HARVARD PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY AND GOVERNANCE

T EACHING RESEARCH OUTREACH

ANNUAL REPORT 2018 DIRECTOR’S LETTER

Our Core Missions

AM PLEASED TO REPORT that we at PEPG PEPG ADVISORY BOARD COMMITTEE have been able to enlarge our capacity to fulfill our Steve Klinsky, Chairman, New Mountain Capital, LLC three core missions: 1) provide high-level instruc- tion in education policy and governance; Cory Booker, United States Senator, New Jersey 2)I undertake pathbreaking studies in school reform; and Cesar Conde, NBC Universal 3) engage with the larger school-reform community. Bruce Douglas, Harvard Development Company Teaching: We have in 2017–18 nine education entrepreneurial fellows at the Timothy Draper, Draper Fisher Jurvetson who are pursuing their Master’s in Public Policy and C. Boyden Gray, Boyden Gray & Associates PLLC three postdoctoral Phil Handy, Winter Park Capital Company fellows who are pushing the school- Roger Hertog, Alliance Capital Management reform research Al Hubbard, E&A Industries agenda forward. Gisèle Huff, Jaquelin Hume Foundation Research: PEPG studies released this John F. Kirtley, KLH Capital, L.P. year include new Deborah McGriff, New Schools findings on parent Daniel S. Peters, Lovett & Ruth Peters Foundation satisfaction with charter schools; James Piereson, William E. Simon Foundation in-depth analyses Michael Podgursky, University of Missouri of Justice Antonin Jerry Rappaport, Scalia’s contribu- Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation tions to legal doc- Nina S. Rees, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools trine in education; 11th annual survey of U.S. public opin- PEPG AND EDUCATION NEXT STAFF ion documenting Paul E. Peterson, Director the changing public views on school reform; and new Martin R. West, evidence on the long-term effects of ’s test-based Deputy Director and Editor-in-Chief, Education Next grade promotion policy on high-school course perfor- mance and graduation. Antonio M. Wendland, Associate Director Outreach: Education Next continues to plant bigger Amanda Olberg, Managing Editor, Education Next footprints on Twitter and in the print and electronic media. Martin R. West and Paul E. Peterson have Melissa Fall, Assistant Managing Editor, Education Next each launched weekly podcasts that are providing alter- Marci Kanstoroom, Web Editor native ways to learn about current developments Nick Tavares, Research, Data, and Web Manager in education. Education Next has widened its coverage of higher education. Michael Poor, Staff Assistant Please turn the pages to learn more about these activities. PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Sincerely yours, The Taubman Center for State and Local Government Harvard Kennedy School 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Taubman 304 Cambridge, MA 02138 hks.harvard.edu/pepg • educationnext.org Paul E. Peterson [email protected] • 617-495-7976

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Academic Visitors

VER THE YEARS, PEPG has hosted many notable and talentedO academic visitors from within the United States and from countries abroad. They have enriched the quality of the teaching, research, and outreach missions of the program, the greater Harvard community, and beyond in many ways. This invaluable tradition continues.

FALL 2017 ACADEMIC VISITORS

DIANE TAVENNER is the co- founder and CEO of Summit Public Schools, a leading pub- lic-school system that operates 11 schools in California and Washington, as well as a free program that enables schools across the U.S. to implement Summit Learning, its nationally recognized personalized JASON RILEY is a journalist and member of the Wall Street approach to teaching and learning. Journal editorial board. He is also a commentator for Fox CHRISTOPHER CERF is State News and a senior fellow at District Superintendent, the Manhattan Institute. He Newark, and former State is the author of Please Stop Commissioner of Education, Helping Us: How Liberals New Jersey. He also served Make It Harder for Blacks as Deputy Chancellor of the to Succeed (2014) and False New York City public schools Black Power? (2017). and the chancellor’s chief advisor on transformation. HANNA SKANDERA is former Secretary of Education of New Mexico. She served in the position from 2010 to MICHELLE RHEE is former Chancellor of the Washington, 2017, working in one of the poorest states in the country. D.C., public schools, where she instituted merit pay for Prior to that, she was teachers and advocated Deputy Education for charter schools. In Commissioner of late 2010, while advising Florida. She also served Republican governors in as a senior policy advisor Florida and Nevada, she and Deputy Chief of Staff founded StudentsFirst, at the U.S. Department a nonprofit organiza- of Education during for- tion committed to mer president George W. American education. Bush’s administration.

