OXIESEC PANEL

Name	Size	Modified	Perms
📁 ..	-	03/17/2019 06:24:57 AM	rwxrwxr-x
📄 03036edfece701eaa1537fea4014dd44.spc	52.22 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:52 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 04d0c6cc2bf146b1318b78f84416b912.spc	123.26 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:28 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 0582678c8cfff117f770f9368b70c2b5.spc	19.97 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 06d19ca88661ebf5f2459dd4315a2bb1.spc	169 bytes	02/11/2020 10:50:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 09c20f5ef1098fa6a0dcbf757db22c44.spc	212.6 KB	03/07/2020 03:53:26 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 0bb533998a40e1ca3cefc59d6e542fc8.spc	34.69 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 0ed254d4d9db6e3afe193b00bc6471bb.spc	31.22 KB	03/11/2020 01:28:56 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 1469d584e9747d132077c9df3cda6c97.spc	121.54 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:28 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 1608544648e39ada42071bed51f3b175.spc	192.61 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 1857fc578c17e6145bcf223d333aa48d.spc	79.19 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 192555ba2ac5f902a3e3f1c0e4aae46c.spc	176 bytes	02/11/2020 10:50:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 196f73e8cf4330017ab92ef17541ebea.spc	34.06 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 19d7e90c3867383bc4790ba57a9f0a5c.spc	39.17 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 19f3a21c36072f501f634db8e658bc9f.spc	17.31 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 1a2ad7ec8e9ae3e242926fdbb1c728ec.spc	34.11 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 1afdf65a8c3ff9f8db7a8f10b580c286.spc	41.69 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 1bb80174ec75e092e3e7dbd063def8b9.spc	29.45 KB	03/06/2020 06:31:05 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 1de9a562a6be22df63820a9463bcd78e.spc	168 bytes	02/11/2020 10:50:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 1e85d1a99d268e01b229ade5baf241c4.spc	40.19 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 23796aacf2848a8f58cd3ef3f69e38fc.spc	419.69 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:56 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 2408c179b723e6418904b92398f6b137.spc	83.21 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:57 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 242d3dabf79d13154fcc384ff8b2d25e.spc	138.23 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:24 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 24739622a680323db111e64a3e3c3305.spc	13.08 KB	03/11/2020 01:28:57 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 26ad3f3473af193dfc893e18704c9003.spc	5.83 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:58 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 2799184659106c88b5072a3e3f763a4d.spc	12.3 KB	02/11/2020 10:50:58 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 2abcd685295b4a261ad2e866188e5e11.spc	123.52 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:29 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 2d3ca8b6dffd0b708a87b587b3ae50cc.spc	48.87 KB	08/11/2020 06:13:30 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 30d0eeac4a6b2d98cdef50ef2edffa28.spc	38.41 KB	07/21/2020 08:32:16 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 30d5af6cd4c10ea02520bcaba31f3d1c.spc	474.22 KB	02/20/2020 06:35:59 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 3291222baa2e5dd4e0c4863cead17f0a.spc	366.46 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 346a1bcfe350fe2a1953cd7fbdc86186.spc	33.68 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:03 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 3691c57bc9ef4dc350ce3298a8291556.spc	34.69 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 38d3dc98ecc1c3d1c27452a54603959b.spc	30.38 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 3f7816c2aa3e261331a0214ae283daba.spc	36.88 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:03 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 3fabe39fe5de4def5db0b070e9d0c12e.spc	89.1 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:03 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 402e99fadf0b4cfb19572847e3765644.spc	31.17 KB	02/20/2020 06:35:54 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 403c286cb5177de3aee8ae96d600e668.spc	22.17 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:03 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 473e9ea85fa887bf730a58a3138e8427.spc	51.38 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:03 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 47481ffe1d8aa644664a3e0c5e57b911.spc	33.55 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:04 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 4b9b019425e46aa5699b25b164731ea6.spc	191 bytes	02/11/2020 10:51:04 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 4e8baeaef3679f9460ffdecddbb1f6a7.spc	38.47 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:04 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 4eb2ea2e7b4ee9f516345a8e766106ea.spc	41.31 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:04 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 4eb3be40ca0ee332f013def0ede20b51.spc	57.32 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:04 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 4eea197c2a9df7be5770ed85a45166af.spc	32.13 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:04 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 50df6b48e1a1b469b4fa9e86fc0c5018.spc	33.52 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:05 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 51447ae67b6d856982df0ea0496cf24b.spc	27.75 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:05 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 52598486d45e22d0c8e6d2cb26125d0e.spc	185 bytes	02/11/2020 10:51:05 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 52db6769e7a09162da92fb931530d490.spc	251 bytes	02/11/2020 10:51:05 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 557bca13c9bf58c561d365f34528cf99.spc	660.96 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:10 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 569a7c623553d15856943f80ff0d9ef0.spc	38.82 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:05 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 588359e68ff59d4ef53aaf3edb6a44cf.spc	5.91 KB	03/29/2020 11:25:33 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 593ed9fb92861195f982096e36a276a5.spc	78.73 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:08 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 59b7e8b10798f98d6ede55dc16d36abd.spc	286.35 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:10 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 5b48fed85f692b870a2e1c54eb110eea.spc	92.95 KB	02/27/2020 05:27:34 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 5b894986f9f55d997ed60e84c8fb60c7.spc	32.87 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:10 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 5c46aa1f7a9fbddb1de61f99e41c4c73.spc	27.51 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:10 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 5c541078070a50b4ef826d433fcade97.spc	203 bytes	02/27/2020 05:27:37 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 5c744a4198beb7326dcf101f961486b4.spc	56.9 KB	08/20/2020 06:22:11 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 5ef8b2cef4776b3e3f9f79092ce932ca.spc	123.2 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:29 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 60bc545cda9dafe75484b88be1dd4ae9.spc	62.66 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:27 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 60cdba7804abf8b71744dac57a1fd036.spc	37.57 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:12 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 6270f865db79068a5dedb78ba877e7a0.spc	32.31 KB	04/10/2020 11:49:32 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 64e0619d4a6fcecb77cd4fa41dd6658c.spc	43.69 KB	02/20/2020 07:08:27 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 66267a4d6dba7887fc7d4a1aa2da9b75.spc	124.15 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:28 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 6b370910388637897c5bc54c01bf6458.spc	39.47 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:12 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 6cedd2c7609f97e8201f50ac95407eb3.spc	373.91 KB	02/14/2020 05:05:41 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 6f3a7e432f89d87825c8f322156d359e.spc	105 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:14 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 6fb29d2636fbee8586653a44de845c14.spc	36.78 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:15 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 73bb6c1505db5ddb104f30c60b108890.spc	41.35 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:15 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 75223b5917c4f5312a6c6a8aecd9f9e6.spc	50.85 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:15 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 77ff73ee1cbbb4a6cb4bb52bbfd0543c.spc	94.22 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:15 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 7947ab9dba76b764cad321483ebe03c4.spc	26.63 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:16 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 7c2f1bde8d6c3ddb510b8089c44af91e.spc	43.81 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:16 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 7d1ab5c52f2c3ab33c409e73bedecc5e.spc	3.86 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:16 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 7f39e24ab9c263578364ff0fcde11837.spc	168.82 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:17 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 7fb89d7009fbbd9a5c1c2dcac2e055af.spc	2.12 MB	02/11/2020 10:51:32 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 80d5eace46cca553f0c7e7a631ed6703.spc	122.15 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:29 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 8464ad04f90f3f666985ad6a300191a2.spc	183.31 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:21 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 87bb9147a3420bb80136500148ef65dd.spc	373.91 KB	02/14/2020 05:06:32 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 89342927fe6500da4a2cd74e4c24cd84.spc	63.45 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:24 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 8bbfe139e67e5f738b9ffcb18a7c5b86.spc	92.25 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:26 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 8ddc5ee335658bf8ec6b8844cf85c93f.spc	38.21 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:26 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 8e912fe5f85715a1da6db5b96e9f1c91.spc	39.3 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:27 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 8edc68ba045edb463abe484c4485b3c1.spc	299 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:29 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 906b5d59de170e528244744b925a8af5.spc	32.01 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:25 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 925665a1ef421d5783a6690aaf7df881.spc	8.67 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:30 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 92c4233c5ea49b0f47ba9af6486e17f6.spc	30.9 KB	02/14/2020 10:55:56 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 93e4fd43857be9fead41ffa09315517f.spc	34.1 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:32 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 94b8ccc457e138e62b74ac96766909fe.spc	43.13 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:32 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 96c4f97f5353d399aeef3f49fcc0bd5a.spc	57.89 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:32 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 99e1eb580536f979670980ef56caa779.spc	87.52 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:33 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 9b4ca5bfc6880bed7985069758de6a4f.spc	38.89 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:33 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 Base.php	3.35 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:42 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 DB.php	4.6 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 File.php	4.19 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 Memcache.php	4.81 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 Memcached.php	5.27 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 MySQL.php	12.67 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 Redis.php	3.77 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:02 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 a3f94d98665e5d26445aa2956b13985d.spc	138.35 KB	03/29/2020 01:13:19 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 a40a776457ebfa5dcaef5c99f859250c.spc	126.09 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:33 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 a4a2ea47955d1ebd2b59a41a045b89ba.spc	86.78 KB	07/20/2020 05:27:37 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 a68acd2dce64f10ba3d23b96452cbd57.spc	53.71 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:34 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 a989cfbb4ebcd4ea5aede2f8d18f6b80.spc	114.06 KB	03/29/2020 01:13:18 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 aaf764fb46ef69a016d4d915512cedd4.spc	677.76 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:41 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 abea4df88cf62a5d9a03eb72a825b2f5.spc	23.09 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:36 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 abfe9571c106187db93288b1ea97357a.spc	28.61 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:36 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 ac468e6e3b78f7a8673a1be751be1226.spc	64.53 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:38 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 adb710891b75ea3e9d2379f0460c1d19.spc	65.91 KB	04/11/2020 06:44:20 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 adb7ca764a42bad01a0ccae2df09c2fa.spc	