AEI Education: Experts, highlights, and headlines

Education scholars

 

Frederick Hess Director, Education Policy Studies Research areas: K-12 and higher education, School reform

 

Michael Q. McShane Adjunct Scholar Research areas: K-12 education, Private and religious schools

 

Kevin James Research Fellow Research areas: Quality of higher ed, Higher ed financing (student loans)

 

Gerard Robinson Resident Fellow Research areas: education policy, school choice, K-12, community colleges

Andrew Kelly Director, Center on Higher Education Reform Research areas: Higher education,  Education funding, Student loans

 

Katharine B. Stevens Research Fellow Research areas: Early child care

 

Nathaniel Malkus Research Fellow Research areas: school finance, charter schools, school choice

 

Headlines and Highlights

A guide for K–12 gardeners 
Frederick Hess, Flypoper
A new Fordham study examines school choice in thirty cities, including charter, magnet, and private schools. This kind of analysis is invaluable if we’re to better cultivate the conditions for excellent schools of choice, but it’s hardly ever in evidence.

Dropping out in the District of Columbia: A national shame
Gerard Robinson, AEIdeas
Whatever the reason, 42% of our freshmen in 2010 were not included in an adjusted four-year cohort graduation rate. This silent dropout epidemic is a national shame.

Pay for preschool success
Katharine Stevens, US News & World Report
The recent critiques of Utah’s project actually underscore one of the most important strengths of the Pay for Success approach: bringing rigor and transparency to public sector spending, which usually has neither.

On declining teacher autonomy: It’s for real
Nat Malcus, AEIdeas
When it comes to teacher autonomy in public schools, new data back up the conventional wisdom.  A report released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics looked at teacher reports of classroom autonomy in 2003-04, 2007-08, and 2011-12. From 2003 to 2012, there were statistically significant declines in teacher autonomy.  The decline can’t be associated with any particular cause, but it’s important because it backs up a common narrative with data.

The real winners in campus protests? College administrators
Andrew Kelly, Forbes
Making college affordable and responsive to student needs has to be about more than adding middle managers with new titles. Activists would be wise to focus on changing the incentives that lead to scarcity of opportunity in the first place.

Massachusetts deals a bruising blow to the Common Core
Frederick M. Hess, Jenn Hatfield, National Review Online
Massachusetts will abandon its commitment to the Common Core state standards. This reversal is a bruising blow to the Common Core, given Massachusetts’ iconic status in K-12 education reform.

Balancing risk and responsibility: Reforming student loan repayment
Kevin J. James, Andrew P. Kelly, American Enterprise Institute 
Higher education is a risky investment, and federal student loan programs should safeguard borrowers from risk while avoiding perverse incentives. Well-designed income-driven repayment plans can ensure borrowers have manageable payments and target aid to those who need it most.

‘Set their feet upon surer paths’
Katharine Stevens, US News & World Report
An 80-year legacy of federal policymaking in early childhood has left us with three problems in particular.

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