School systems across the country have adopted policies, such as Florida’s A+ program, that reward or sanction schools depending on how their students perform on standardized tests. The A+ program assigns schools a grade from A to F, based on how their students score in reading and math. While...

With the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization looming and Washington’s eyes focused on school turnarounds and the Common Core State Standards, we must listen to the voices of dynamic leaders tackling the challenge of high-quality literacy instruction in the nation’s school districts.

The federal government can and should play a limited but important role in helping the nation address the challenge of  improving the productivity of education spending.

Not only do few states set world-class standards, most render the notion of proficiency meaningless.

D.C. offers considerable school choice, but without many options. Parents are forced to bet on their child's education in lotteries and untested schools.

Some states have decided to be a whole lot more generous than others in determining whether students are proficient at math and reading under theNo Child Left Behind standards.

Those who argue for reform that's about overall excellence and improving the opportunities for all students have been tarred in recent years as anti-reform or racist. But laudable efforts to help our least fortunate students need not come at the expense of the rest. We can do much better by all our children--and the first step is escaping the pinched confines of the achievement-gap mentality.

Student achievement should be incorporated into teacher evaluation and compensation, and transparency is a vital tool for recognizing excellence and shaming mediocrity. But a public data release is the wrong way to get there.