34.34 KB	03/29/2020 01:13:20 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 b1fc76c9199e2130438d81b6297c73fa.spc	124.12 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:29 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 b44b9e448df189cee8d7c7774273267b.spc	61.57 KB	08/22/2020 05:21:09 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 b5b9fb6ba1e724416126f7788d4bd8b7.spc	19.39 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:42 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 b95f1bb33446efbc7fa195b29ff261c6.spc	27.65 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:42 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 babee465717bca2404982e2751c61c53.spc	176 bytes	02/11/2020 10:51:42 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 bd3c5c1472767419fe12061049343483.spc	122.93 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:29 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 beb279d0ed1b28135d1331bbeb778b85.spc	39.34 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:27 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 c033b35e93579cf666101f023d034851.spc	108.48 KB	02/20/2020 06:35:51 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 c168527cd70d44755d5e3dc302cff303.spc	71.23 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:44 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 c31156c2178130a5e98ebbb8b2f61319.spc	32.33 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:25 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 c36e33d44db45f66ded3082899946005.spc	38.34 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:45 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 c3ae4c4faa1570ab007529b2461aed7c.spc	70.81 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:46 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 c49105af5fef08449f157af0549bf58b.spc	22.82 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:26 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 c62b9f08975a3ce69acf5001c1be6fc0.spc	828.2 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:51 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 c70815c1694d1b436d240d9290d75605.spc	139.88 KB	02/27/2020 05:27:37 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 c96754afef1f81a69a0494827bfa975c.spc	61.67 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:51 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 c97a7600c7331a10d8231324118b3a67.spc	19.75 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:48 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 cc6545fb14fe412555c86b6880afe2fb.spc	192 bytes	07/19/2020 12:01:09 PM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 cdb828b9de2723669f8b1a1352709ee2.spc	387.08 KB	02/27/2020 05:27:35 PM	rw-r--r--
📄 cfba70f3409c5425ded2d8430338d49a.spc	52.97 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:52 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 d537e9e237a12ec958fea41eced57151.spc	186 bytes	02/11/2020 10:51:52 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 d7881a7f1d63da45f197c9a2e16999e4.spc	16.18 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:52 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 d8c5aac1146a5e6b3c91488029d275be.spc	27.99 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:52 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 d8eefb559112e58cb4dab21367a186e2.spc	228.32 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 d9db250644ba2877f115f509ace5a7b5.spc	28.08 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 dc319385e4015b85de4c0dee8d535f8f.spc	37.1 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:53 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 dc7b0425002a35c26a812e42646cc5af.spc	111 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:28 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 debf9c17532a02a6e6db578a7f3a4646.spc	142.69 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 defbb59ea45d623ea1c51ac8743c90ea.spc	165 bytes	02/11/2020 10:51:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 df45183a85d0f0324d9f35c8c667f311.spc	124.89 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:28 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 e095b95df0ddae888ac7f451f20129bc.spc	38.71 KB	07/21/2020 08:32:17 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 e2003b6fa97074e2942822467b17062e.spc	26.48 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 e2a37cd95187c01162d6f71089afe300.spc	50.54 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 e57f0a350e6688a01a91dda64cfa2101.spc	122.43 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:55 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 e5dae6ccace4ca4cc8216461dda29c74.spc	100.76 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:56 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 e76dbae7c8f284493808fa5931a959ea.spc	37.61 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:56 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 ea703f3e5c39f76615e5a8b975f794a2.spc	19.19 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:56 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 ea82db2f68568b4765fcf688d6c93116.spc	64.03 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:56 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 ead3210aad70aa054d53594c794ef5cb.spc	36.52 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:56 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f104494ec9505a88f21eecf9104e7bd5.spc	43.49 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:57 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f14af3dc82bb30bf0c3018917fa3a45a.spc	23.14 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:57 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f2e6e96f252853f6483f6c9c725f0ee2.spc	78.09 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:57 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f34923678798ad8b6c06d24190cb88cd.spc	329.67 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:59 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f5306b0dbdad73410aada80dbc3392d4.spc	2.43 KB	02/11/2020 10:51:59 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f74498a86970a084e5ca639447042aa3.spc	85.09 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:00 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 f7d657440800849c7fcaeb682984c7e6.spc	30.41 KB	03/24/2020 05:47:43 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 f9cf779dc17343f7a142ab34fefeb6eb.spc	428.03 KB	07/14/2020 10:43:54 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 fbc57cfd03bf1e4ef525660536f2fc4c.spc	18.92 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:01 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 fbe8c695ab40ed6d8e54c74cfd8720fe.spc	38.5 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:01 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 fcf7bfc598a8e90673a28eed5eb8247c.spc	67.72 KB	03/29/2020 11:29:51 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 fd653df8381ec085d867b89d482aed73.spc	63.39 KB	03/12/2020 06:21:26 AM	rw-r--r--
📄 fe2860db6cccfc29356a9613564f0ce6.spc	37.76 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:01 AM	rwxrwxrwx
📄 fe3f8e2b11a2d63598dad10b4d4a31f6.spc	18.73 KB	02/11/2020 10:52:01 AM	rwxrwxrwx

Editing: aaf764fb46ef69a016d4d915512cedd4.spc

a:4:{s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:3:"rss";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:3:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:7:"version";s:3:"2.0";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:7:"channel";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:288:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:4:{s:0:"";a:9:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:33:"Inside Schools – Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://www.educationnext.org";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"Education Next is a journal of opinion and research about education policy.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:13:"lastBuildDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 01 Feb 2020 15:12:41 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"en-US";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:9:"generator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.2";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:14:"managingEditor";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"education_next@hks.harvard.edu (Inside Schools – Education Next)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:5:"image";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:11:"
		
		
		
	";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:3:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:33:"Inside Schools – Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:3:"url";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"http://educationnext.org/images/rss.jpg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"https://www.educationnext.org/category/inside-schools/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:78:"

Rick talks with the CEO of TuitionFit, a venture that aggregates data on the actual price of college to help the public make more informed choices and influence the price of college the way they can in a normal marketplace.
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11521:"Mark Salisbury is co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.tuitionfit.org/" target="_blank">TuitionFit</a>, a venture that aggregates data on the actual price of college. Previously, Mark was an assistant dean of academic affairs at Augustana College and a researcher at the University of Iowa. I recently talked with him about how TuitionFit is attempting to give students more leverage over what they pay for college, and here&#8217;s what he had to say.
Rick Hess: So Mark, what is TuitionFit?
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49692555" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-jan20-blog-hess-salisbury.png" alt="" width="400" />Mark Salisbury: TuitionFit is an online platform that we launched in January 2019 with the goal of empowering the public to take back some control over college pricing. Students share financial-aid award letters, making it possible to create a central data resource that lets us crowdsource a customizable &#8220;Kelley Blue Book&#8221; for actual college prices. Students share basic academic and financial-need data—SAT or ACT score, high school GPA, and Expected Family Contribution from completing the FAFSA—which allows us to organize the results so that any student can see the actual prices that colleges are offering students just like them. As a result, the public can make far more informed choices and maybe start to impact college prices the way they can in a normal marketplace.
Rick: What prompted you to launch TuitionFit—and why is there even a need for a tool like this?
Mark: There is a need for this because sticker prices at colleges and universities have skyrocketed over the last several decades, but the actual prices that students are asked to pay are now, on average, less than half the sticker price. Unfortunately, an individual student&#8217;s actual price can vary by tens of thousands of dollars depending on where they apply. Since students have to choose where to apply before knowing what their price will be, many students end up stuck with prices they can&#8217;t afford.
Rick: So if most people aren&#8217;t paying the sticker price, how do they know if they&#8217;re being fairly charged? And how do we know how much college actually costs?
Mark: The education research graveyard is littered with the remains of folks who&#8217;ve tried to figure out how much it really costs to successfully educate a college student! Absent that, the next best option is to be able to compare any price you&#8217;ve been offered with the prices that other colleges are offering similar students. This is what made simple innovations like Kelley Blue Book so valuable for folks trying to figure out if a car was fairly priced. Until TuitionFit, we couldn&#8217;t do this with college pricing.
Rick: Will having this information actually allow students and families to influence prices, though?
Mark: Well, the short answer is yes. What the public doesn&#8217;t know is that there are now far more seats in college than there are students to fill them—and in the next few years, the number of high school seniors graduating each year will begin to decline steadily for almost a decade. That means that the public should have some power to influence prices—if they have the information.
Rick: OK, so how does this work? How do you get the data?
Mark: All the pricing data on TuitionFit comes directly from the financial-aid award letters that college-bound students share with us. We redact all of the private information on the award letter and calculate the actual price that a student would see on their bill in the fall—we throw out work study, parent PLUS loans, and all the other misleading information that schools often include in their financial-aid offers. As more students share their aid offers with TuitionFit, a data set emerges that allows students—across different academic and financial-need profiles—to see the actual prices that other colleges and universities are offering students just like them. Students can then compare the prices they have received with the other prices and either look elsewhere, negotiate a better price, or accept the financial aid offer they&#8217;ve been given with far more confidence.
Rick: So it sounds like the success of this project mostly depends on how many students upload their offer letters. How do you get the word out to them about TuitionFit?
Mark: The success of this project has depended upon students, parents, and school counselors spreading the word. We&#8217;ve tried a few other marketing ideas, but in the end, the most effective approach has been people sharing the word about TuitionFit.
Rick: I know TuitionFit just started about a year ago. Given that, how widely has it been used so far, and how many people have contributed data?
Mark: Our first nine months were a real adventure because we didn&#8217;t know for sure if people would share their financial-aid award letters or not. But once word of mouth starting buzzing around the internet, we saw students from over 40 different states join the platform. Ultimately, we finished our first cycle in August with over 4,000 award letters. And this summer, we heard from organizations all over the country that want to partner with TuitionFit.