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Education Entrepreneur Fellows

N 2015, the Program on Education Policy and augmented-reality markets in China and is a return Peace Governance launched fellowships in education Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan. entrepreneurship with a multimillion-dollar grant from the Charles Koch Foundation. Since that time, ZACHARY MARTINEZ, while at Georgetown University IPEPG has awarded fellowships to graduate students and Law, worked at the U.S. Department of Education and in postdoctoral fellows. the offices of a U.S. senator.

2016–19 PEPG FELLOWS IN MARIE PERROT, before coming to Harvard, worked EDUCATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP on researching education-policy issues at the American Institutes for Research, as a Match Corps Fellow, and as LIZ COFFIN-KARLIN is a dual MPP/JD a College Bound partner. candidate who participated in Teach for America as well as working at the KIPP Bay Area Schools. MOLLY THOMAS was an outreach volunteer with the homeless in Seattle, Washington, as well as a research coor- KIM HOWARD worked at the Brookings Institution and dinator at the Center on Reinventing Public Education. KIPP in Washington, D.C., after earning a Bachelor of Arts in economics and psychology, with highest distinction. SUZANNE WANG, as a college student, co-founded Trinity Hartford Scholars, an SAT enrichment program for 15 low- PRIYANKA KAURA is a former Teach for America Corps income 11th graders in Hartford, Connecticut. member and most recently a School Success Manager at DeansList, a small education-technology company. LAURA WHITE, after earning her MA in teaching, among other experiences, was a special education teacher at DAI LIN most recently managed teams of engineers in the Uncommon Schools.

John White and Jeb Bush (center, back row) enjoying an after-class photo shoot

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Cell phone mania at Jeb Bush Forum

2016–18 PEPG POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS Duke University. Currently, he is a lecturer of political science in the School of Public Policy, University SAMUEL BARROWS holds a doctorate in government from College London. and was a lecturer in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. DANIEL HAMLIN received his PhD in educational leader- ship and policy from the University of Toronto. His research ALBERT CHENG received his PhD in education focuses on school choice, primarily examining outcomes for policy from the University of Arkansas, where he is an charter schools on non-test measures of performance. affiliated research fellow for Charassein: The Character Assessment Initiative. BETH SCHUELER holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on efforts THOMAS GIFT received his PhD in political science from to improve persistently low-performing schools and districts.

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RESEARCH

Parent Satisfaction with Charter Schools by Samuel Barrows, Albert Cheng, Paul E. Peterson, and Martin R. West

IRST ESTABLISHED in 1991, charter schools Percentage Very Satisfied have steadily increased in Private-school parents, followed by charter parents, number according to the most satisfied with school FU.S. Department of Education, so that nearly 6,500 charters served over 2.5 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 million students, about 5 percent of the U.S. school-age population, during 32 the 2015–16 school year. As the charter Teacher quality 23* sector has grown in size, charter school 46 formation has become an increasingly 34 contentious political issue. The views School discipline 17** of parents, among the most important 46 stakeholders in each sector, may well 38 affect the course of this controversy. Yet Expectations for 25** student achievement no results from a nationally representa- 53† tive survey of charter parents’ 38 opinions have Safety 28** 60† been reported— until now. Instruction in 38 Two such character or values 21** surveys, the 59** Parent and Family 37 Involvement School location 39 Survey of 2012, conducted by the 50 National Center for Education Statistics, and the 2016 Education Next survey, Racial and 31 ethnic diversity 22** designed by the Harvard Program on 33 Education Policy and Governance, 30 have addressed this knowledge gap. School building Taken together, these surveys indicate and facilities 28 that charter parents, compared to 34 district parents, are more likely to be n Charter–school parents n District–school parents n Private–school parents very satisfied with the quality of their child’s teachers, the school’s academic Difference from charter-school parents statistically significant at the… standards, and the order and discipline † 90% confidence level * 95% confidence level ** 99% confidence level at the school. However, charter parents are generally less satisfied than private- school parents with these aspects of their school. Charter parents are also more likely than either private- or district-school parents to identify as a serious problem Compared to district parents, charter the lack of extracurricular activities such as sports, arts, and parents are more likely to be very satisfied music. There is little difference in satisfaction across sectors with the facilities and location of the school. with the quality of their child’s teachers, the school’s academic standards, and the Samuel Barrows and Albert Cheng were 2016–17 postdoctoral order and discipline at the school. fellows at PEPG.

