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2009
November 4, 2009 "Will Congress Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut?"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about a bill passed by the House that would send $8 billion to states to boost the quality of preschools and expand the number of preschool spots for disadvantaged children.
November 2, 2009 "Stimulating Stagnation in Education"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses the New York Times report in which the Obama Administration admits that over half of the jobs it created or saved by its stimulus package were in the field of education.
October 29, 2009 "Voters Choose Neighborhood Schools over Socioeconomic Diversity"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about Wake County, North Carolina, where voters earlier this month elected new school board members who have pledged to undo the county’s controversial policy of assigning students to schools based on income (to achieve diversity).
Octoberber 23, 2009 "In Memoriam: Theodore Sizer"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson remembers Ted Sizer and his impact on the field of education.
October 22, 2009 "The Nobel Committee Isn’t the Only One Giving Speculative Prizes"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about wishful thinking in the education reform community. Do school reformers need to temper their enthusiasm about the reform du jour?
October 21, 2009 "Instead of Creating Charters, Just Incarcerate the Students"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses a recentMassachusetts state commission solution to the high school drop-out problem.
October 19, 2009 "Nobel Prize Winner Elinor Ostrom and Her Theory of Co-Production"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses the selection of political scientist Elinor Ostrom for a Nobel prize in economics.
October 14, 2009 "Will Michelle Rhee Triumph?"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about education politics in Washington, D.C., where Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee recently fired 229 teachers.
October 8, 2009 "Will the Federal Role in Education Double?"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. discuss Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s recent speech, the future of federal education spending, and making NCLB’s successor tighter about ends and looser about means.
October 1, 2009 "Charter Schools Narrow Achievement Gaps in New York City"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about Caroline Hoxby’s random assignment study of student achievement in charter schools in New York City.
September 25, 2009 "Liberating Learning"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses the latest book by political scientists Terry Moe and John Chubb.
September 24, 2009 "What Congress Is Not Working On"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. gab about NCLB this week, and consider whether the law will be reauthorized by 2014, which is the deadline for all students to achieve proficiency.
September 24, 2009 "How Much Support Is There for Merit Pay?"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson notes that opinion on merit pay has yet to consolidate in one direction or another, as a lot of people have yet to make up their mind.
September 17, 2009 "Charter Schools, Unions, and Linking Teachers with Student Achievement Data"
In this Education Next Podcast, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. discuss the week’s education news, including an announcement that a charter school in Massachusetts has signed a collective bargaining agreement with its teachers, an agreement that includes merit pay.
September 16, 2009 "The Lost Art of Book Reviewing: Editors Defend School Money Trials"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Deputy Director Martin West and Director Paul Peterson defend their book School Money Trials and discuss the state of the academic book review.
September 14, 2009 "When it Comes to Supporting NCLB, It’s the Way You Ask the Question That Counts"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses how, in polls, the way you ask the question can sometimes determine the answer you get.
September 11, 2009 "Polls Seem to Differ on Charters, But In Fact They Agree"
In this Education Next Blog Post, PEPG Director Paul Peterson explains why according to the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll, 64 percent of all Americans “favor the idea of charters” while according to the Ednext poll, only 39 percent “support the formation of charter schools.”
September 9, 2009 "What the Public Thinks of Public Schools"
In this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses the latest results from the Education Next-PEPG Survey and what they reveal about the public's knowledge and opinion of public schools.
September 9, 2009 Crossing the Finish Line PEPG Deputy Director Martin West talks with Matthew Chingos about the recently published Crossing the Finish Line, of which Chingos was a co-author.
September 3, 2009 "Health Lessons from Schools"
In this New York Post Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses how lessons learned from our public education system could be useful in the debate regarding the creation of a public option in health-care insurance.
August 31, 2009 Swaying Public Opinion
PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson talks with Deputy Director Martin West about what it takes to change public opinion about reforms like charter schools.
For more on this topic, please see “The Persuadable Public” in the Fall 2009 issue of Education Next.