Rick: How will you judge the success of this effort? Do you have any success stories to share?
Mark: We&#8217;ve already heard some wonderful success stories. In one case, a student shared two award letters with actual prices of about $33K and $39K, and then saw that the range of prices that other students just like her were seeing went from just $6K to north of $51K. This student was able to save over &amp;10,000 per year on college just by using this new information to apply to one of the less expensive schools that she wouldn&#8217;t have known about without using TuitionFit. My hope is that maybe we can help to cultivate a more transparent marketplace that will give many of the lesser-known colleges out there a better chance to compete. And maybe colleges will be pushed to focus more on outcomes in order to make the case that their price is worth the expense.
Rick: OK. So what&#8217;s the financial model here to make this venture sustainable?
Mark: Right now, we are focused on bringing price transparency to the college marketplace. Once that happens, I think there will be several ways for us to maintain financial stability. We think there are a variety of different entities that would pay for access to this pricing data, whether it be individuals who don&#8217;t have or don&#8217;t want to share financial-aid letters, colleges and universities that could improve their ability to compete if they knew the actual prices of their competitors, and organizations that could improve their products if they had access to more accurate pricing data—like student loans, income-share agreements, or tuition insurance.
Rick: Can you tell me a bit about what the reaction from colleges has been?
Mark: The ultra-selective schools don&#8217;t seem to care one way or the other. But the rest of the higher education institutions seem to be all over the place. We&#8217;ve heard enthusiastically positive responses on the one hand, and on the other, we&#8217;ve seen folks react with wide-eyed fear.
Rick: Speaking of colleges, you also offer colleges a subscription account. What could they get out of TuitionFit?
Mark: The public isn&#8217;t the only loser in this college-pricing mess. Many higher education institutions are now struggling to make enrollment, in part because the pricing philosophy that set this debacle in motion in the first place—the idea that the public will equate price with quality and be more likely to apply to more expensive schools—has become a curse as those high sticker prices are now scaring away potential applicants. So we built a way for colleges and universities to subscribe to TuitionFit and benefit in two ways. First, subscribing institutions can see their competitors&#8217; actual prices. This information substantially improves a school&#8217;s ability to design an optimal financial-aid strategy. Second, subscribing institutions have the opportunity to reach out to students on the platform when the institution knows that it can offer that student a better price than the one he or she has uploaded.
Rick: On that note, could there be any adverse consequences for students who upload their offer letters?
Mark: We investigated that possibility before starting TuitionFit, and our initial findings have been borne out by our experience. Students have been posting unredacted award letters online for years now, and given what happens on social media these days, an award letter posted for the world to see is the least of their concerns. We don&#8217;t know of any college or university threatening an accepted applicant who shared data. Having worked in higher education for a long time, I find it hard to imagine an admissions or financial-aid professional who would benefit their institution&#8217;s reputation by going after a student trying to find a better financial fit.
Rick: OK, last question: You spent most of your career in higher ed administration before launching TuitionFit. So based on your experience so far, what advice would you offer aspiring education entrepreneurs?
Mark: More than anything, please focus your entrepreneurial powers on solutions that actually help students gain access to college, learn in college, or graduate from college at lower costs and with less debt. There are way too many startups in the higher education ecosphere right now that are just preying on an already dysfunctional system. In many cases, these folks are making the system worse and driving costs up. And who&#8217;s ultimately paying for it? The students and the public.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and an executive editor at Education Next.
This post originally appeared on <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2020/01/straight_up_conversation_a_kelley_blue_book_for_college_costs.html" target="_blank">Rick Hess Straight Up</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Straight Up Conversation: A Kelley Blue Book for College Costs' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/straight-conversation-kelley-blue-book-for-college-costs-salisbury/' data-summary='Rick talks with the CEO of TuitionFit, a venture that aggregates data on the actual price of college to help the public make more informed choices and influence the price of college the way they can in a normal marketplace.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:84:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"Straight Up Conversation: First American to Win WISE Prize for Education Innovation – by Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:114:"https://www.educationnext.org/straight-conversation-first-american-win-wise-prize-education-innovation-rosenstock/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 17 Dec 2019 06:01:57 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:18:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"charter school";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"charter schools";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"education technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Frederick M. Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"High Tech High";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"innovation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"innovations";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Larry Rosenstock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Rick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Rick Hess Straight Up";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"School Choice";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:27:"technology in the classroom";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"WISE Prize for Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:37:"World Innovation Summit for Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49692314";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:201:"Rick talks with Larry Rosenstock, education icon, the founder and CEO of High Tech High, and recent recipient of the WISE Prize for Education, about what he's learned after a half century in education.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11166:"My old friend Larry Rosenstock, madman, education icon, and the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.hightechhigh.org/" target="_blank">High Tech High</a>, was awarded the prestigious international <a href="https://www.wise-qatar.org/wise-works/wise-prize-for-education/" target="_blank">WISE Prize for Education</a> last month. This seemed a useful excuse to chat with Larry and pick his brain on all manner of things. For those who don&#8217;t know him, Larry started his career in the 1970s, teaching carpentry in Boston high schools before going on to work as staff attorney at the Harvard Center for Law and Education, to teach at Harvard and UC Berkeley, and to eventually found one of the nation&#8217;s most influential charter schools (and become a matinee idol as the hero of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Most-Likely-Succeed-Brian-Cesson/dp/B07F847XF3" target="_blank">Most Likely to Succeed</a>). I sat down with Larry to chat about what he&#8217;s learned from his half century in education. Here&#8217;s what he had to say.
Rick: First off, big congrats on your recent award! But, for those of us who don&#8217;t routinely attend award jet-set ceremonies in Qatar, just what is the WISE Prize for Education?
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49692313" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-dec19-blog-hess-rosenstock.png" alt="" width="400" />Larry: The prize was created by the Qatar Foundation about 10 years ago in an effort to elevate the work of educators around the world. The goal is to do for education what prestigious international prizes in science, economics, and literature have done for those fields. I was very honored and surprised to win and also very proud to be the first person from the U.S. to be awarded this prize.
Rick:This award is presented at the World Innovation Summit for Education. As one of the nation&#8217;s more accomplished education innovators, what do you make of the whole notion of &#8220;education innovation&#8221; anyway?
Larry: Much of what we call innovation—learning in interdisciplinary ways, learning through creating real things of value and new knowledge, working in teams, using technology in the ways it is used in the world of work, and learning outside of schools—has been practiced by progressive educators for many years, so perhaps it is not an accurate description. However, if you take a wider view, you will see that the majority of students in the world, and indeed in the U.S., are learning in ways that have not changed much for over a century. So in that sense, &#8220;innovation&#8221; is apt. John Dewey captured my view of education innovation over 100 years ago when he said, &#8220;There is no such thing as genuine knowledge and fruitful understanding except as the offspring of doing. People have to do something to the things they wish to find out about; they have to alter conditions. This is the lesson of the laboratory method, and this is the lesson which all education has to learn.&#8221;
Rick: OK, we won&#8217;t go back to Dewey, but let&#8217;s take it back a bit. How did you wind up doing this work in the first place?
Larry: I actually went to law school to work on prisoners&#8217; rights. I was a single father and was working on carpentry jobs to support us while I was in school. In one of my carpentry jobs at a community center, teenagers started coming around, and they were interested in what I was doing and wanted to learn how to use the tools. The director of the program suggested I think about teaching, so I did. Teaching vocational education in Boston and Cambridge in the &#8217;70s and &#8217;80s was a wake-up call about segregation. So I spent a lot of time and energy with colleagues there trying to bring together academic and technical education and also to bring together the kids who were so separated into those tracks.
Rick: About two decades ago, you launched High Tech High School. What led you to launch it, and where did the idea even come from?
Larry: After working at the Center for Law and Education and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, I had the opportunity, with some amazing colleagues—including Rob Riordan, Debbie Meier, Ted Sizer, Dennis Litky, and Howard Fuller—to work on a project called the New Urban High School. We traveled around the country looking for the best examples of innovative urban high schools and tried to understand what made them successful. That, by the way, was how we came up with the design principles that are at the bedrock of HTH. One of those schools was in San Diego, and that ultimately led to me moving out here. In San Diego, I met a group of high-tech industry leaders who wanted to do something to improve science and engineering education—I don&#8217;t think the term &#8220;STEM&#8221; had even been invented then—for low-income students in San Diego. Our collaboration led to the founding of HTH. It was meant to be just one school, but over the years has grown to be 16 schools and a graduate school of education and teacher-credentialing program.
Rick: High Tech High is recognized as a model of project-based learning. But this is one of those terms that gets thrown about pretty casually. I&#8217;m curious about how you think about project-based education?
Larry: Project-based learning is essential. That term can mean different things to different people. At High Tech High, we call it &#8220;authentic work&#8221;—the idea that learning takes place through creating real things of value, whether it be a product, a performance, or a new method of doing something. Authentic work is one of four bedrock principles that HTH is founded on. Alongside authentic work is equity, the idea that all students, from all backgrounds and perceived abilities, are learning together; personalization, the assurance that students are respected, listened to, and known well; and collaborative design, which refers to teachers&#8217; autonomy to work together and with students to create their own curriculum.
Rick: You&#8217;ve been involved in charter schooling almost since its inception. What do you make of the state of charter schooling today?
Larry: Being a charter school made it possible for High Tech High to have the freedom to create the kind of school we envisioned. But I&#8217;ve always been someone who says what goes on inside the school is a whole lot more important than the governance mechanism. You&#8217;ve got plenty of charters that are not taking advantage of their freedom to do things differently, just as you have district, pilot, or magnet schools that are creating amazing learning environments.
Rick: On that note, what would you say is the biggest missed opportunity in the education sphere over the past 25 or 30 years?
Larry: This might sound weird for a high school guy, but we have had data for years that shows that high-quality preschool education has huge impacts on later learning, graduation rates, and job outcomes. Our policymakers have just not had the will to put the resources where they are most needed and would have the greatest impact.
