Bush–Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned

RESEARCH CONFERENCE January 16, 2018 What lessons might we draw from the past two

decades of school reform?

The 21st century has been a remarkable time in school reform. States and districts pursued aggressive testing and accountability policies. Choice- based reforms moved to the heart of the education discourse. The federal government heavily promoted policies around teacher quality, standards, and school turnarounds. The Institute of Education Sciences launched a new chapter in federally supported education research.

What lessons might we draw from the past two decades? What do the George W. Bush and Barack Obama years teach us about K–12 reform strategies and Washington’s efforts to support them?

2 Agenda

8:45 a.m. Registration

9:00 a.m. Opening Remarks: Frederick M. Hess, AEI

9:05 a.m. Panel I: What we have learned about accountability Moderator: Michael Q. McShane, EdChoice Panelists: Deven Carlson, University of Oklahoma Ashley Jochim, Center on Reinventing Public Education Tom Loveless, Brookings Institution Stefanie Sanford, College Board

10:05 a.m. Panel II: What we have learned about policy instruments Moderator: Michael Q. McShane, EdChoice Panelists: Anna Egalite, North Carolina State University Matthew Kraft, Brown University Patrick McGuinn, Drew University Emma Vadehra, Center for American Progress

11:05 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m. Panel III: What we have learned about Washington’s role Moderator: Michael Q. McShane, EdChoice Panelists: Sara Dahill-Brown, Wake Forest University Joshua Dunn, University of Colorado Colorado Springs Robert Pianta, University of Virginia Gerard Robinson, Center for Advancing Opportunity

12:15 p.m. Lunch

12:45 p.m. Panel IV: Lessons from Bush-Obama school reform Moderator: Frederick M. Hess, AEI Panelists: Nina Rees, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Roberto Rodriguez, Teach Plus Hanna Skandera, State of New Mexico Department of Education (former) Joanne Weiss, Weiss Associates

1:45 p.m. Introduction: Frederick M. Hess, AEI

1:50 p.m. Remarks: Betsy DeVos, US Department of Education

2:05 p.m. Discussion: Betsy DeVos, US Department of Education Frederick M. Hess, AEI

2:20 p.m. Q&A

2:30 p.m. Adjournment 2 1 About the Editors

Frederick M. Hess is a resident scholar and the director of Education Policy Studies at AEI, where he works on K–12 and higher education issues. He is also the author of the popular Education Week blog “Rick Hess Straight Up.” Since 2001, he has served as executive editor of Education Next. Before joining AEI, Dr. Hess was a high school social studies teacher. He teaches or has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University, Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, and Harvard University. As an educator, political scientist, and author, Dr. Hess is often published in scholarly outlets, such as American Politics Quarterly, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Teachers College Record, and Urban Affairs Review. His work has also appeared in popular outlets including The Atlantic, National Affairs, National Review, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and US News & World Report. His books include “Letters to a Young Education Reformer” (Harvard Education Press, 2017), “The Cage-Busting Teacher” (Harvard Education Press, 2015), “Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age” (Corwin, 2014), “Cage-Busting Leadership” (Harvard Education Press, 2013), “The Same Thing Over and Over” (Harvard University Press, 2010), “Education Unbound” (ASCD, 2010), “Common Sense School Reform” (St. Martin’s Press Griffin, 2004), “Revolution at the Margins” (Brookings Institution Press, 2002), and “Spinning Wheels” (Brookings Institution Press, 1998). He has also edited influential books on the Common Core, entrepreneurship in education, education philanthropy, the impact of education research, and the Every Student Succeeds Act. Dr. Hess is the senior founding fellow of the Public Education Foundation’s Leadership Institute of Nevada. He also sits on the review board for the Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools and serves on the boards of directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and 4.0 Schools. Dr. Hess has an M.A. and a Ph.D. in government, in addition to an M.Ed. in teaching and curriculum, from Harvard University. He also has a B.A. in political science from Brandeis University.

