The No Child Left Behind Act created an audacious goal for American education: by 2014 – just seven years from now – all children must be "proficient" in reading and mathematics. But what, exactly, is proficiency? What would it take to bring all students to that level, and what role would organizations outside of schools play? This issue of Voices in Urban Education offers five perspectives on what "proficiency" looks like and how students can learn in and out of school to...
Recent Publications
Published by Teachers College PressUrban Schools, Public Will by the Annenberg Institute's Norm Fruchter draws on a rich array of research and personal experience to examine why, fifty years beyond Brown v. Board, urban districts have failed poor students of color and what must be done to transform our city schools.
Using data in educational decision making has become one of the hottest topics in the field. But using data for decisions still poses a challenge. How can districts and communities sift through data, analyze the data, and make sure those who make decisions are able to make use of the data? How can decision making really be data-driven? This issue of Voices in Urban Education looks at districts and communities that have shown success in using data effectively.
The role of seniority in teacher layoffs is a perennial subject of intense debate, with different states taking sharply differing approaches: some have ended layoff policies based only on seniority, while others prohibit districts from considering any factor other than seniority. This policy brief from the Annenberg Institute's Center for Education Organizing (CEO) examines the history and intent of seniority rules and...
In communities around the nation, youth organizing groups are becoming effective and powerful partners in school reform. Youth, as the people who spend each day inside schools and classrooms, have a huge stake in what happens in schools and bring a unique knowledge and perspective to reforms. As the articles in this issue, produced in collaboration with the Alliance for Education Justice, ...