Rick: There&#8217;s a lot of discussion regarding the state of &#8220;school reform.&#8221; What&#8217;s your take?
Larry: &#8220;School reform&#8221; is like the weather. It contains extreme opposites within it. What do I think of it? I don&#8217;t like ice storms, nor do I like top-down reforms that emphasize testing and drive curriculum toward test prep. But when school reform gives teachers and school leaders more autonomy to create curriculum and schools that meet students&#8217; and communities&#8217; needs, it&#8217;s great.
Rick: You&#8217;ve often been labeled as a &#8220;school reformer.&#8221; How do you feel about that label?
Larry: I can&#8217;t resist quoting John Dewey again, who said, &#8220;I&#8217;d rather have one school former than a hundred school reformers.&#8221;
Rick: Is there any moment in your career that you look back on and think, &#8220;Man, I wish I could have done that differently?&#8221;
Larry: Actually, I&#8217;m going to answer that question in a slightly different way. There were two times that I really wanted something—big jobs in each case, and failed to get what I wanted. The first was when I was a candidate for director at Rindge and Latin in Cambridge. Not getting the job led to me to working at the Harvard Center for Law and Education, and that experience made me a much better school director when I finally became one. Later on, I was up for a big job in Washington with the Clinton administration. I didn&#8217;t get that one either, but instead ended up doing the New Urban High School project, which ultimately led me to founding High Tech High. So failure can often turn into something better.
Rick: Looking back over all you&#8217;ve done in education, what makes you the proudest?
Larry: I think it would have to be walking through the halls at High Tech High schools at exhibition time, talking to students about their projects, and talking to graduates when they come back to visit. Knowing that these schools have educated thousands of young people in the past 20 years and hopefully will be here to educate many thousands more in the future.
Rick: OK, last question. Looking forward, what&#8217;s got you pumped in education and learning?
Larry: I&#8217;m excited about elevating and showcasing student work. Students are capable of far more sophisticated work than they are often given the opportunity to do in schools.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and an executive editor at Education Next.
This post originally appeared on <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2019/12/straight_up_conversation_first_american_to_win_wise_prize_for_education_innovation.html" target="_blank">Rick Hess Straight Up</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Straight Up Conversation: First American to Win WISE Prize for Education Innovation' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/straight-conversation-first-american-win-wise-prize-education-innovation-rosenstock/' data-summary='Rick talks with Larry Rosenstock, education icon, the founder and CEO of High Tech High, and recent recipient of the WISE Prize for Education, about what he&#039;s learned after a half century in education.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:93:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"EdNext Podcast: Elisa Villanueva Beard and the Impact of Teach For America – by Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://www.educationnext.org/ednext-podcast-elisa-villanueva-beard-impact-teach-for-america/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:00:53 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:18:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"EdNext Podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Multimedia";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Teachers and Teaching";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Cecilia Hyunjung Mo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"Education Next Podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"education reform";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"Elisa Villanueva Beard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Katharine M. Conn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Martin R. West";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"Martin West";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Marty West";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Podcasts";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Teach for America";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"teacher opinion";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3:"TFA";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Virginia S. Lovison";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691821";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:276:"Elisa Villanueva Beard, the CEO of Teach For America, joins EdNext Editor-in-chief Marty West to discuss the organization and a new study by Katharine M. Conn, Virginia S. Lovison and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, which details how the organization impacts the beliefs of its teachers.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2252:"<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/how-teach-for-america-affects-beliefs-education-classroom-experience-opinions/" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49691816" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-oct19-podcast-villanueva-beard.png" alt="" width="400" /></a>Elisa Villanueva Beard, the CEO of Teach For America, joins EdNext Editor-in-chief Marty West to discuss the organization and a new study by Katharine M. Conn, Virginia S. Lovison and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, which details how the organization impacts the beliefs of its teachers.
Read &#8220;<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/how-teach-for-america-affects-beliefs-education-classroom-experience-opinions/" target="_blank">How Teach for America Affects Beliefs about Education: Connecting classroom experience to opinions on education reform</a>.&#8221;
The EdNext Podcast is available on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ednext-podcast/id1063838014" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://goo.gl/app/playmusic?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Il6qqkvnsdj6ohp3vv5aembwrxi?t%3DEdNext_Podcast" target="_blank">Google Play</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/education-next" target="_blank">Soundcloud</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=73631&amp;refid=stpr" target="_blank">Stitcher</a> and <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/category/multimedia/podcast/ednext-podcast/" target="_blank">here</a> every Wednesday.
— Education Next
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='EdNext Podcast: Elisa Villanueva Beard and the Impact of Teach For America' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/ednext-podcast-elisa-villanueva-beard-impact-teach-for-america/' data-summary='Elisa Villanueva Beard, the CEO of Teach For America, joins EdNext Editor-in-chief Marty West to discuss the organization and a new study by Katharine M. Conn, Virginia S. Lovison and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, which details how the organization impacts the beliefs of its teachers.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:90:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"The Education Exchange: What Goes Into Choosing the Right College? – by Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"https://www.educationnext.org/education-exchange-what-goes-into-choosing-right-college-horn/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 15 Oct 2019 09:00:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:20:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Education Exchange";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Multimedia";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Bob Moesta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Choosing College";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"college access";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"college admission";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"college completion";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"college enrollment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Michael B. Horn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Michael Horn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Paul E. Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Paul Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Podcasts";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:18;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"The Education Exchange";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:19;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:44:"The Education Exchange with Paul E. Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691769";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:331:"Michael Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, sits down with Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new book "Choosing College," co-written with Bob Moesta, and the different questions prospective college applicants should ask themselves as they work through the application process for college.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2485:"<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/what-colleges-can-learn-from-toyota-excerpt-choosing-college-horn-moesta/" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49691768" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-oct19-podcast-exchange-horn.png" alt="" width="400" /></a>Michael Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, sits down with Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new book &#8220;Choosing College,&#8221; co-written with Bob Moesta, and the different questions prospective college applicants should ask themselves as they work through the application process for college.
Read an excerpt from &#8220;Choosing College,&#8221; &#8220;<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/what-colleges-can-learn-from-toyota-excerpt-choosing-college-horn-moesta/" target="_blank">What Colleges Can Learn From Toyota</a>.&#8221;
Follow <a href="https://soundcloud.com/education-exchange-paul-peterson" target="_blank">The Education Exchange on Soundcloud</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-education-exchange/id1272751052?mt=2" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;apn=com.google.android.music&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iwqhn2nvgsgzmvw4haohcpbg4oq?t%3DThe_Education_Exchange%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank">Google Play</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/education-next/the-education-exchange?refid=stpr" target="_blank">Stitcher</a> or <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/category/multimedia/podcast/education-exchange/" target="_blank">here on Education Next.</a>
— Education Next
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='The Education Exchange: What Goes Into Choosing the Right College?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/education-exchange-what-goes-into-choosing-right-college-horn/' data-summary='Michael Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, sits down with Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new book &quot;Choosing College,&quot; co-written with Bob Moesta, and the different questions prospective college applicants should ask themselves as they work through the application process for college.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:84:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"How Teach for America Affects Beliefs about Education – by Katharine M. Conn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"https://www.educationnext.org/how-teach-for-america-affects-beliefs-education-classroom-experience-opinions/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 08 Oct 2019 04:01:27 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:18:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Homepage";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Journal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Research";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Teachers and Teaching";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Cecilia Hyunjung Mo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"effective teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"evaluating teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"experienced teacher";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"experienced teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Katharine M. Conn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"low-income";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Low-income students";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Teach for America";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"teacher experience";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"teacher preparation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"teacher preparation programs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3:"TFA";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Virginia S. Lovison";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691720";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:65:"Connecting Classroom Experience to Opinions on Education Reform
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Katharine M. Conn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:23571:"<div id="attachment_49691710" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-full wp-image-49691710" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_img01.png" alt="At Creekside High School in Atlanta, Teach for America corps member Jasmine Fountain teaches 9th grade geography and black history." width="400" />At Creekside High School in Atlanta, Teach for America corps member Jasmine Fountain teaches 9th grade geography and black history.</div>
“Lead a life of impact . . . change starts with you.”
These are the pitches to aspiring corps members of Teach for America, the prominent alternate-route teacher-preparation program that trains promising college graduates to lead classrooms in high-need schools throughout the United States. And since its inception in 1990, many alumni of Teach for America, or TFA, have heeded the organization’s call to action. Former TFA teachers are ubiquitous at all levels of education policy and practice nationwide, from leading state departments of education to running for local office in hundreds of jurisdictions, as well as founding schools, charter networks, education startups, and consultancies dedicated to educational improvement and reform.
The organization also has attracted a backlash as its alumni’s influence and footprint have grown, with critics worrying publicly that TFA represents a specific and potentially suspect point of view on how to help schools improve. But does the experience of teaching in low-income schools through TFA affect individuals’ views on education policy and reform? And if so, how?
We surveyed TFA applicants for the 2007–15 cohorts to find out. Our survey targeted the set of applicants who had advanced to the competitive program’s final round of admissions, whom we separated into two groups based on their final scores during the selection process: individuals who scored just above the cutoff point used to admit candidates and participated in the program, and those who just missed the cutoff, were not admitted, and did not participate in TFA. The idea is that since candidates on either side of the admissions cutoff are likely to hold similar incoming beliefs, this approach allows for a rigorous, non-biased estimation of the impact of TFA participation itself. We then compared each group’s responses on a variety of questions regarding inequity, the teaching profession, and strategies for educational improvement. The differences were notable.
TFA participants are more likely to believe larger societal inequities perpetuate income-based differences in educational outcomes and favor investments in elevating the prestige of the teaching profession, early childhood education, and school-based wraparound services to address them. However, they are no more likely than non-participants to believe that certain politically charged policy levers—including school-choice policies, Common Core standards, teacher merit pay, and teachers unions—can effectively reduce inequity. On the whole, they believe it is possible to provide all children with access to a high-quality education, and that part of the solution is within the grasp of effective teachers. On average, relative to non-participants, the corps of TFA teachers and alumni with classroom experience in some of the most struggling schools in the country appear to be more optimistic that the challenge of educational inequity can be overcome—though not necessarily along the lines that either reformers or critics might have predicted.