Michael Q. McShane is director of national research at EdChoice. His analyses and commentary have been published widely in the media, including in the Huffington Post, National Affairs, USA Today, and The Washington Post. He has also been featured in education-specific outlets such as Teachers College Commentary, Education Week, Phi Delta Kappan, and Education Next. In addition to author- ing numerous white papers, Dr. McShane has had academic work published in Education Finance and Policy and the Journal of School Choice. He is the editor of “New and Better Schools” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015), author of “Education and Opportunity” (AEI Press, 2014), and coeditor of “Teacher Quality 2.0” (Harvard Education Press, 2014) and “Common Core Meets Education Reform” (Teachers College Press, 2013). A former high school teacher, he earned a Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Arkansas and an M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. McShane is also an adjunct fellow in education policy studies at AEI and a research fellow in the Economic and Policy Analysis Research Center at the University of Missouri.

2 Panel I

What we have learned about accountability 9:05 a.m. | Michael Q. McShane, EdChoice

Panelists: Deven Carlson, University of Oklahoma Ashley Jochim, Center on Reinventing Public Education Tom Loveless, Brookings Institution Stefanie Sanford, College Board

PAPER ABSTRACTS

Testing and accountability: What have we learned and where do we go? Deven Carlson

President Bush’s 2001 signing of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) ushered in an era where — under the threat of withheld Title I dollars — states were required to adopt challenging standards, administer annual reading and math assessments aligned to those standards, and hold schools accountable on the basis of the assessment results. Regardless of one’s view of the ultimate wisdom of NCLB, there is broad consensus that we have learned a wide range of important lessons about standards, testing, and accountability policy throughout the Bush-Obama educational era. This chapter explores these lessons. It explores the lessons we have learned about the ability of standards, testing, and accountability to drive academic improvement. Just as importantly, though, it examines the lessons we have learned about the unintended consequences of these policies, such as the nature of states’ responses to federal mandates on these issues and schools’ reactions to accountability pressures. It also takes stock of what we know today about the politics of testing and accountability policy that we did not yet know in 2001. Finally, the chapter concludes by discussing whether it is reasonable to think we can ever get testing and accountability policy “right” and by predicting the direction these policies will take in future years.

The limits of policy for school turnaround Ashley Jochim

This paper considers why Bush’s and Obama’s signature school-improvement initiatives ended with so little to show for the effort. While both administrations pursued distinctive approaches to school improvement, they shared in common the optimistic assumption that federal policy could push and prod low-performing schools to improve and districts and states to offer their support. The challenges that emerged along the way suggest that while scalable school improvement strategies remain elu- sive, a more constructive federal role is possible. This includes recognizing the limits of policy as a tool for school improvement; maximizing opportunities for leaders at the school, district, and state level to support innovative school-improvement programs; offering targeted support to culture change initiatives; and diversifying the types of improvement strategies that federal policymakers are willing to support.

2 3 Why standards produce weak reform Tom Loveless

The education policies of both the Bush and Obama administrations were predicated on a belief in standards-based reform. Standards define what students will learn and when they will learn it. Stan- dards-based reform has enjoyed nearly two decades of bipartisan political support. An activist federal role in using standards to promote better schooling faces numerous obstacles. Have the Bush-Obama standards-based reforms improved US education? The current evidence indicates, at best, modest outcomes. This chapter argues that the Bush-Obama policies have exposed inherent weaknesses in standards-based reform. The flaws are in the basic theory of the approach and its view of the organiza- tional and political structure of schooling. The belief is that standards manifest themselves in student learning by positively influencing downstream phenomena — in particular, curriculum and instruction. The process is not as smooth as standards advocates hope.

