The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation publishes content on education and related issues. Find and access current and archived items in our database.
At a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) hearing in February on college affordability, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education, Martha Kanter, discussed the president’s plan to cut the cost of higher education. Tensions were high as the senators questioned Kanter on the proposals unveiled during this year’s State of the Union address.
ICW and NCF will release a report that features thirteen school board case studies that will provide a deeper understanding of school board composition, oversight, and priorities. In addition, the work will address the impact of different state and local laws on school governance. The thirteen case studies will analyze general findings on the composition, structure, and authority of school boards.
In the wake of President Obama’s announcement that institutions of higher education were officially “on notice,” the typical and predictable fear mongering began. David L.
Due to unique structural and local political dynamics, the Los Angeles Board of Education is composed of colorful individual personalities who pursue divergent agendas and report directly to distinct constituencies. As a result, individual board members may be powerful players in their own right, but lack cohesion as a governing body, hampering their ability to work collectively to advance a shared vision for education in Los Angeles. This lack of board unity has created a vacuum that enables other leading figures in Los Angeles—including the mayor and a series of strong superintendents—to drive their own education reform agendas independent of the Los Angeles school board.
The House Education and the Workforce Committee recently released two pieces of draft legislation designed to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The Student Success Act and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act were written in an effort to reduce the Federal Government’s role in education by returning authority to the states.
Teachers make a huge impact on their students. Now a multi-decade study suggests that teachers who raise their students’ standardized test scores have a lasting positive effect on their students’ lives well beyond the classroom. A new study by Harvard professors Raj Chetty and John Friedman and Columbia professor Jonah Rockoff found evidence that those students whose teachers were considered highly effective in grade school have greater college matriculation and adult earnings.
The Austin Independent School District (AISD) has taken significant steps over the past several years to boost student achievement through results-driven policies, including performance-based teacher pay and a strategic plan tied to student performance. But the district continues to struggle with a persistent achievement gap between white and minority students, and currently faces financial challenges caused by state budget cuts. In recent years, a partnership between the Austin Chamber of Commerce and AISD has helped drive reform, and the expertise offered by business leaders can help the district respond to new and emerging challenges. This partnership illustrates how third-party support and pressure can create stability and consensus in fractured and politicized school board environments.
Congress has finally wrapped up the FY2012 budget bill – the House passed a $915 billion FY12 spending bill this past Friday, and the Senate followed suit on Saturday. The consolidated appropriations bill is the result of an agreement between House Republicans and Senate Democrats and funds the government through September 30, 2012.
In submitting a request for a NCLB waiver, a state educational agency (SEA) must “meaningfully engage and solicit input from diverse stakeholders and communities in the development of its request.” The application specifically says that “business organizations” are among these stakeholders. In further guidance to states, the department noted that “ideally, an SEA will solicit input from stakeholders … and will strengthen its request by revising it based on this input.”