Preparing to lead in the classroom—and beyond
Since its launch in 1990, Teach for America has fielded more than 680,000 applications and trained 68,000 teachers, who have taught more than 10 million American schoolchildren. This national-service program launched with a two-pronged theory of change: in the short term, TFA teachers are to effect positive change in the classroom during their two years of service; in the longer term, TFA strives to have a systemic impact by influencing the values and future careers of those who participate.
The program differs from other teacher-preparation providers in its selectivity, duration, and organizational mission. TFA recruits primarily high-achieving college seniors to serve as teachers for two years in low-income schools. Applicants undergo a rigorous selection process, with an acceptance rate of roughly 12 percent, currently comprising two rounds: an online application and a daylong in-person interview. Our analysis includes only applicants who advance to the interview stage. Per TFA’s selection criteria, these are applicants with a strong academic track record, demonstrated leadership skills, and a commitment to service.
Once accepted, TFA participants are assigned to one of roughly 50 regions nationwide; their subjects and grade levels vary. After summer training, TFA teachers lead classrooms in high-need schools. In the average TFA placement school during our study years, 80 percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and 90 percent of students identified as racial or ethnic minorities. Participants receive ongoing training and support from both the organization and local higher-education institutions during their two-year commitment.
Such alternative hands-on training programs, which quickly place teachers in the classroom, are in contrast to traditional programs, in which years of college or graduate-school coursework culminate in a classroom teaching experience. The “alternative” approaches have grown in popularity and now account for 30 percent of the 26,000 teacher-preparation programs in the United States, such as those run by The New Teacher Project, the YES Prep charter network, and the Relay Graduate School of Education. While the annual enrollment for each of these programs is not publicly available, our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest there are collectively at least as many alumni of these TFA-like programs as there are alumni of TFA itself, if not more.
However, teaching through TFA may be a different experience than teaching through other alternative pathways, in part because of its robust alumni network and explicit goal of influencing education from both inside and outside the classroom. A spinoff organization, Leadership for Educational Equity, encourages and supports alumni looking to run for office or gain decisionmaking power in their communities through board appointments or other public-service roles, for example. In sum, TFA alumni are supported with alumni programming and networks that aim to position them to influence politics and policy through various leadership roles: in classrooms and schools, in state legislatures and departments of education, in startups and charter networks, and in unions (see “<a href="#sidebar">Alumni With Influence</a>”). Our study is the first large-scale empirical investigation of how participation shapes alumni views on education policy.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig01.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig01-small.png" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Data and Methods
To assess these attitudes, we asked applicants who advanced to the final stage of the TFA admissions process between 2007 and 2013 to take part in an online survey, which launched in 2015. All of the TFA participants within these application cycles would have finished their TFA assignment at the time of the study. Of that group of 91,752 unique individuals, 27 percent started the survey and 21 percent completed it, yielding complete responses from 19,332 people.
The survey contained a wide range of questions on educational inequity and reform. In particular, we asked individuals to: share their beliefs on why there are income-based differences in educational outcomes; assess the promise of politically charged educational initiatives, including charter schools, vouchers, preschool, standardized testing, and teachers unions; and share their views on the extent to which we could reasonably expect teachers to help students improve under challenging circumstances. For example, survey participants were asked to rate their agreement on a scale of 1 to 5 with statements like, “In the U.S. today, students from low-income backgrounds have the same educational opportunities as students from high-income backgrounds.”
We then link those responses with TFA administrative data, including demographic information and scores they were assigned at the end of the selection process. Critically, a final-stage applicant’s chances of being offered a spot in the program depend heavily on whether his or her selection score is above a specific numerical cutoff that varies from year to year and is known to neither applicants nor the program staff. The vast majority of those with a score above that cutoff receive an offer, while only a fraction of those scoring below it do. As a result, the probability that an applicant ends up teaching through TFA also jumps sharply at that cutoff: those who score just above the admissions cutoff are 30 percentage points more likely to participate in TFA than those who score just below (see Figure 1).
It is this feature of the selection process that makes it possible for us to estimate the causal effect of TFA participation on the education policy preferences of applicants. In particular, we can compare the attitudes of applicants who scored just above the selection cutoff with those who scored just below it. When making this comparison, we take into account that not everyone scoring above the cutoff actually taught with TFA, while some scoring below the cutoff did. Because the actual difference in participation rates across the cutoff was 30 percentage points, this amounts to multiplying the differences between the two groups of applicants by a factor of roughly three.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig02.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig02-small.png" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Results
Overall, we find that TFA participants are more likely than comparable non-participants to believe that societal issues, not differences in the actions or values of students from low-income backgrounds, exacerbate income-based differences in academic achievement (see Figure 2). Relative to non-participants, TFA participants are about 10 percentage points more likely to disagree with the statements that “poor families do not value education as much as richer families”; that “poor students have low motivation or will to learn”; and that “the amount a student can learn is primarily related to the student’s family background.” Rather, TFA participants attribute income-based differences in academic achievement to larger societal inequities; for example, they were 8.5 percentage points more likely to agree that “systemic injustices perpetuate inequity throughout society.” Further, we find that relative to similar non-participants, TFA participants are more likely to believe in the potential of teachers to engender positive change and are more optimistic that the income-based educational opportunity gap is a solvable problem.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig03.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig03-small.png" alt="" width="690" /></a>
With respect to current policies designed to reduce educational inequities, we find TFA participation does not change individuals’ views on several highly politicized reforms. For example, we observe no difference between participants and non-participants in terms of support for unions, Common Core curriculum standards, performance pay for teachers, and allocating school funding based on student need (see Figure 3). However, an important exception is that TFA participation appears to decrease support for school choice. TFA participants are 12 percentage points less likely to support the “expansion of high-quality charter schools” and 11 percentage points less likely to support vouchers to allow low-income children to attend private schools, compared to similar non-participants.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig04.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_fig04-small.png" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Interestingly, TFA participants are less critical of standardized testing than non-participants: though a majority of both groups agree “we should reduce dependence on standardized testing,” participants are 8 percentage points less likely to agree with the statement than non-participants. In addition, we find evidence that TFA increases optimism about teachers’ ability to foster and support student learning, regardless of student background (see Figure 4). Specifically, TFA participants are more likely to express confidence in students’ and teachers’ potential: they are 8 percentage points more likely to agree that student intelligence is “capable of changing a great deal”; 8 percentage points more likely to agree that “if teachers try really hard they can get through to even the most difficult or unmotivated students”; and 7 percentage points less likely to agree that “in poor communities, there really is very little a teacher can do to ensure that most of his/her students achieve at a high level.”
These findings are at odds with what we might expect to observe if participating in TFA left teachers feeling jaded, and suggest that participating in TFA increases optimism about the role of teachers in reducing income-based differences in academic achievement. Consistent with this view, TFA participants are 11 percentage points more likely to agree that “it is possible for all children in the U.S. to have the opportunity to attain an excellent education” and 6 percentage points more likely to support policies that elevate the prestige of the teaching profession. They also are more likely to support investments in wraparound services. Specifically, TFA participants are 7 percentage points more likely to support the broadening and improving of wraparound services, such as counseling and nutrition support.
Are these opinions really a function of teaching through TFA, or do they result from merely being admitted to the program? We further analyze our data in order to isolate the effect of the TFA teaching experience itself on alumni views.
First, we use the same cutoff-based research design to study the effects of being admitted to TFA, regardless of whether those who were admitted actually participated. If it is TFA participation, rather than admission, that causes shifts in participants’ views, we would expect this analysis to reveal smaller effects across the board. That is exactly what we find. Second, we focus only on applicants who were admitted to TFA and directly compare the views of those who did and did not participate. In making these comparisons, we adjust for observable differences in the demographic and educational backgrounds of individuals in the two groups, including their age, gender, college grade-point average, socioeconomic status, and religiosity. We detect statistically significant differences in the views of participants and non-participants across 15 of our 19 outcomes that are broadly consistent with the differences we documented above when we compared applicants who were barely admitted to those who were barely rejected. On the whole, this suggests that experience in the classroom through TFA, not just admission, shapes individuals’ views on education.
Conclusion
To our knowledge, our study is the first to examine how the experience of teaching through TFA in underserved communities shapes individuals’ views on educational inequity and reform. Because TFA teachers work in exactly the type of schools where educational disparities between low- and high-income children are most prominent, these teachers hold important perspectives on what causes, and can close, inequality in academic achievement.
In a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/when-do-the-advantaged-see-the-disadvantages-of-others-a-quasiexperimental-study-of-national-service/2186ECDF7BFA205685A9414E458CA623" target="_blank">separate analysis</a>, our survey data also reveal how teaching through TFA affects participants’ understanding of economic fairness. We find that TFA teachers, who all have the social and economic advantages of being high-achieving college-educated adults, are more able to see through the lens of the disadvantaged as a result of their TFA experience. They take on attitudes that are closer to those of the economic “have-nots” in the United States regarding a perceived lack of fairness of the social and political status quo, and tend to maintain these attitudes over time.
After nearly three decades, the impacts of this national civilian-service program’s focus on education are far-reaching, with alumni leading state education departments in Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Rhode Island; founding prominent charter school networks like the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), IDEA Public Schools, and YES Prep Public Schools; and working to develop education and other policy as elected officials in states like Colorado and Nebraska. These alumni hardly share identical points of view. Our research makes clear, however, that the kinds of experiences they had with TFA do influence beliefs about inequity and the tools by which to advance change.
The next step is to examine whether these attitudinal and belief shifts translate to behavioral changes, such as being more likely to vote and be active in civic life. It remains to be seen whether the perception that there is greater social injustice translates to greater activism on a broader scale, as well as efforts to build a sturdier economic and social ladder for disadvantaged individuals to climb.