Panel II

What we have learned about policy instruments 10:05 a.m. | Michael Q. McShane, EdChoice

Panelists: Anna Egalite, North Carolina State University Matthew Kraft, Brown University Patrick McGuinn, Drew University Emma Vadehra, Center for American Progress

PAPER ABSTRACTS

The growth of charter schooling during the Bush and Obama years Anna Egalite

This chapter offers a reflection and timely assessment of how federal efforts to expand charter schooling under the 43rd and 44th presidents have played out. How much of the rise of charter schooling reflects Uncle Sam’s pursuit of goals that were well suited to federal involvement? Conversely, in what ways have the contours of the current choice landscape been shaped by the limits of federal activity? By analyzing the ways in which a robust expansion of the federal role in school choice has been pro- ductive and the ways in which it offers a cautionary tale, this chapter distills valuable lessons from past experiences to inform contemporary policy debates.

Federal efforts to improve teacher quality Matthew Kraft

President Bush’s and Obama’s federal education reforms were remarkably similar in their goals and ambitions. Both Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Obama’s Race to the Top (RTT) and state waivers from NCLB leveraged federal funding and authority to address four broad areas: academic standards, data and accountability, teacher quality, and low-performing schools. This chapter focuses

4 specifically on how these efforts have influenced the teaching profession. During Bush and Obama’s combined 16 years in office, the federal government succeeded in fundamentally changing licensure requirements and evaluation systems for public school teachers. Revisiting the successes and failures of these reforms provides important insights to inform the federal government’s future role in improving the quality of the teacher workforce.

Incentives and inducements: The feds fight federalism Patrick McGuinn

The presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama witnessed unprecedented federal efforts to press states to adopt a number of education reforms around test-based accountability. During the 2000–16 period, the US Department of Education used a variety of carrots and sticks to reward and sanction states according to their fidelity to the federal school-reform paradigm. This chapter examines the scope and impact of these efforts and highlights key lessons about the potential — and potential limits — of federal efforts to use incentives and inducements to reshape state edu cation systems.

Panel III

What we have learned about Washington’s role 11:15 a.m. | Michael Q. McShane, EdChoice

Panelists: Sara Dahill-Brown, Wake Forest University Joshua Dunn, University of Colorado Colorado Springs Robert Pianta, University of Virginia Gerard Robinson, Center for Advancing Opportunity

PAPER ABSTRACTS

Building capacity in state education agencies under Bush and Obama: Big goals, uneven progress, and ongoing challenges Sara Dahill-Brown

During the presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the federal government demanded a great deal of states. To comply with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and compete under Race to the Top, state education agencies (SEAs) had little choice but to play a larger role in both implementing and innovating new policies and programs. In most states, escalating federal expec- tations pushed against the limits of agency capacity. SEAs had to learn new information, master new skills, overhaul agency structures, and reimagine external partnerships. These challenges fell on agencies that had long been experiencing fiscal and staffing shortages, both of which became more acute when the Great Recession further decimated state coffers. This chapter examines federal education policies, how preexisting capacity shaped state responses to expanding requirements, and how SEA capacity developed in the face of substantial constraints. From this examination emerge lessons about

4 5 how SEA capacity matters for education reform. Although there were some notable advances, particularly regarding longitudinal data systems and external partnerships, it seems that overtaxed capacity contributed to failed and subversive implementation efforts. These flawed implementation processes may in turn undermine future attempts at reform. While the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) walks back many of NCLB’s more restrictive provisions and returns authority to the states, there appears to be a risk that this history will repeat itself. ESSA places a heavy workload on SEAs, and they continue to operate with limited resources.

Sound and fury: Education and civil rights in the Bush and Obama administrations Joshua Dunn

The past 16 years witnessed an explosion of federal intervention in education policy. Often that activity was cast as either broadly related to or grounded in civil rights enforcement. No Child Left Behind (NCLB), for instance, was supposed to help reduce the racial achievement gap and drive reforms, particularly in underperforming school districts often serving largely minority populations. During the Obama administration, civil rights activity increased even more. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a flurry of “Dear Colleague” letters (DCL) justifying aggressive expansion of OCR’s authority. This chapter addresses this civil rights construction of education policy under Bush and Obama. In particular, it argues that NCLB was a civil rights law without any rights since it lacked any judicially enforceable remedies. As well, NCLB’s overly ambitious goals created the ground for aggressive action by the Department of Education, not only with waivers but also with DCLs on school discipline, school finance, and transgender students, which offered novel and controversial interpretations of civil rights laws.

