Exclusive: As Feds Step Back, States Step Up Sharing Ways to Boost Student Achievement

A new Harvard University initiative aims to address the nation’s ‘crisis moment in education’ in areas from cell phone use to chronic absenteeism.For almost a quarter of a century — as far back as the 2001 passage of No Child Left Behind — states have been required under federal law to identify and focus intense support on their poorest-performing schools. What that means, practically speaking, is that the most targeted and resource-heavy programs are poured into turning around the bottom 5% of schools in every state, including those with chronically bad graduation rates and those where certain subgroups of students languish below grade-level.

It’s no longer just the bottom 5 percent of schools in each state that are in trouble — it’s the majority of them. Recognizing this, Illinois developed a universal model of continuous school improvement to ensure that every school in the state — not just those identified for support by being the very worst — benefits from evidence-based improvement strategies. The goal of extending that type of focused support to every school, unique to Illinois, was developed in partnership with administrators, school boards, superintendents and principals. So when the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University announced it was planning a new state collaborative aimed at helping states identify, study and share their most effective school improvement policies, Illinois knew it would have something special to share. The state is one of nine — along with Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas — participating in “States Leading States.” The goal of the initiative is ambitious: to work alongside state leaders to evaluate policies meant to solve their most pressing challenges and make those lessons rapidly accessible via a series of rolling policy reports to lawmakers and practitioners across the country. “We are in a crisis moment in education,” said Scott Sargrad, director of States Leading States. “Now is really the time to double down on what works. And so in order to double down on what works, we need to know what works.” The effort comes as the most recent math and reading scores for high schoolers plummet to record lows, chronic absenteeism soars and more and more students graduate without the skills necessary to be successful in college or the workplace. And it’s all occurring against the backdrop of a significantly diminished federal role in education under the Trump administration — both in terms of funding K-12 programs and prioritizing research to elevate best practices. Take the myriad state efforts to boost reading scores by adopting policies better aligned to the science of reading. “It’s not totally clear what the best policy levers are to pull at the state level to actually get better teaching in the classroom, instructional coaching,” said Sargrad. “Is it tutoring? Is it high-quality instructional materials? Is it all of those things combined? We’re trying to figure out what the most effective state policies are on a bunch of pressing issues.” In addition to its continuous improvement plan, Illinois, for example, is in the process of developing a so-called “Comprehensive Numeracy Plan.” Modelled after a literacy program by the same name, the numeracy plan will establish a roadmap for strengthening math teaching and learning across the state, which right now, most states haven’t attempted. Harvard’s initiative is already garnering praise from both sides of the edu-political spectrum, with Margaret Spellings, former Education Secretary under President George W. Bush, and John B. King Jr., former Education Secretary under President Barack Obama, both backing the plan. “At a time when too many students are not reading at grade level or able to do basic math and the gaps between highest and lowest performing students are growing, we need to make student achievement a priority again and develop evidence-based strategies that help all students succeed,” said Spellings, who is now the president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center. King, who is currently the Chancellor of the State University of New York, said the initiative “sets a powerful example for the country.” States Leading States plans to publish research reports and practical policy solutions, sharing what works and what doesn’t. Attracting the right mix of states was important, Sargrad said, since ensuring geographic, demographic and political diversity of states participating in the initiative increases the likelihood for other state education leaders to glimpse how these policy lifts might play out in their state or district.