6 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE hks.harvard.edu/pepg RESEARCH page 7 Education Next Annual Poll, 2017

HE 11TH annual Education Charter Support Down Next poll of Charter Support Down The public’s support for charter schools declined by 12 percentage points a representa- The public’s support for charter schools declined by 12 percentage points Ttive sample of over 4,200 between 2016 and 2017, the largest change in opinion we observed on between 2016 and 2017, the largest change in opinion we observed on any item. The decline in support was about the same for both Republicans American adults, with over- any item. The decline in support was about the same for both Republicans and Democrats. samples of parents, teachers, and Democrats.

70 70 60 60 50 50 47 4741 40 3941 40 3936 36 30 34 30 3430 Percentage 30 Percentage 20 20 10 and Hispanic Americans 10 identified two trends going 0 in contrary directions. On 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 the one side, public sup- 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Public support Republicans support Democrats support port for charters declined Public support Republicans support Democrats support substantially across the Public opposed Republicans opposed Democrats opposed Public opposed Republicans opposed Democrats opposed board—among white, black, and Hispanic Americans, and among Republicans and Democrats alike. On the ...But...But SoSo IsIs OppositionOpposition toto TaxTax CreditsCredits andand VouchersVouchers other side, opposition to tax Since 2016, opposition to tax credit–funded scholarships and school Since 2016, opposition to tax credit–funded scholarships and school credits and school vouchers vouchers has fallen, while support for low-income vouchers has ticked up. waned and support levels vouchers has fallen, while support for low-income vouchers has ticked up. ticked up. Opinion on private school choice over time Opinion on private school choice over time 60 60 55 5545 45 40 43 40 4341 4137 20 3724

Percentage 20 24 Percentage 0 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Tax credit–funded scholarships Tax credit–funded scholarships Taxsupport credit–funded scholarships Taxopposition credit–funded scholarships support opposition Low-income vouchers,“wider choice” Low-income vouchers,“wider choice” Low-incomesupport vouchers,“wider choice” Low-incomeopposition vouchers,“wider choice” Tax credits continue to support opposition command the highest Universal vouchers,“wider choice” Universal vouchers,“wider choice” Universalsupport vouchers,“wider choice” Universalopposition vouchers,“wider choice” level of support among support opposition all choice proposals.

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Photos from the conference Law and Education:The Legal Thought of Justice Antonin Scalia held at the Harvard Kennedy School on December 2, 2016.

Eugene Scalia, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, with Paul E. Peterson, Harvard University Michael McConnell, Stanford Law School

James Ryan, Harvard Graduate Amy Wax, University of Pennsylvania Law School, with John Coons, UC Berkeley School of Education Shep Melnick, College School of Law

Education Entrepreneurship Fellows Adam White, Research Fellows Katharina Werner, Laura White and Marie Perrot Hoover Institution Samuel Barrows, and Carlos Lastra

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Scalia and the Secret History of School Choice by Michael W. McConnell

MONG THE MANY ISSUES of constitu- of schools was left to the family. This was a 180 degree tional law transformed by the vision of Justice change. Not only did the court’s change of doctrine improve Antonin Scalia, few featured so sharp a reversal the educational prospects of some of the neediest children as the issue of educational choice: whether it in America, but it enabled them to exercise the freedom of violatesA the establishment clause of the First Amendment religious choice that previously had been enjoyed only by for the state to fund all accredited schools, public and pri- those wealthy enough to pay the tuition. vate, religious and secular, on a neutral basis. When Justice The court’s new approach is to return to the principles of Scalia came to the Supreme Court, the court had just held the founding, which are the lodestar of Justice Scalia’s con- unconstitutional a part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society stitutional jurisprudence. As applied to school funding ques- program that sent public school remedial education special- tions, the new approach removes arbitrary and benighted ists onto the premises of inner-city schools—including obstacles to the ability of educationally and economically Catholic schools, on an equal basis with others —to assist disadvantaged families in our inner cities to seek out better educationally and economically deprived schoolchildren schools than those provided by the government—and even, if with reading and math. By the time of Justice Scalia’s they wish, to exercise the right wealthier families have always untimely death, the court had upheld a voucher program had to the free exercise of religion in these matters. that enabled inner-city schoolchildren to attend private—including Catholic—schools, using public tax dollars, so long as the financial aid was extended on a neutral basis and the choice