The Bush-Obama agenda for education research and innovation: Major investment, mixed returns Robert Pianta and Tara Hofkens

One of the major changes to education policy during the Bush and Obama administrations was unprecedented federal investment in education research and innovation. With the goal of improving student achievement across the nation, both administrations funded infrastructure and projects designed to produce high-quality and accessible research and innovation. This chapter provides a high-level overview and analysis of these large-scale federal initiatives, reviewing what happened and what we learned. It discusses the evolution of education policy toward the Every Student Succeeds Act and new models for research and innovation in light of seemingly fundamental tensions between producing scientifically rigorous research and transforming education outcomes that unfold in complex and localized contexts.

6 Panel IV

Lessons from Bush-Obama school reform 12:45 p.m. | Frederick M. Hess, AEI

Panelists: Nina Rees, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Roberto Rodriguez, Teach Plus Hanna Skandera, State of New Mexico Department of Education (former) Joanne Weiss, Weiss Associates

Address by Secretary Betsy DeVos

1:45 p.m. Introduction: Frederick M. Hess, AEI

1:50 p.m. Remarks: Betsy DeVos, US Department of Education

2:05 p.m. Discussion: Betsy DeVos, US Department of Education Frederick M. Hess, AEI

2:20 p.m. Q&A

2:30 p.m. Adjournment

6 7 Author, panelist, and speaker biographies

Deven Carlson is an associate professor of political science and presidential research professor at the University of Oklahoma. He has written extensively on the operations and effects of test-based accountability policies and the politics of education. He has published this work in several high-quality scholarly outlets, including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Economics of Education Review, and Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Sara Dahill-Brown is an assistant professor in the politics and international affairs department at Wake Forest University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is an alumnae of Utah’s public schools and a recovering Texas middle school teacher, and she has worked as a researcher and volunteer in the school systems of Wisconsin and North Carolina. Her work has appears in the Russell Sage Journal of the Social Sciences, Studies in Educational Evaluation, and Poli- tics and Policy.

Betsy DeVos serves as the 11th US secretary of education. She has been involved in education policy for nearly three decades, and for 15 years, she served as an in-school mentor for at-risk children in the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Schools. Secretary DeVos has worked to support the creation of new educational choices for students in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Previously, she served as chairman of the Windquest Group, an enterprise and investment management firm. She has also served on the boards of numerous national and local charitable and civic organizations, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kids Hope USA, ArtPrize, Mars Hill Bible Church, and the Ken- dall College of Art and Design. Secretary DeVos received a B.A. from Calvin College.

Joshua Dunn is professor and chair of the department of political science, as well as director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual, at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His research has largely concentrated on education policy and the courts, and his books include “Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University” (Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2016), “Complex Justice: The Case of Missouri v. Jenkins” (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), and “From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary’s Role in American Education” (Brookings Institution Press, 2009). Since 2006, he has written a quarterly article on law and education for Education Next. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and Education Week.

Anna Egalite is an assistant professor in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on the evaluation of education policies and programs intended to close racial and economic achievement gaps. She has studied the direct and indirect impact of school choice initiatives, including the competitive impacts of private school voucher programs on public school achievement and how voucher-induced student transfers affect racial stratification in public and private schools. Dr. Egalite’s scholarly articles have appeared in outlets including the Economics of Education Review, Education Policy Analysis Archives, and the Journal of School Choice. She holds a Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Arkansas and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University.

8 Tara Hofkens is a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia. She received a Ph.D. in learning science and policy from the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh. She was awarded the Learning Research and Development Center Fellowship in 2012.