Katharine M. Conn is senior research scientist at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Columbia University; Virginia S. Lovison is a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo is an assistant professor of political science and public policy at University of California, Berkeley.
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: separate;border-spacing: 20px" bgcolor="#f3f3f3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a name="sidebar"></a>
Alumni with Influence
Former Teach for America corps members hold prominent leadership roles in education, public policy, and advocacy organizations.
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side01.png" alt="" width="150" />Jeff Riley, Class of 1993 
Former school principal and receiver-superintendent of Lawrence, Mass., Public Schools. 
Current Role: Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary &amp; Secondary Education.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side02.png" alt="" width="150" />Penny Schwinn, Class of 2004 
Former member of the Sacramento Board of Education and founder of the Capitol Collegiate Academy charter school. 
Current Role: Tennessee State Education Commissioner.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side03.png" alt="" width="150" />Tony Vargas, Class of 2007 
Former member of the Omaha Public Schools Board of Education. 
Current role: Nebraska State Senator, District 7.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side04.png" alt="" width="150" />John White, Class of 1999 
Former deputy chancellor of the NYC Department of Education, former superintendent of the Louisiana Recovery School District. 
Current Role: Louisiana State Superintendent of Education.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side05.png" alt="" width="150" />Brittany Packnett, Class of 2007 
Former executive director, TFAin St. Louis. 
Current role: Activist and co-founder of Campaign Zero.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side06.png" alt="" width="150" />Jason Kamras, Class of 1996 
Longtime teacher in District of Columbia Public Schools. 2005 National Teacher of the Year. 
Current Role: Superintendent of Richmond, Va., Public Schools.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side07.png" alt="" width="150" />Angelica Infante-Green, Class of 1994 Former superintendent of instruction in New York State. 
Current Role: Rhode Island Commissioner of Education.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img class="size-full wp-image-49691711 alignleft" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_conn_lovison_mo_side08.png" alt="" width="150" />Alex Caputo-Pearl, Class of 1990 
Longtime teacher at Compton High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. 
Current Role: President of United Teachers of Los Angeles.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Photo credits from top to bottom: New Bedford Public Schools, Tennessee Department of Education, AP Photo/Nat Harnik, Advocate staff photo by Bill Feig, Courtesy Brittany Packnett, Dean Hoffmeyer/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images, Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='How Teach for America Affects Beliefs about Education' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/how-teach-for-america-affects-beliefs-education-classroom-experience-opinions/' data-summary='Connecting Classroom Experience to Opinions on Education Reform' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:54:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"In the News: The College of New Rochelle Is For Sale — and Comes With a Castle – by Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://www.educationnext.org/news-college-new-rochelle-sale-comes-castle/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 07 Oct 2019 19:55:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:8:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:23:"College of New Rochelle";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"college revenue";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"private colleges";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Stephen Eide";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691805";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:183:"The 15.6-acre campus of the College of New Rochelle in New York will be auctioned off on November 21, the New York Post reports. The school filed for bankruptcy protection last month.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1670:"<a href="https://nypost.com/2019/10/03/the-college-of-new-rochelle-is-for-sale-and-comes-with-a-castle/" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49691803" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-oct19-news-post-rochelle.jpg" alt="" width="400" /></a>The 15.6-acre campus of the College of New Rochelle in New York will be auctioned off on November 21, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/10/03/the-college-of-new-rochelle-is-for-sale-and-comes-with-a-castle/" target="_blank">reports</a>. The school filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
In the Fall 2018 issue of Education Next, Stephen Eide wrote about &#8220;<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/private-colleges-peril-financial-pressures-declining-enrollment-closures/" target="_blank">Private Colleges in Peril</a>,&#8221; mentioning that the College of New Rochelle had laid off tenured faculty. &#8220;Concerns about the small private college are rife among those who study the higher-education market,&#8221; Eide wrote.
— Education Next
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='In the News: The College of New Rochelle Is For Sale — and Comes With a Castle' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/news-college-new-rochelle-sale-comes-castle/' data-summary='The 15.6-acre campus of the College of New Rochelle in New York will be auctioned off on November 21, the New York Post reports. The school filed for bankruptcy protection last month.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:93:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"Straight Up Conversation: Can Outschool Bring the Gig Economy to K-12? – by Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:99:"https://www.educationnext.org/straight-up-conversation-can-outschool-bring-gig-economy-k-12-nathoo/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 04 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:21:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"Amir Nathoo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"digital learning";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"digital tools";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"education technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"educational technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Frederick M. Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6:"online";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"online course";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"online courses";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"online education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"online instruction";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"online learning";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Outschool";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Rick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:18;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Rick Hess Straight Up";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:19;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"technology and schooling";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:20;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"technology integration";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691766";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:179:"Rick talks with the CEO of Outschool, which is a marketplace for live online classes connecting over 30,000 students with over 1,000 teachers in 50 U.S. states and 35 countries.
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12706:"Amir Nathoo is CEO of <a href="https://outschool.com/" target="_blank">Outschool</a>, a marketplace for live online classes connecting over 30,000 students with over 1,000 teachers in 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and 35 countries. Amir previously worked at Square, founding the Square Payroll product, and before that he was CEO and co-founder of Trigger.io. I recently talked with Amir about Outschool and virtual classrooms, and here&#8217;s what he said.
Rick Hess: What is Outschool?
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49691765" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-oct19-blog-hess-nathoo.png" alt="" width="400" />Amir Nathoo: We&#8217;re a marketplace for live online classes for kids taught via video chat. All Outschool classes are taught by independent teachers, meaning they have autonomy to teach what they want to teach. There are so many parents and students looking for unique classes, and so many talented teachers who want to be more creative with their lessons than they can be in traditional school structures. We provide a convenient and safe platform for teachers to offer those lessons, and a convenient and affordable way for parents and students to find the right classes for them. We started in 2016 and are growing fast. As of this interview, over 40,000 classes have run with over 200,000 class hours.
Rick: How does it work?
Amir: Our platform allows these classes to meet live via video chat. This is really what sets us apart from many other online education options. The kids and teachers in an Outschool class get the chance to socialize and collaborate just like during in-person classes. But parents aren&#8217;t stuck shuttling kids to different locations for each different activity their kids want to pursue. So, we&#8217;re leveraging the connection and scale of the internet, while offering the live communication that happens in a physical classroom. Teachers using Outschool create their own courses, content, requirements, and so on, and we help connect them with students. We provide a secure and collaborative online learning environment.
Rick: Who is Outschool really intended to serve? Is this for students enrolled in traditional schools, for students seeking enrichment, or . . . ?
Amir: Outschool is intended for all kinds of students. Students on our platform come from traditional public schools, private schools, and homeschool environments. They have different motivations for taking classes, too. Some are looking for supplementary education, while others want to foster specific interests. Some students take classes because they need a bit of help in their main course of study. This is where the flexibility of the platform comes in. All of the courses are created and taught individually by teachers who have a passion for the topics they choose to explore. In other words, there&#8217;s no overarching program students have to follow. The courses have specific start and end dates; however, students can sign up for multiple courses at the same time, take additional courses from the same teacher or in the same subject, or even repeat a course, if they want to. Families often tell us how much they love the freedom and personalization they can bring to their child&#8217;s education with Outschool.
Rick: How did Outschool get started? And how did you come to this work?
Amir: My parents were both educators, so there was always a strong focus on education when I grew up. They made sure I had the opportunity to get a good education, and they also supported me learning and discovering outside of school. In fact, I started learning to code at the age of 5 because I was playing around with a computer they got for me. When they saw I was interested, they bought me programming books and arranged for computer science classes with a retired professor, which was hugely influential. Fast forward a few years, and I had a career in tech. I had founded and grown startups before starting Outschool that had nothing to do with education, but forming a company centered on making education more accessible was always at the back of my mind. When I met my co-founders, Nick Grandy and Mikhail Seregine, we started talking and finding common goals, and began to identify a space and an opportunity to realize that dream.
Rick: As you know better than I do, online classes have been around for a long while now. What&#8217;s distinctive about what you all are doing?
Amir: One of the greatest things that distinguishes us in the edtech industry is the fact that most of our classes take place live via video chat with passionate teachers. You can find a wealth of educational videos online from other edtech companies and on sites like YouTube. This content is convenient—you can watch it whenever you have time, though it&#8217;s often not engaging. While we have some pre-recorded classes for students who might live in an area or in circumstances preventing them from joining the live classes, where Outschool really shines is the &#8220;face-to-face&#8221; engagement where dialogue can take place. It&#8217;s incredibly valuable to be able to ask for explanations from a teacher as he or she is presenting a concept or collaborate with other students to discuss a topic or solve a problem. You can&#8217;t replace that with videos and worksheets.
Rick: Outschool offers over 8,000 classes. Can you talk a bit about how you curate the offerings?
Amir: Teachers use Outschool to create the classes they&#8217;ve always wanted to teach and come up with a huge variety of high-quality offerings. Classes range from one-time enrichment lessons to semester-long core courses. They&#8217;re offered across all subjects, and our learners range from age 3 to 18. We encourage teachers to get creative and link learners&#8217; interests to academic subjects. We review all classes for quality and adherence to our content policies before they&#8217;re published. Along with courses you might expect, like algebra and U.S. history, teachers respond to learners&#8217; requests to help them learn architecture through Minecraft, Spanish by singing Taylor Swift songs in Spanish, biology through Pokémon, and How to Become a Ninja. These are just a few examples of the innovative and engaging topics that teachers are offering.
Rick: As you noted, Outschool hosts some pretty whimsical offerings, like those classes on Pokémon, <a href="https://qz.com/1625384/spanish-with-taylor-swift-potions-with-harry-potter-outschool-wants-kids-to-pursue-their-passions/" target="_blank">Dungeons and Dragons</a>, and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/26/how-to-raise-from-sesame-street/" target="_blank">Gnomes, Trolls, and Fairies.</a> Can you talk about the philosophy guiding which courses you offer, and how you juggle the entertaining and the educational?