“Scalia's Constitution: Essays on Law and Education provides a valuable examination of the remarkable justice's jurisprudence. The educational system of the United States, although not mentioned in the Constitution, has provoked some of the most contentious legal conflicts ever argued before the Supreme Court. The essays in this book, from a variety of perspectives, give an insightful review of Scalia's judicial doctrines and teachings that relate to this subject.” —Ed Meese III, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus, Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, Institute for Constitutional Government, The Heritage Foundation

Scalia’s Constitution:

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST REX CHARLES Essays on Law and Education / Michael W. McConnell and Paul E. Peterson, editors

AP PHOT O AP Available from Palgrave Macmillan

hks.harvard.edu/pepg PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE 9 OUTREACH page 11 Americans May BeMore Tolerant of MuslimsThan Ever by Paul E. Peterson (excerpted from the Wall Street Journal)

S LAWSUITS MULTIPLY and parti- sans continue to squabble over President Donald Trump’s executive order banning migration from six majority-Muslim nations,A liberals in the mainstream media have been pushing the line that America’s historic tolerance of religious diversity no longer extends to adherents of the Islamic faith. A just-released Education Next sur- vey tells a different story. My colleagues and I asked a representative sample of Americans: “Do you support or oppose allowing a group of Muslim students to organize an afterschool club at your local public school?” It was the same ques- tion EdNext asked in 2008. Respondents were given the choice favor, though opposition has increased by 13 percentage to say they support club formation by Muslim students or points and approval has slipped by 3. (The remainder said oppose it. They were also offered the option of remaining neu- they neither supported nor opposed the clubs.) tral by indicating they neither support nor oppose Muslim stu- Despite the increased opposition to religious student clubs dent clubs. And for comparison, the survey also asked another in general, support for Muslim students looking to form clubs group of respondents about generically “religious” students. has risen dramatically. In 2008, only 27% of respondents A majority of the general public supports the right of were in favor, while 23% were opposed. Today, tolerance of religious students to form clubs. In 2008, 58% were in favor Muslim clubs has climbed steeply, to 45%—a near majority while only 10% were opposed. Today, a majority is still in of all respondents—while opposition has ticked up by only 4

Tolerance of Muslim Students on the Rise The public’s tolerance of religious clubs has declined since 2008, but its willingness to allow Muslim students to gather together in an afterschool club has leapt up by 18 percentage points, to near majority support. The biggest shift has occurred among Democrats.

PUBLIC 2008 27 23 Muslim clubs 2017 45 27

DEMOCRATS 2008 31 17 Muslim clubs 2017 55 15

REPUBLICANS 2008 23 30 Muslim clubs 2017 33 43

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percentage n Support n Neutral n Opposition

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The rancorous debate over immigration students has grown by 18 percentage points, while support has somehow enhanced the public’s has dropped by 4 percentage points. By contrast, Republican attitudes toward Muslim clubs willingness to allow Muslim students have remained remarkably stable. Fewer Republican respon- to gather together after school in dents took the neutral position in the current survey than did Islamic-themed clubs. so in 2008. But the balance between those in favor and those against has held steady. With Democrats becoming much more tolerant of Muslims, and Republican views remaining percentage points, from 23% to 27%. What was once a near- essentially unchanged, the result has been increased tolera- even split in opinion has morphed into a 2-to-1 advantage for tion of Muslims throughout the U.S. as a whole. those who tolerate Muslim-themed student clubs. We suspect this change has occurred very recently, as The biggest change has occurred among Democrats, our question about Muslim student clubs reveals a dramatic whose support for Muslim club-formation rights has shift in opinion among Democrats. spiked by 24 percentage points. Today, Democrats support As unlikely as it seems, the rancorous debate over immi- Muslim clubs by 55% to 15%. The shift comes even though gration has somehow enhanced the public’s willingness to Democrats are today less tolerant of “religious” students allow Muslim students to gather together after school in than they were in 2008. Democratic opposition to “religious” Islamic-themed clubs. Broad Majority, Narrow Ruling for School Choice in Trinity Lutheran Case By Martin R. West