August 26, 2009 "Edward Kennedy, Lionized Senator, Dies of Cancer"
PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson acknowledges the key role the late Senator Edward Kennedy played in passing the No Child Left Behind Act Read the Article
May 19 , 2009 "Educating the Public"
PEPG Research Affiliate William G. Howell and PEPG Deputy Director Martin R. West release findings from the Education Next—PEPG Survey showing that when provided with accurate information, public support for increased spending on schools and teacher salaries declines Read the Research Article View the Press Release
March 16, 2009 "Sustaining Progress in Times of Fiscal Crisis"
PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson & Deputy Director Martin R. West Release New Report Commissioned by Florida State Board of Education Providing Blueprint for State Response to Fiscal Crisis.
View the Press Release for the report.
March 12 , 2009 Discussion on the Likely Termination of the Washington, D.C., Voucher Program
Paul E. Peterson, PEPG Director and Harvard government professor, along with fellow member of Hoover’s Task Force on K–12 Education Terry Moe comment on the controversy surrounding the likely termination of the Washington, D.C., voucher program. Moe and Peterson discuss why vouchers are important for students, particularly disadvantaged ones; why many teachers and Democrats do not like the voucher program; why Democrats voted to end the voucher program; and why private schools work best for disadvantaged students.
February 19, 2009 "Penalizing Schools That Succeed"
In this New York Post Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson discusses his recent study, conducted with Research Fellow Matthew M. Chingos, which finds that Philadelphia School District students at schools run by for-profit firms performed better in math and in reading than those students attending schools run by nonprofits.
February 11, 2009 "Report: Privatized, Edison Schools outperforming non-profit run schools" PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson speaks with WHYY FM about his recent study on Philadelphia Schools Listen to the Podcast Read the article
February 10, 2009 "Impact of For-Profit and Nonprofit Management on Student Achievement:
The Philadelphia Intervention, 2002-2008"
PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson and Research Fellow Matthew M. Chingos release a new study on the impact of for-profit and non-profit management on student achievement in Philadelphia.
View the Press Release for this study.
January 29, 2009 Obama's Education Stimulus Critiqued
Paul E. Peterson, PEPG Director and Harvard government professor says stimulus needs to emphasize productivity. Read the transcript
August 12, 2008 President Bush Announces Intent to Nominate Paul E. Peterson to the Board of Directors of the National Board of Education Sciences
President Bush announced his intention to nominate eight
individuals to serve as Members of the Board of Directors of the
National Board of Education Sciences (NBES), including PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson. Press Release
August 12, 2008 "The 2008 Education Next-PEPG Survey of Public Opinion"
PEPG Deputy Director William Howell, Research Affiliate Martin West, and Director Paul Peterson discuss the results of the 2008 Education Next—PEPG Survey in the the Fall 2008 issue of Education Next. View the Press Release for this study.
May 16-17 , 2008 The Program on Education Policy and Governance Hosts Conference on Economic Incentives: Do They Work in Education?
Insights and Findings from Behavioral Research
CESifo Conference Center, Munich
To explore the use of economic incentives in education, CESifo Munich and the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) of Harvard University are hosting jointly a conference in Munich Germany on 16-17 May 2008. Building on the success of a previous joint conference whose proceedings are just published by MIT Press, the scientific organizers, Paul E. Peterson (Harvard) and Ludger Woessmann (Munich), hope to again bring scholarly perspectives together from both sides of the Atlantic.
November 7, 2007 "Educational Rewards"
In this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson and PEPG Research Fellow Matthew Chingos present their argument that the profit motive improves schools as their research shows students in Philadelphia attending schools managed by for-profit firms are further ahead than are students at schools left in the hands of the school district.
November 1, 2007 "For-Profit and Non-Profit School Management: The Philadelphia Experiment "
PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson and Research Fellow Matthew M. Chingos release a new study on the impact of for-profit and non-profit management on student achievement in Philadelphia. View the Press Release for this study.
