Rethinking the Federal Role in Elementary and Secondary Education

The Window is Closing on Sensible School Reform

This article, written by CEP Director Jack Jennings, appeared in The Hill on March 2, 2010, and discusses the critical last chance that effective ESEA reauthorization now faces. View Materials

CEP Recommendations for Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

In 2008, the Center on Education Policy undertook a project to rethink the federal role in elementary and secondary education. As a first step, CEP commissioned a series of papers on key issues, requiring the authors to provide evidence of the effects of various programs and initiatives, and to provide recommendations. Each paper was peer-reviewed by individuals with diverse points of view on the issue. Also, CEP convened a series of public forums to discuss several of the papers. We also compiled a compendium of key studies on the No Child Left Behind Act. Both the papers and the compendium are posted on this page.

In February 2010, CEP issued its recommendations for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act). In developing these recommendations, CEP drew upon these papers, forums, research compendium, as well as CEP's comprehensive studies of NCLB and our long-term experience with federal policies. The document, Better Federal Policies Leading to Better Schools, provides guidance for President Obama and the Congress in shaping the federal role in elementary and secondary education. View Materials

Commissioned Papers for CEP's Project to Rethink the Federal Role in Elementary and Secondary Education

Summaries of commissioned papers

Federal Aid to Elementary and Secondary Education: Premises, Effects, and Major Lessons Learned
By Paul Manna, College of William and Mary
Paper | Appendix

Standards-Based Reform in the United States: History, Research, and Future Directions
By Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Stecher, and Kun Yuan, RAND Corporation
Paper

The Role of Assessment in Federal Education Programs
By W. James Popham, University of California, Los Angeles
Paper

Demographic Trends and the Federal Role in Education
By Harold Hodgkinson, Hodgkinson Associates, Ltd.
Paper

The Federal Role in Education: Lessons from Australia, Germany, and Canada
By Chad R. Lykins and Stephen P. Heyneman, Vanderbilt University
Paper

Advancing ECE² Policy: Early Childhood Education (ECE) and its Quest for Excellence, Coherence, and Equity (ECE)
By Sharon L. Kagan and Jeanne L. Reid, Teachers College, Columbia University
Paper

The Federal Role in Out-of-School Learning: After-School, Summer Learning, and Family Involvement as Critical Learning Supports
By Heather B. Weiss, Priscilla M. D. Little, Suzanne M. Bouffard, Sarah N. Deschenes, and Helen Janc Malone, Harvard Family Research Project
Paper

From PLATO to Podcasts: Fifty Years of Federal Involvement in Educational Technology
By Mathew Cherian, Graduate Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paper

National Efforts to Bring Reform to Scale in America’s High-Poverty Elementary and Secondary Schools: Outcomes and Implications
By Geoffrey D. Borman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Paper

Fifty Years of Federal Teacher Policy: An Appraisal
By Gary Sykes and Kenne Dibner, Michigan State University
Paper

What the Federal Government Can Do to Improve High School Performance
By Russell W. Rumberger, University of California, Santa Barbara
Paper

Related Papers

Two other papers that informed this project to rethink the federal role in elementary and secondary education were developed in 2004 for a CEP forum on the No Child Left Behind Act.

Two other papers that are informing this project to rethink the federal role in elementary and secondary education were developed in 2004 for a CEP forum on the No Child Left Behind Act.

Ruminations Regarding NCLB'S Most Malignant Provision: Adequate Yearly Progress
By W. James Popham, University of California, Los Angeles
Paper | Figure

Rethinking the No Child Left Behind Accountability System
By Robert L. Linn, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, University of Colorado at Boulder
Paper

Compendium of Key Studies of the No Child Left Behind Act

This compendium summarizes the findings of major studies of the implementation and effects of NCLB conducted by various organizations and agencies from 2002 to 2008. View the Compendium