Home » Briefings & Reports » Issues in Public Education

Issues in Public Education

posted in: Briefings & Reports

Policy Analyses by J.E. Stone, Ed.D.

Research and Analysis

A great deal of research and policy analysis is available and its ostensive purpose is to improve public education.  The problem, however, is that almost all of it is produced by and for educators, not consumers.  As a result, it tends to serve the aims and purposes of its educator audience, not those of the consuming public. 

In general, the public want schools to produce better student learning outcomes.  Educators, by contrast, generally believe that schools are doing the best they can and that disappointing outcomes are the product of social and economic limitations over which schools have little control. 

Published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Buyers and Sellers of Educational Research” discusses the contrast in these points of view and their impact on what the public is given to understand research findings and school improvement. 

A recent change in New York’s school accountability policy illustrates a complementary issue affecting the impact of education policy on improvement.  Instead of improving the learning outcomes sought by parents and the public, the policies adopted by the schools often serve to deflect public pressures for improvement.  The policies may be justified as reasonable and compassionate but, in reality, they allow schools to carry on with ineffective practices despite their negative impact on students.  It is a form of compassion that is blind to its long-term consequences.

Bottom line:  despite vast research and development efforts undertaken over decades, most schools improve little because the policies and practices they choose to employ are not well suited to the public’s educational aims.  For more on this issue see:

Regarding the institutional restraints at work in higher education research, and the capacity of schools of education to reform education:

As a nonprofit organization that relies exclusively on support from education’s consumers, the Education Consumers Foundation has published a series of briefs that examine education issues from a consumer perspective. Check them out below. 

Title & Issue
Vol.
No.
Date
A Legacy of Blind Compassion (article) Is compassion that leads to harm really compassion?
4
11
October 2004
Engaging Minds: Motivation & Learning in America’s Public Schools (Book) Only 25% of public school students are making a serious effort to learn?
4
10
October 2004
Teaching Skill Under Scrutiny (article) Are teachers no more effective in the classroom than people off of the street?
4
9
September 2004
The Free and Happy Student” (1973) by B. F. Skinner How eliminating punishment undermined teaching and what teachers can do about it.
4
8
August 2004
Three-year-old’s Traits Predict Personality at Age 26. (study) Childhood traits persist into adulthood, so shouldn’t the DAP laws change?
4
7
July 2004
Can Teacher Quality Be Effectively Assessed (study)  Why the Goldhaber & Anthony study undermines the case for NBPTS certification.
4
6
June 2004
How to Build a Better Teacher (book)  Why teacher training isn’t working and how competition can improve it.
4
5
May 2004
Grading, Grade Inflation, and Learning in Elementary Schools (article)  The grading that we need and why we don’t have it.
4
4
April 2004
Politics of Head Start advocacy (article) How Head Start has survived and why it resists change
4
3
March 2004
The Real Value of Teachers & TVAAS (monograph)  The importance of value-added achievement data to educational improvement
4
2
February 2004
Reform of and by the System: A Case Study (article)  How bureaucracy can turn reform legislation to its own agenda
4
1
January 2004
Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn (report) Where are the new ideas?
3
12
December 2003
Preparing Teachers: Are American Schools of Education up to the Task? (article) Exactly what is being taught in America’s teacher training programs?
3
11
November 2003
Do Students Have Too Much Homework? (report) Are students overworked because of accountability pressures?
3
10
October 2003
Reflections on Class Size and Teacher Quality (article) Is class size reduction worth the money?
3
4
April 2003
Teacher Reform Gone Astray (chapter)  Finn says Nation at Risk hijacked
3
3
March 2003
Shifting Images of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (article) Nation’s largest accreditor tries to step away from fad and its consequences
2
12
December 2002
Bringing Evidence-Driven Progress to Education, A Recommended Strategy for the U. S. Department of Education (report) Improved achievement will require evidence-based practice, not more theory
2
11
November 2002
Preventing Reading Failure (report) Do we need more research or watchdogs that bark?
2
9
September 2002
Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge (report) Paige suggests pedagogy training should be condition of employment, not certification.
2
7
July 2002
Evolution of New American Schools (report) How reform becomes a rehash
2
6
June 2002
Value-Added Gains of NBPTS-Certified Teachers (article) Do NBPTS-Certified teachers produce exceptional student gains?
2
5
May 2002
How Science Informs Reading Instruction? (article) What does science say about how reading should be taught?
2
4
April 2002
Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Educational Testing (article) Are the benefits of school testing worth the costs?
2
2
February 2002
Court-ordered Spending Brings More of the Same (article) Why “funding adequacy” decisions are not improving schooling
2
1
January 2002
Teacher Certification Reconsidered: Stumbling for Quality (report) The controversy over teacher certification research
1
12
December 2001
Why students in some countries do better (article) Cost-effectiveness of U. S. schools
1
11
November 2001
Home Environments for Learining (book) Do American students study enough?
1
10
October 2001
Rethinking Special Education (report) Can special education be reformed?
1
9
September 2001
Schoolbook Simplification and Its Relation to the Decline in SAT-Verbal Scores (article)  Are today’s schoolbooks easier and has education been affected?.
1
8
August 2001
Professionalism and the Public Good: A Brief History of Teacher Certification (Monograph) Has public regulation of teaching assured quality?
1
7
July 2001
Parents and Schools: The 150-Year Struggle for Control in American Education (book) Do public schools seek to fulfill parents’ aims?
1
6
June 2001
Direct Instruction and the Teaching of Early Reading, Wisconsin’s Teacher-Led Insurgency (report) Do teacher’s colleges emphasize proven teaching methods?
1
5
May 2001
Facing the Classroom Challenge (report) Are California teachers taught to stress social idealism instead of learning? Yes.
1
4
Apr. 2001
Teacher Evaluation & Student Achievement (monograph) Is there a fair way to evaluate how much a teacher’s students achieve?
1
3
Mar. 2001
Follow through: Why didn’t we? (article) Are proven teaching methods already available?
1
2
Feb. 2001
Aligning teacher training with public policy (article) Are teachers trained to produce student achievement?
1
1
Jan. 2001