Rethinking Education Governance for the 21st Century

Improving Student Achievement

School reforms abound today, yet even the boldest and most imaginative among them have produced—at best—marginal gains in student achievement. What America needs in the 21st century is a far more profound version of education reform. Instead of shoveling yet more policies, programs, and practices into our current system, we must deepen our understanding of the obstacles to reform that are posed by existing structures, governance arrangements, and power relationships. Yet few education reformers—or public officials—have been willing to delve into this touchy territory.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Center for American Progress have teamed up to tackle these tough issues and ask how our mostly 19th-century system of K-12 governance might be modernized and made more receptive to the innumerable changes that have occurred—and need to occur—in the education realm. We have commissioned 15 first-rate analysts to probe the structural impediments to school reform and to offer provocative alternatives.

At an event held on December 1, these distinguished scholars—joined by a cast of forward-thinkers—presented their draft papers and probed the implications for governance reform. See below to download these draft papers.

For more on the conference see here.

Opening remarks

The Failures of U.S. Education Governance Today by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli

Challenges

Fractured Governance of Resources and the Need for a Coherent and Fair System of Funding to Support High-Quality Public Schools by Cynthia Brown

Governance Challenges to Innovators within the System by Michelle Davis

The Machinery that Drives Education-Spending Decisions Inhibits Better Uses of Resources by Marguerite Roza

Governance Challenges to Innovators outside the System by Steven F. Wilson

Traditional institutions in flux

The End of Educational Exceptionalism: The Rise of the Education Executives in the White House, State House, and Mayor's Office by Jeffrey Henig

More than the Mantra of 'Mayoral Control': Rethinking District Governance for the 21st Century by Frederick M. Hess and Olivia M. Meeks

The Next Wave of Standards-Based Reform? Interstate Standards and Testing Consortia by Kathryn McDermott

Toward a New Federal Role in Public Education: The Challenge of Governance in Performance-Based Federalism by Kenneth K. Wong

Alternative approaches

Reimagining Education Governance: An International Perspetive by Sir Michael Barber

Education Governance in Comparative Perspective by Michael Mintrom and Richard Walley

Governance in Other Policy Sectors: Lessons from Health-Care and Environmental Policy by Barry G. Rabe

The way forward

Picturing a Different Governance Structure for Public Education by Paul T. Hill

Governance Reform: From Theory to Results by Kenneth J. Meier

For more on the conference see here.