Amir: One of the great things about our teachers and the classes they offer is that they help students learn and grow both academically and personally. The Dungeons and Dragons classes, for example, provide a fantastic venue for helping students develop skills like communication and collaboration, which are important life skills to nurture. We also have many classes that tie core academics with entertaining subjects, such as a Harry Potter &#8220;potions&#8221; class that teaches chemistry, or a Pokémon-themed writing class to help introduce potentially daunting concepts in a more familiar and engaging way. Connecting entertainment with education like this can also help students look more critically at the shows or books they like and find ways they relate to the things they&#8217;re learning in school, and vice-versa. In addition, pairing a topic students already love with a new one can introduce them to something that may become a lifelong hobby or even a career. Our mission is really to inspire kids to love learning. I don&#8217;t know if or how I would have found my way to tech if I hadn&#8217;t stumbled upon a love of programming as a kid. We want to give our students the opportunity to stumble upon their own passions in whatever form they take.
Rick: How do you find your teachers, and where do they come from? How do you ensure the quality of the teaching?
Amir: Our teachers come from all over the place, which underscores one of our goals of making education available for anyone with a fast-enough internet connection. Many teach or have taught, either in a traditional school or at home by homeschooling their own kids. We have plenty of other teachers, though, who came to education by way of the subject they&#8217;re teaching. For example, we have one teacher who is a human rights attorney and <a href="https://blog.outschool.com/globetrotting-professor-reveals-the-world-of-human-rights/" target="_blank">has worked for the United Nations</a> who teaches classes about diplomacy, international law, and debate. Maintaining a safe and high-quality learning environment for our students is extremely important to us. We do thorough background checks and interview all of our teachers, and we select those who have teaching experience or an expertise or passion they want to share with learners. We make sure to support those teachers after we bring them on by providing training and professional development to make sure they are all the best at their jobs as they can be. We also monitor feedback and student satisfaction scores to make sure they&#8217;re resonating with students. No teacher will have perfect reviews—what works for one student may not be effective for another—but we do review those and address any potential issues before they become problems.
Rick: Can you talk a bit about the costs and the financial model—how much do parents pay on average, and how much does it cost you to keep this platform running?
Amir: Outschool classes start from $5 and go for an average of $18 per class hour. Teachers set the price per learner according to the expected class size, the time and materials required to deliver the class, and the teacher&#8217;s level of experience and qualification in the subject. Parents pay the price listed on the class page and Outschool takes a 30 percent fee. Small-group classes are less expensive for parents and more lucrative for teachers than one-on-one tutoring because costs are split between participants. Our live online format also removes the need for facilities and the time and costs associated with travel to an in-person activity. This lets us offer violin classes, for example, starting at just over $10 per hour compared to the typical $50 per hour cost of local classes.
Rick: Last question. If there are one or two big things about online classes that most people don&#8217;t realize or fully appreciate, what are they?
Amir: Many people still associate online classes with long, boring videos, and some people still think that our classes are only for students who are homeschooled. Neither of these things is true. The classes offered on Outschool are dynamic, engaging, and fun—and are available for kids everywhere. Technology has really shrunk the world, and we believe we&#8217;re taking advantage of that in a way that benefits our students wherever they may be.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and an executive editor at Education Next.
This post originally appeared at <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2019/10/straight_up_conversation_outschool_ceo_amir_nathoo.html" target="_blank">Rick Hess Straight Up</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Straight Up Conversation: Can Outschool Bring the Gig Economy to K-12?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/straight-up-conversation-can-outschool-bring-gig-economy-k-12-nathoo/' data-summary='Rick talks with the CEO of Outschool, which is a marketplace for live online classes connecting over 30,000 students with over 1,000 teachers in 50 U.S. states and 35 countries.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:87:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"Support Builds For Making the SAT Untimed For Everyone – by Greg Toppo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:113:"https://www.educationnext.org/support-builds-making-sat-untimed-for-everyone-possible-solution-gaming-the-system/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 01 Oct 2019 04:01:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:19:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Features";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Homepage";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Journal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Spotlight";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:38:"Standards, Testing, and Accountability";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"accommodations";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"College Board";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"extra time";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Greg Toppo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3:"SAT";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"SAT scores";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"standardized testing";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"standardized tests";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Testing";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"testing requirements";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"universal design";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"Varsity Blues admissions scandal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:18;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Varsity Blues scandal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691682";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"A possible solution to the "Gaming the System" problem
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Greg Toppo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30635:"<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49691691" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_toppo_img01.png" alt="" width="690" />
The first time she took the SAT, in December 2013, Savannah Treviño Casias got what she calls “a really low score”—1040 out of 1600. It put her squarely in the 50th percentile—not so good for someone aspiring to be a psychologist.
At the time a junior at the Girls Leadership Academy of Arizona, a small public charter school in Phoenix, Treviño Casias had been diagnosed in 6th grade with the math learning disability known as dyscalculia. The diagnosis qualified her for extra time on classroom tests and quizzes, along with other accommodations. But she’d sat for that first SAT without requesting extra time, taking it in four hours along with hundreds of other students at a nearby high school.
Treviño Casias vowed to do better. She arranged for a family friend to tutor her over the following six months—and she asked for extra time on the next test.
She is not alone. Requests for more time and other accommodations on the SAT have soared in recent years, to an estimated 160,000 in 2015–16 from 80,000 in the 2010–11 school year. At the same time, the jaw-dropping “Varsity Blues” scandal in 2019 shed new light on parents determined to get their kids an advantage on such tests, at any cost.
As schools grapple with these realities, a few educators, researchers, and psychologists have begun to wonder whether it’s time to make a fundamental change to tests like the SAT so that they’re harder to game. More broadly, they ask: If success in college is about 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, close reading, and collaboration, should gate-keeping tests such as the SAT be timed at all? Advocates argue that making the test untimed for everyone would make it harder for rich or well-connected parents to game the system, and also might do a better job of measuring students’ true capabilities.
“How do we measure whether people have the capacity to do deep thinking and be thoughtful?” asked Ohio State University law professor Ruth Colker. “My hypothesis is: it’s by giving them enough time to do deep thinking and be thoughtful.” The ability to answer test questions quickly, she added, is itself “a skill—and it’s a skill that that can be learned. But I think we tremendously overweight that skill.”
Others, such as Gregory Cizek, a professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina School of Education, say college admissions tests like the SAT must be timed because they’re essentially trying to predict a student’s chances of success in freshman year.
“The college environment is one where you don’t get unlimited time to do stuff,” he said. “You have to perform under a sort of time pressure. Your term paper is due by the end of next week. You’re going to have a quiz in class. You’re going to have to stand and give a group report or discussion. And you’re not going to have unlimited time to prepare it.”
But Colker, who is among the foremost advocates for an untimed or extended-time SAT, has written that standardized test developers shouldn’t be allowed to implement “speeded exams” unless they can show that the strict time limits are truly required for validity.
Shifting to unspeeded exams, she wrote, “would mark the implementation of a new universal design principle that would make standardized testing more equitable for a range of people.” “Universal design,” in this context, would entail creating testing conditions that optimally serve everyone, including members of racial minorities, girls, people of low socioeconomic status, older applicants, and individuals with disabilities—both students with Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs, which provide for specialized instruction and services for children with disabilities; and those with Section 504 plans, which allow for accommodations for children with disabilities. Under either designation, students can qualify for taking extra time on tests.
Think of an unspeeded SAT, then, as offering all test-takers the cognitive version of curb cuts, automatic doors, or closed captioning—designs that are especially beneficial to users with disabilities but that end up serving many others as well.
To be sure, many students come to school with genuine learning challenges. Nationwide, about 13 percent of K–12 students had IEPs in the 2015–16 school year. About 2.3 percent of students had a 504 plan, up from 0.9 percent in 2003–04. A 2015 analysis by the Advocacy Institute, a nonprofit that supports people with disabilities, found that 504 students are “overwhelmingly white and disproportionately male.” Other analyses have found that 504 students are more likely to be enrolled in non-Title I schools, which serve a smaller percentage of low-income students.
Recent amendments to federal law allow students to ask for testing accommodations under 504 plans because of difficulty reading, concentrating, and doing manual tasks; that provision also applies to students who have major physical disabilities that wouldn’t necessarily earn them an IEP. More time is just one possible accommodation—students can request more (and longer) breaks, calculators, computers to type essays, and large-print, Braille, or audio tests, among other accommodations.
Advocates of unspeeded tests often point to a 2002 study by the testing company Pearson, which found that scores on its Stanford 10 Achievement Test were equally valid under speeded and unspeeded conditions. Researchers learned that giving students with disabilities more time helped them show what they knew. It also didn’t unfairly inflate the scores of the non-disabled students who got the extra time. And researchers found that in most classrooms, students actually didn’t need that much more time—about 20 minutes, on average—to finish the exam to their own satisfaction.
The president and CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Lindsay Jones, said it’s no coincidence that many state end-of-year assessments are now untimed for all students. “Our states have figured out how to do that,” she noted. “The premise is they want to know what you know. They’re not testing how quickly you can get it done.”
In another often-cited study, from 2004, an Indiana University law professor, William Henderson, found that when he looked at law students’ performance on three key indicators—in-class exams, take-home exams, and papers—a student’s score on the tightly timed Law School Admissions Test turned out to be a “relatively robust” predictor of just one of the three: in-class exams. It was a relatively weak predictor of take-home exams and papers.
In other words, a timed test showed how well students would do . . . on other timed tests.
By contrast, undergraduate grade point average was a “relatively stable predictor” of all three indicators.
Henderson concluded that heavy reliance on the timed LSAT—which like other standardized tests suffers from a performance gap between white and minority students—could make it more difficult for minority students to be admitted to good law schools, even if they apply with a high grade point average. Relying on such time-pressured tests, Henderson concluded, “may skew measures of merit in ways that have little theoretical connection to the actual practice of law.”
