A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

The Policy Forum, Vol. 1, No. 1 - October 1997

The National Institute on Educational
Governance, Finance, Policy Making,
and Management Funds CPRE:
An "Exciting Venture"

The application that won a major new grant for the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) described it as "an exciting venture to improve reform effectiveness through research." Policy makers and practitioners are often overwhelmed by the many slogans associated with education reform. CPRE is shaping its research agenda to address the need for sound knowledge of those who must make practical choices about policies likely to produce improved student outcomes.

CPRE's research is built upon several key assumptions about effective education reform. Reform should:

• focus on teaching and learning,
• create a coherence of policy and practice around that focus,
• incorporate individual and organizational incentives, and
• enhance the capacity of people and institutions.

CPRE is a consortium of five of the nation's leading universities. With their 5-year $14 million grant from the Institute, CPRE is conducting research in three program areas.

School Reform. CPRE researchers believe that a major shortcoming of past reforms is failure to connect broad policies with the core of education that takes place every day within schools. All the projects in this research area will advance knowledge, and improve its relevance for practice, by concretely linking reform policies with teaching and learning. Studies will examine how schools can be changed to improve instruction for students, how to deal with schools that consistently fail to meet expectations, and how to effectively scale-up reforms.

Policy and Governance. Research in this area will study the implementation of standards-based reform "from Congress to the classroom." Studies will be more sensitive than earlier research to the varied contexts in which reforms are implemented and will attend more carefully to the influence of nongovernmental actors. Several new reform strategies will be explored, including large-scale shifts in authority between states and districts, private sector contracting as a management tool, and various types of student incentives.

School Finance. School reform today demands a different kind of school finance knowledge. CPRE research will move the field of school finance beyond its traditional emphasis on the equitable distribution of dollars across districts toward a focus on how resources can produce high levels of achievement for all students at the school level. Studies will design a school-based finance system, consider how the concept of "adequacy" (i.e., sufficient resources to achieve some educational outcome) can be used in finance formulas, and examine how teacher compensation can be tied more closely to reform.

Research findings will be available from CPRE throughout the 5-year grant period. A recently published report, Persistence and Change, from an earlier study of the implementation of standards-based reform, can be ordered now.

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[Transforming Teacher Knowledge] [The Federal Role in Developing the Best Teachers]