July 30, 2007 "What Americans Think about Their Schools "
PEPG Deputy Director William Howell, Research Affiliate Martin West, and Director Paul Peterson discuss the results of the 2007 Education Next—PEPG Survey in the the Fall 2007 issue of Education Next. View the Press Release for this study.
July 24, 2007 "School Choice and Racial Balance "
In this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson presents his argument that, to achieve racial balance, parents should be allowed to choose their child's school, and that
oversubscribed schools should be allowed to admit students by lot.
February 22, 2007 "The Philadelphia Story"
In this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson takes on the recent RAND Corporation study on the private management of schools in Philadelphia. The Op-Ed coincides with the Philadelphia Accountability Review Council's report on private management.
February 8, 2007 "Keeping Education Accountable"
PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson comments on educational accountability in this Harvard Crimson op-ed.
2006
December 19 , 2006 PEPG Identified as Source of Most Influential Research
PEPG school voucher research has been identified as one of the 13 most influential studies shaping education policy over the past 10 years, according to the recent Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center report, "Influence: A Study of the Factors Shaping Education Policy." EPE also identified the PEPG-sponsored Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research as one of the ten most influential sources of information on education policy. Full press release
November 20, 2006 Paul Peterson Named to Head Florida Education Transition Team
Florida Governor-Elect Charlie Crist announced the five additional of nine total Citizen Review Group leaders that will spearhead an agency-by-agency fact-finding mission aimed at identifying opportunities and challenges within each operation. PEPG Director Paul E. Peterson will head the Education transition team, covering the Department of Education and Agency for Persons with
Disabilities. Full press release
September 28, 2006 School Ratings Under NCLB and Florida's A+ Accountability Plan
Contrasting the accountabilty provisions of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law with his brother's plan in Florida, Sam Dillon of the New York Times discusses the recent Education Next article, "Is Your Child's School Effective? Don't Rely on NCLB to Tell You," by Paul Peterson and Marty West. "As 2 Bushes Try to Fix Schools, Tools Differ"
Sam Dillon - New York Times
April 2006 Market Forces: Professor Paul Peterson's Influential Protégés Dale Mezzacappa of the Education Sector profiles the PEPG Director Paul Peterson in the context of his recruiting and mentoring a new generation of education scholars. Access the full report.
March 29 and April 5, 2006 Taking on the Teacher Unions In a pair of Op-Eds appearing in the Boston Globe and the NY Daily News, Frederick Hess and Martin West comment on the proposed education reforms of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and the challenge of overhauling the teachers union contract in New York City.
March 1 , 2006 Spring 2006 Issue of Education Next Is Available Online
- Access the full issue.
- Read the press release about Brian Jacob and Lars Lefgren's research article on the accuracy of principals' assessments of teacher performance. Education Week also covered this story: "Study Backs Principals as Effective in Evaluating Teachers" [subscription required].
- Read the press release for Jay Greene and Marcus Winter's research article on the effect of Florida's Retention Policy.
- Read the press release for Michael Podgursky's feature on teacher quality and teacher pay.
September 28, 2005 Erasing Inequality In this New York Sun Op-Ed, PEPG Director Paul Peterson responds to a front page New York Times article ("As Test Scores Jump, Raleigh Credits Integration by Income," Alan Finder, Sept. 25, 2005, page 1) in which it was reported that students from Raleigh, NC, made substantial test score gains as a result of a school desegregation policy implemented a decade ago.
