concludes that the report's policy arguments are based on tenuous logic, oversimplification and "critical omissions of fact, context and prior research."
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Report Reviewed: The Shaping of the American Mind: The Diverging Influences of the College Degree and Civic Learning on American Beliefs
Publisher/Think Tank: Intercollegiate Studies Institute

This report argues that colleges are failing to provide and adequate education in civic knowledge and is also influencing graduates to become less supportive of American values.

 
Think Twice Review Date: March 17, 2010
Reviewer: Gregory J. Marchant, Ball State University
Marchant's review of the report finds that it ignores contradictory findings, omits key information, wrongly argues causation and confuses civic knowledge with conservative political values. Marchant warns that the report "may, in fact, be destructive of the very ideals of education the authors ascribe to the Founding Fathers – particularly informed democratic participation."
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Report Reviewed: Connecticut's Charter School Law and Race to the Top
Publisher/Think Tank: Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCan)

This report argues for lifting the charter school cap and increasing funding for charter schools in Connecticut.

 
Think Twice Review Date: March 10, 2010
Reviewer: Robert Bifulco, Syracuse University
Bifulco's review of this report finds that it ignores relevant research and offers no evidence to support its claim that expanding charters would increase low-income student achievement.
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Report Reviewed: Expanding Choice in Elementary and Secondary Education: A Report on Rethinking the Federal Role in Education
Publisher/Think Tank: Brookings Institution

This report calls for a federally led, universal expansion of school choice programs and makes the argument that increased choice is what the majority of parents want in federal education reform.

 
Think Twice Review Date: March 3, 2010
Reviewer: Janelle Scott, University of California at Berkeley
Scott's review of this report finds that it lacks the evidence to support the call for an expansion of school choice. Scott identifies three major shortcomings in the report: it relies too heavily on research in progress and research produced by advocacy organizations; it neglects prior research concerning the nature of parental choice; and it fails to acknowledge that unconstrained school choice has segregative effects.
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Report Reviewed: How School Choice Can Create Jobs for South Carolina
Publisher/Think Tank: South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation
This report argues that school choice, in the form of vouchers to attend private schools, would create significant job opportunities in five poor, rural counties in South Carolina.
 
Think Twice Review Date: January 14, 2010
Reviewer: Joydeep Roy, Georgetown University
Roy's review of the South Carolina report finds that it is built on seriously flawed assumptions and offers little insight into the effects of school vouchers. Roy writes that the report relies more on rhetoric and less on authentic research and concludes that it is significantly biased and of little value to policymakers.
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