Most Recent Analysis and Perspectives

Politics of Education

How the Dems Lost on Education

In the American Prospect, Kevin Carey explains how Republicans have exploited the Democratic Party's failure to own the education-reform issue—and students have paid the price.

Undergraduate Education

On 'Real Education'

Kevin Carey reflects on Charles Murray's new book, Real Education, about the history of American higher education. 

Teacher Quality

ProComp Strikes Solid Balance in Attracting and Retaining Teachers

Education Sector's Andrew J. Rotherham and Robert Gordon of the Center for American Progress lay out the positives behind ProComp in The Rocky Mountain News.

Teacher Quality

Avoiding a Rush to Judgment: Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Quality

Thomas Toch and Robert Rothman revisit the troubled state of teacher evaluation in the summer 2008 issue of Voices in Urban Education.

Undergraduate Education

Where's the Data?

Higher education needs more concrete evidence about what works in teaching, writes Kevin Carey in his latest column for Inside Higher Ed.

Most Recent Research and Reports

Education Finance

School Funding's Tragic Flaw

In this report from Education Sector and the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), Kevin Carey and Marguerite Roza examine funding disparities between two seemingly similar schools in Virginia and North Carolina. Carey and Roza find that the federal, state, and local policies designed to distribute education funds systematically provide more money to higher-income students and wealthier schools.

Teacher Quality

Waiting to Be Won Over

In the national conversation on teacher quality, there is considerable debate about what teachers think and what they want. Too often assumptions guide the discussion rather than actual evidence of teachers' views. In a new report, Education Sector and the FDR Group provide that evidence, detailing findings from a national survey of public school teachers.

Undergraduate Education

Graduation Rate Watch

College graduation rates for minority students are often shockingly low. And most institutions have significantly lower graduation rates for black students than for white students. But, as Research and Policy Manager Kevin Carey documents in a new Education Sector report, these high-failure rates are not inevitable: Some institutions are graduating black students at a higher rate than white students.

Teacher Quality

The Benwood Plan: A Lesson in Comprehensive Teacher Reform

Chattanooga's Benwood Initiative is one of the most widely touted school-reform success stories of recent years. And many credit its success to financial incentives used to lure new teachers to low-performing schools. In this report, Senior Policy Analyst Elena Silva argues that Benwood's success was not just about attracting new talent, but helping existing teachers improve the quality of their instruction.