Ashley Jochim is a senior research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). Her research focuses on policy analysis and implementation, including work on school turnaround, state education agencies, K–12 accountability, Common Core standards, and district reform efforts. She is coauthor of “A Democratic Constitution for Public Education” (University of Chicago Press, 2014). Dr. Jochim has published in scholarly outlets such as Policy Studies Journal, Politics and Governance, and Political Research Quarterly. Before joining CRPE, she was a graduate fellow at the Center for American Politics and Public Policy and a research analyst at the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington.

Matthew Kraft is an assistant professor of education and economics at Brown University. His research and teaching interests include the economics of education, education policy analysis, and applied quantitative methods for causal inference. He has published on topics including teacher labor markets, coaching and professional development, and teacher evaluation systems. Dr. Kraft’s work can be found in scholarly outlets such as the American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Education Finance and Policy, and Economics of Education Review. Before earning his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he taught middle and high school human- ities in Oakland and Berkeley, California, public schools.

Tom Loveless is an education researcher and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. From 2000 to 2017, he authored “The Brown Center Report on American Education,” an annual report analyzing important trends in education. He has published widely in scholarly journals and appeared in popular media to discuss school reform, student achievement, and other education topics. Dr. Loveless’ books include “Lessons Learned: What International Assessments Tell Us About Math Achievement” (Brookings Institution Press, 2007), “The Great Curriculum Debate: How Should We Teach Reading and Math?” (Brookings Institution Press, 2001), and “The Tracking Wars: State Reform Meets School Policy” (Brookings Institution Press, 1999). He holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in special education from California State University, Sacramento. From 1979 to 1988, he taught elementary school in the San Juan Unified School District.

Patrick McGuinn is a professor of political science and education at Drew University and a senior research specialist at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). He is the author or editor of three books: “The Convergence of K–12 and Higher Education: Policies and Programs in a Changing Era” (Harvard Education Press, 2016), “Education Governance for the 21st Century: Overcoming the Structural Barriers to School Reform” (Brookings Institution Press, 2013), and “No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy, 1965–2005” (University Press of Kansas, 2006). He has written extensively on federal education policy during the Bush and Obama administrations and in particular on their use of incentives and inducements to promote select school reform strategies.

Robert Pianta is dean of the Curry School of Education, the Novartis US Foundation Professor of Edu- cation, and founding director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the Uni- versity of Virginia. His research focuses on theory, measurement, and improvement of teacher-student interactions and their contributions to students’ learning. He has authored more than 300 publications,

8 9 led research grants totaling over $60 million, is an associate editor for AERA Open, and consults with federal agencies and foundations around the world. He is a fellow of the American Education Research Association and received the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota.

Nina Rees is the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. She has over 20 years of experience in Washington, DC, most recently as senior vice president for strategic initiatives for Knowledge Universe (KU). Before her tenure at KU, she served as the first deputy under secretary for innovation and improvement at the US Department of Education. In this capacity, she oversaw the administration of 28 grant programs, supporting 1,300 projects, and was responsible for spear- heading innovative federal programs and policies such as school choice, charter schools, and alterna- tive routes to teacher certification and school leadership. Before moving to the Education Department, Ms. Rees served as deputy assistant for domestic policy to the vice president at the White House. Before that, she was the senior education analyst at the Heritage Foundation, where she authored more than two dozen policy briefs and served as the foundation’s chief spokesperson on education. She previously worked at a public interest law firm and an advocacy organization. She began her career in Washington, DC, on Capitol Hill, where she worked for Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) in 1991.

Gerard Robinson is the executive director of the Center for Advancing Opportunity (CAO), a research and education initiative created by a partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the Charles Koch Foundation, and Koch Industries. Before CAO, he worked as a resident fellow at AEI. Before joining AEI, Mr. Robinson served as commissioner of education for the State of Florida and secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has also served as the president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. He is a former legislative aide in the California and Virginia legisla- tures and has served as a senior research associate for the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas, a senior fellow at the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University, and a senior fellow at the Institute for Education Policy at the City University of New York.