THE SUPREME COURT closed out purposes. A crucial footnote limits the decision’s scope: its spring 2017 term by announcing “This case involves express discrimination based on reli- its opinion in Trinity Lutheran v. gious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We Missouri, a case do not address religious uses of fund- that had caught ing or other forms of discrimination.” education reform- For school-choice advocates, ers’ attention the key question the case broached due to its potential implications for was whether the so-called “Blaine private-school choice. A 7–2 majority Amendments” found in some 37 ruled in favor of Trinity Lutheran, state constitutions can be used whose preschool had been excluded to exclude religious schools from from a state grant program that helps private-school choice programs. The nonprofits buy scrap tires to resurface Supreme Court’s 2002 Zelman deci- their playgrounds. sion makes clear that private-school The majority was broad, includ- choice programs may include reli- ing all five conservatives and Justices Playground, Trinity Lutheran Church, gious schools; a broader decision in Breyer and Kagan from the court’s Columbia, Missouri Trinity Lutheran could have implied (PLAYGROUND) liberal bloc, but their ruling was not. that they must. As important, it Penned by Chief Justice Roberts, the majority opinion would have meant that Blaine Amendments could no simply bars states from denying public benefits to religious longer be used to challenge the constitutionality of school- organizations based solely on the organization’s religious choice programs. identity. It cites a long line of cases striking down laws that force individuals to “choose between their religious beliefs Martin R. West is an associate professor of education at the and receiving a government benefit.” But it does not extend Harvard Graduate School of Education, deputy director of that logic to policies like school vouchers under which pub- Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, and lic funds might be used not just to prevent scraped knees, editor-in-chief of Education Next. Excerpted from a blog in

COURTESY ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM DEFENDING ALLIANCE COURTESY or even to teach kids to read and write, but also for religious educationnext.org posted on 06/27/2017.

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pageOUTREACH 12 EducationNext A JOURNAL OF OPINION AND RESEARCH

Is Your Child Ready Louisiana Threads Competency-Based for Kindergarten? the Needle on Ed Reform Education, – Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach – Robert Pondiscio Put to the Test and Stephanie Howard Larson – Jon Marcus Each year, millions of parents struggle Unlike conventional colleges and

to decide universities, Fall 2017 • $7.00 educationnext.org Summer 2017 • $7.00 educationnext.org whether they Western EducationA JOURNALN OF OPINIONext AND RESEARCH EducationA JOURNALN OF OPINIONext AND RESEARCH Should You Redshirt Your Kindergartner? should post- Governors COMPETENCY- A researcher and preschool director weigh the evidence pg 18 BASED pone kindergar- University DEGREES A new approach to learning and ten enrollment uses a compe- assessment at Western Governors University by one year, tency-based PG 26 in the hope of approach to allowing their Curriculum is the last, best, and almost learning and children more entirely unpulled lever of education assessment. time to develop reform. But Louisiana is pioneering in Students The Jurisprudence of Neil Gorsuch pg 34 School Design from Scratch pg 8

Is Test-Based Accountability Dead? pg 50 How Radical Is Betsy DeVos? pg 26 Curriculum Reform in Louisiana pg 8 Should Professors Ban Laptops? pg 68 physically, guiding its school districts in adopting don’t advance Personalized Learning Pacesetter pg 16 High-Stakes Teacher Evaluations pg 58 socially, and and implementing a high-quality and until they’ve academically. But “redshirting” may do coherent curriculum—without sacri- mastered all the skills and knowledge more harm than good. ficing local control. in a given subject area.

Twitter Followers Media Hits The journal’s followers on Twitter grew Education Next received 1,076 media hits by nearly 20,000 in the last year to reach in 2016, and has already received 1,488 as of more than 130,000 in late 2017.* August 31, 2017.*

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