This article uses case studies to explore how district administrators' conceptions of equity relate to finance reform implementation. The authors identify two conceptions of equity: greater resources for students with greater needs, and equal distribution of resources for all students. These beliefs were reflected in resource allocation decisions and were informed by districts' student demographics, organizational identities, and perceptions of adequacy.

This study examines how high-quality professional development can promote the diffusion of effective teaching strategies among teachers through collaboration. Drawing on longitudinal and sociometric data from a study of writing professional development in 39 schools, this study shows that teachers’ participation in professional development is associated with providing more help to colleagues on instructional matters. Further, the influence of professional development on participants’ instructional practice diffuses through the network of helping. These findings suggest that in addition to...

This study examines patterns of sorting across classrooms within schools in three large urban school districts. Students are sorted across classrooms by race, poverty status, and prior achievement. Sorting is smaller within schools than across schools, but is still significant, particularly at middle and high school levels. Lower achieving students tend to have more poor and minority peers and less experienced teachers, exacerbating inequalities.

This study examines teacher sorting within schools in a large urban district. It finds that less experienced, minority, and female teachers are assigned lower-achieving students than their more experienced, white, and male colleagues. The authors discuss the implications for achievement gaps, teacher turnover, and teacher value-added estimation.

Effective professional development is essential for achieving ambitious student achievement goals in standards-based education reforms. While research has identified key features of effective programs, many districts still offer unfocused and ineffective professional development that wastes limited resources. To deploy effective strategies, districts must first know how much they cost. This article aims to develop an analytical framework for organizing professional development costs and providing a common language for discussing programs.

This article discusses how teacher recruitment and retention affect the quality of teaching in schools. The supply and demand model, including wages and non-pecuniary job attributes, influences the supply of potential and current teachers. The demand for teachers depends on factors such as student enrollment and institutional constraints such as hiring authorities' skill and efficiency. The article identifies common policy approaches to improve recruitment and retention and summarizes current research on their effectiveness.

Policymakers aim to improve student outcomes through the hiring of highly qualified teachers, but there is little consensus on what qualities make a teacher "good." Research on teacher characteristics that impact student achievement is inconclusive. This article examines recent empirical evidence on teacher quality in education production.

Getting Down to Facts is an extensive investigation of CA's public education system commissioned by a bipartisan group of CA leaders. The project aimed to describe California's school finance and governance systems, identify obstacles hindering resource utilization, and estimate costs to achieve student outcome goals. The project resulted in 23 reports by scholars, which highlight that the current school finance and governance systems fail to help students achieve state performance goals, particularly those from low-income families. The reports provide a framework for assessing reform options.

This article discusses the evolution of union-management discussions in education over the past two decades, and the emergence of professional unionism. However, in recent years, professional unionism has declined due to management's reluctance to partner with unions, politicians' lack of recognition of union efforts, and unions' reluctance to take on additional responsibilities. The article recommends labor law changes that require unions and management to negotiate student achievement goals as a means of addressing these issues.

Michigan State University's College of Education has established the nonpartisan Education Policy Center to provide lawmakers and educational leaders with accurate, research-based information to improve the state's educational system. With the support of the university's resources, the center aims to play an important role in deepening the policy debate and bringing about improvements in the system. The center was established due to a lack of systematic communication between researchers and policymakers in Michigan.

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides an opportunity to reconsider the federal role in teacher professional development. The largest federal professional development fund is the Eisenhower program. Lessons from Eisenhower and contemporary research suggest that federal funds should be focused exclusively on subject matter knowledge and pedagogy and accountability should be based on assessment of student learning. The purpose is to generate discussion on how to more effectively use federal dollars to improve student achievement.