June 7 , 2005 A Chance to Escape
In his NY Times Op-Ed column, John Tierney discusses the Florida Supreme Court case in which the plaintiffs are attempting to end Florida's Opportunity Scholarship program for students in failing public schools. In shaping his argument in favor of the voucher program, Tierney references PEPG Director Paul Peterson and PEPG Research Fellow Marty West's recent research paper about Florida's accountability system, "The Efficacy of Choice Threats within School Accountability Systems." "A Chance to Escape" (free subscription required) • PDF of PEPG Study
May 6, 2005 New PEPG Research Papers on Principal Preparation
Frederick Hess and Andrew Kelly of the American Enterprise Institute have authored two new research papers on principal preparation for PEPG. In the first paper (PEPG 05-02: "Learning to Lead? What Gets Taught in Principal Preparation Programs"), they find little evidence that principal preparation programs are introducing students to a broad range of management, organizational, or administrative theory and practice. This paper also appears in the Summer 2005 issue of Education Next under the title, "The Accidental Principal." PDF of the study • Education Next article• Education Next press release
In the second paper (PEPG 05-03: "Textbook Leadership? An Analysis of Leading Books Used in Principal Preparation") they analyze widely adopted education administration textbooks and report that these texts paid little attention to accountability, efficiency, or how to make critical personnel decisions. Moreover, the books provided little guidance on how to use accountability as a management tool or use resources more efficiently. PDF of the study
April 28, 2005 Sue First, Teach Later In this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, Paul Peterson and Martin West discuss the recent decision of the National Education Assocation and others to sue the federal government on the basis that the No Child Left Behind Act is an unfunded mandate. Download a PDF of the Op-Ed
April 5, 2005 "The Efficacy of Choice Threats within School Accountability Systems: Results from Legislatively Induced Experiments" In the first independent study to examine the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the test-score performance of individual students, Martin R. West and Paul E. Peterson found that key choice provisions of the Florida A+ Accountability Plan were more effective than NCLB's at promoting student achievement gains. Read the full press release • Download a PDF of the study
February 22, 2005 Wage Compression Driving Top Women Graduates from Teaching In the Spring issue of Education Next, Caroline Hoxby, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and director of the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, presents new research on decline of teacher quality - why America's top women college graduates are not teaching. Read the full press release • Access this Article
2004
December 14, 2004 Nationwide Study Shows More Charter School Students Proficient on State Exams than Public School Peers Nationwide, a higher percentage of students in established charter schools are judged proficient on the state reading and math examinations than in the nearest traditional public school. If a charter school has been operating for more than nine years, ten percent more students are scoring at or above the proficiency level in both subjects.
This finding comes from a new study by Caroline Hoxby of Harvard University that compares the performance of charter school students with students in the nearest traditional public school. Ninety-nine percent of all elementary students in charter schools are included in the study. Read the full press release • Download a PDF of the study
September 24, 2004 PEPG Named Key Partner in First Federally-Funded Research Center on School Choice
PEPG, together with other leading institutions, will establish the federally funded Center on School Choice, Competition and Achievement.
The Center will receive a $10 million dollar, five-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, the main research component of the U.S. Department of Education. Under the grant’s terms, PEPG, under the direction of Paul Peterson, will examine the impacts of school vouchers on public schools, the effects of charter schools and private schools on student achievement, and the effects of school accountability systems on political competition within school districts Read the full press release
2003
June 12, 2003 Latest Results from New York City School Voucher Research: African Americans in Private Schools Score Higher
New analyses of an evaluation of a privately funded New York City voucher program show positive effects on the test scores of African Americans, report PEPG researchers Paul Peterson and William Howell. The latest findings show higher levels of performance in private schools in a wide variety of statistical estimations. The results are of special interest because they are obtained from a randomized field trial of the kind often undertaken in medical research but seldom used in the study of educational innovations. Peterson and Howell looked at the evidence 120 different ways. In 108 of the estimations employed, significantly positive impacts for African Americans were discerned. The few results that did not register significant effects were based on less rigorous research methods. Read the full press release
2002
February 19, 2002 Latest Results from New York City School Voucher Research: African Americans in Private Schools Score Higher
New analyses of an evaluation of a privately funded New York City voucher program show positive effects on the test scores of African Americans, report PEPG researchers Paul Peterson and William Howell. The latest findings show higher levels of performance in private schools in a wide variety of statistical estimations. The results are of special interest because they are obtained from a randomized field trial of the kind often undertaken in medical research but seldom used in the study of educational innovations. Peterson and Howell looked at the evidence 120 different ways. In 108 of the estimations employed, significantly positive impacts for African Americans were discerned. The few results that did not register significant effects were based on less rigorous research methods. Read the full press release