Roberto Rodríguez is president and CEO of Teach Plus, where he builds the teacher leadership move- ment and supports contributions of teacher leaders to educational innovation and chance. Before joining Teach Plus, he served in senior roles in the White House and the United States Senate. As deputy assistant to President Barack Obama for education, Mr. Rodriguez developed and advanced policies to improve educational opportunity for learners from birth through adulthood. In the US Senate, he served as principal education adviser to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and led successful bipartisan efforts to enact the No Child Left Behind Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improve- ment Act, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, and the Head Start for School Readiness Act. He began his career in Washington, DC, at the National Council of La Raza, where he directed research and policy analysis of federal and state education issues.

Stefanie Sanford currently oversees the College Board’s Communications and Marketing, Policy, and Government Relations departments, strategic relationships with foundations, and the Washing- ton, DC, office. Before joining the College Board, she spent more than 10 years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Before joining the foundation, she held several senior policy positions in both state Republican and Democratic offices. At the federal level, she was a White House Fellow in the Office of Cabinet Affairs. Dr. Sanford has written and spoken extensively on education and technology topics, served as a German Marshall Fellow and a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, and is the author of “Civic Life in the Information Age: Politics, Technology, and Generation X” (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007). A native Texan, she holds a B.S. from Texas Christian University, an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

10 Hanna Skandera most recently served as secretary of education for the State of New Mexico. Previ- ously, she served in the Schwarzenegger and Bush administrations in senior leadership roles. She was appointed as a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and taught education policy and leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education and Government and Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy. She is also a former Aspen Institute fellow. In other professional endeavors, Ms. Skandera was CEO of Laying the Foundation and executive vice president for Aca- demic Partnerships.

Emma Vadehra is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She previously served in the Obama administration as chief of staff to Secretaries John King and Arne Duncan at the US Department of Education. In that role, Ms. Vadehra worked closely with the White House and across the department to develop, execute, and oversee the administration’s pre-K through college education agenda. Before serving at the department, she served as chief of staff at Uncommon Schools, a charter school management organization. From 2009 to 2011, she served as deputy assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development at the Department of Education, overseeing K–12 education policy development and issues related to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Ms. Vadehra has also served as the senior education counsel for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), focusing on K–12 education, student loans, and national service policy. She has a J.D. from Yale Law School and a bache- lor’s degree from Brown University.

Joanne Weiss is an independent consultant to organizations on education programs, technologies, and policy. For the past 15 years, she has focused on driving systems-level education change through high-impact policymaking, grant making, and investing. From 2009 to 2013 she served in the Obama administration as chief of staff to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and director of the federal Race to the Top program. Before joining the Obama administration, Ms. Weiss was a partner and chief operating officer at NewSchools Venture Fund, where she focused on investing in and supporting a variety of charter management organizations, human capital solutions providers, and academic tools and systems designers. Before NewSchools, she spent 20 years pioneering ways to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning — first by leading curriculum development, then as CEO — for companies providing technology-based products and services to underserved students in K–12 and higher education. She has a degree in biochemistry from Princeton University.

10 11 Notes

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12 Notes

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12 13 Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned

Conference Papers

Testing and accountability: What have we learned and where do we go? Deven Carlson

The limits of policy for school turnaround Ashley Jochim

Why standards produce weak reform Tom Loveless

The growth of charter schooling during the Bush and Obama years Anna Egalite

Federal effortsto improve teacher quality Matthew Kraft

Incentives and inducements: The feds fight federalism Patrick McGuinn

Building capacity in state education agencies under Bush and Obama: Big goals, uneven progress, and ongoing challenges Sara Dahill-Brown

Sound and fury: Education and civil rights in the Bush and Obama administrations Joshua Dunn

The Bush-Obama agenda for education research and innovation: Major investment, mixed returns Robert Pianta and Tara Hofkens

Papers for this conference are available online at http://www.aei.org/events/bush-obama-school-reform-lessons-learned/