Others, such as a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boston University, Ari Trachtenberg, say the whole field of time-related accommodations is squishy at best. He wrote recently that extra time on college-level tests skews the results in “a manner that is not rigorously and objectively analyzed or understood.” Trachtenberg dug through the research and couldn’t find any objective basis for calculating, for instance, how much extra time a student with a certain disability actually needs.
According to Trachtenberg, the system disadvantages both students with disabilities who don’t know how to advocate for themselves and non-disabled students, neither of whom enjoy extra time. “It is inappropriate to give an objective test with a clearly delineated grading policy,” he wrote, “if some students get uncalibrated bonuses.”
At the same time, he explained, extra-time accommodations may actually “re-victimize” engineering students with disabilities later in life, setting them up for failure on “high-pressure tech interviews and subsequent jobs that do not, and cannot, honor time extensions for deadline-driven work.”
Is there a way to break out deadline-driven work from all the rest and test it accordingly? An Atlanta neuropsychologist, Marla Shapiro, suggested that it’s possible. She recalled working, earlier in her career, with a medical group (she won’t say which one) that developed a two-part certification test. The first part, a written exam that “had nothing to do with the practice of that field,” offered time accommodations. But for the clinical portion of the test, the group set a time limit by surveying practitioners and calculating the longest time duration that “a reasonable practitioner” should need to review a case. The medical group allowed test-takers no exceptions to the time limit.
“They held firm to it,” Shapiro recalled, “because the test was meant to determine whether a person could practice competently, and if test-takers could not do it within a generously large period of time, the board did not think it was fair to find them competent to practice in a field where you bill by the hour.”
At the moment, the College Board’s position on speededness is basically that it doesn’t make much of a difference. “Extra testing time leads to very small score gains,” said spokesman Zachary Goldberg. He suggested that a better way to give students a chance to do well on the test would be to give them access to good test prep: Goldberg noted that 20 hours using free Khan Academy SAT materials yields, on average, a 115-point score gain.
All the same, he said, new versions of the test give students 43 percent more time per question than any similar exam. The move is part of a shift that also gives students taking some Advanced Placement tests nearly twice as much time on multiple-choice questions than in past years.
<div id="attachment_49691692" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-49691692" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_toppo_img02.png" alt="William Singer leaves the federal courthouse in Boston. He pleaded guilty to charges related toc ollege admission schemes that prosecutors said included exploiting the use of untimed testing." width="690" />William Singer leaves the federal courthouse in Boston. He pleaded guilty to charges related toc ollege admission schemes that prosecutors said included exploiting the use of untimed testing.</div>
Gaming the System
Accommodations, deserved or undeserved, have been under the microscope in 2019. They played a prominent role in this year’s Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, with prosecutors alleging that wealthy parents persuaded willing psychologists to say their child needed extra time in special testing centers—in a few cases, ringers proctored the exam and cheated on a student’s behalf. The New York Times reported from court filings that in one case, William Singer, the scandal’s mastermind, told a parent that for $4,000 or $5,000, a psychologist he worked with would attest that his child needed more time.
In May, the Wall Street Journal twisted the knife, finding that the number of public high-school students with diagnoses that allow more time on tests such as the SAT has “surged” in schools located in wealthier areas. Overall, the newspaper reported, the number of requests for special accommodations received by the College Board jumped 200 percent from 2010–11 to 2017–18. Eligibility for such accommodations is growing fastest, federal data suggest, in the nation’s highest-income school districts.
The Journal found that in schools where no more than 10 percent of students are low-income, 4.2 percent of students, on average, have 504 designations, entitling them to test-taking allowances such as extra time. By contrast, just 1.6 percent of students in low-income areas have 504 designations, despite the fact that more students in these schools may actually qualify under federal law for services under designations such as 504s or IEPs.
In July, the New York Times did its own analysis of federal 504 data and found that in wealthy areas the share of students with the designation is twice the national average. In a few communities, such as Weston, Connecticut, the 504 rate is 18 percent, eight times that of nearby Danbury.
That alone should raise alarm bells, said Nicole Ofiesh, a cognitive behavioral scientist who directs Stanford University’s Schwab Learning Center. Ofiesh has done extensive pro-bono testing among low-income students and says these students often have the highest incidence of learning disabilities, such as ADHD and dyslexia—as well as related mental-health issues. “They are often under-identified dramatically because the resources in the schools that they attend are not adequate to identify these students and get them on 504 plans and IEPs.”
Like Ohio State’s Colker, Ofiesh pointed out that most observers don’t even stop to ask, Why are high-stakes tests like the SAT timed at all? “Very few test agencies will give you an adequate answer to that,” she said. “It’s almost always an administrative reason: ‘It’s because that’s the only way we can do it in an efficient way.’”
For his part, College Board CEO David Coleman wrote in a subsequent letter to the Journal that protecting the SAT’s security and credibility is “an ongoing battle.” Families seeking test accommodations without genuine need is “abhorrent,” he said, and he promised that the College Board would take a hard look at non‒special needs schools that have inexplicably high numbers of requests for accommodations.
“We have heard from schools that know they have a problem with this,” Coleman wrote. “They want our help, and we are providing it.”
A longtime admissions expert and former dean of admissions at Pomona College, Bruce Poch, said the College Board helped create the current dilemma in 2003, when it stopped telling colleges about students’ extra-time requests, removing the so-called “asterisk” on scores earned by students who got extra time.
“In some sense, the College Board handed the keys to this problem to the world,” Poch said. “The removal of that asterisk sparked a massive increase in the number of kids applying under 504.”
At the time, the move was viewed as a bid for fairness, a way to remove any stigma attached to getting extra time for those students who genuinely needed it. The College Board’s Goldberg said it was “the right thing to do, so we stand by it for obvious reasons.”
Poch, now dean of admission and executive director of college counseling at the Chadwick School, an independent school near Los Angeles, said wealthy parents will always find a way to make the system work for themselves.
“This is an arms race, so whatever you do to make it fair, people are going to find something else to game it another way,” he said.
Shortly after the change, Harvard researcher Samuel J. Abrams wrote in Education Next that the College Board had granted “new opportunities to the strategic, while leaving behind the less savvy and less financially well-endowed” (see “<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/unflaggedsats/" target="_blank">Unflagged SATs</a>,” features, Summer 2005).
<div id="attachment_49691693" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-49691693" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_toppo_img03.png" alt="College Board CEO David Coleman has promised to take a look at schools that have unusually high numbers of requests for accommodations on standardized tests such as the SAT." width="690" />College Board CEO David Coleman has promised to take a look at schools that have unusually high numbers of requests for accommodations on standardized tests such as the SAT.</div>
Poch recalled that when he got into the admissions business in the late 1970s, dyslexia was the wealthy family’s diagnosis du jour for otherwise typical students who earned grades lower than A in class. Then attention deficit disorder became fashionable—then attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “Now it’s ‘general anxiety disorder,’” he said.
He observed that the Varsity Blues scandal has actually inspired helpful conversations on campus. To date, authorities haven’t identified any Chadwick families as conspirators, Poch said. But the blatant cheating among well-to-do parents has prompted teachers, students, and parents there to think about how well they uphold the school’s core values, which include “honesty” and “fairness.”
“It led to a good, frank conversation and more rigorous follow-up with [504] evaluations,” he said.
The scandal has also been a bracing reminder about the possibilities for dishonesty and unfairness among certain independent schools in upscale communities, Poch said. “You can, with just a few little cocktail parties, find out the people who will write those notes that say the kid needs extended time.”
Stanford’s Ofiesh sees the obvious disparity in accommodations granted to wealthier, more connected students—especially for conditions like anxiety and depression. But short of unlawful behavior like bribes, she said, most of us are viewing the dilemma through the wrong lens.
“While we often want to say that it’s the wealthiest who are gaming the system, it’s usually the wealthiest who are able to do something about the fact that their kids have these mental-health conditions—and then can get them the accommodations,” she said. “They’re not cheating the system or gaming the system—they have the resources to maneuver the system that those who don’t have money don’t.”
Marla Shapiro, the Atlanta neuropsychologist, would agree. For students who come seeking help, she said, “I give a big old battery and lots of measures that overlap” to zero in on students’ behavioral and cognitive deficits. And she requests extensive school records to get a full picture of a student’s performance before she will consider recommending accommodations like extra time.
“If I have someone coming in for testing and I can’t get records, I don’t test them,” she said.
But she and others reported that most school districts don’t have the capacity to do the proper screening. And our health-care system is not very helpful—it basically blocks most families’ access to good, thorough—and expensive—psychological testing, the kind that would get many students the accommodations they need while rooting out those who don’t need them. “I pay my plumber more than Blue Cross would pay me for testing,” Shapiro said, remarking that an insurance company recently offered her $54 an hour for her services.
Others, like Ohio State’s Colker, question why timing most tests even makes logical sense. In the case of content-based tests, for instance, neither timing nor giving vulnerable students more time seems constructive. If a student doesn’t know how to apply Plessy v. Ferguson or the Pythagorean theorem, she observed, “I could give you all day. If you don’t know how to do it, more time won’t help you.”
In cases like these, she said, speededness is good at producing one key product: “a beautiful bell-shaped curve” that helps colleges detect fractional differences between top applicants.
Colker suggests imagining two whip-smart students sitting for the same multiple-choice reading comprehension test—two students with equal reading skills and vocabulary, but one of whom works at a faster rate. Let’s say the text is a section of a newspaper article. Both students read and understand the article completely. But one student, working more quickly, finishes the test with minutes to spare. The second, working more slowly, soon realizes that she’s running out of time and begins “engaging in rapid guessing behavior,” filling in as many blank circles as she can.
In the real world, the two readers would be virtually indistinguishable when it comes to understanding the day’s news. But on this test the slower reader gets a lower score. What was accomplished?
Plenty, said Colker: “If you’re looking for a test that can especially distinguish the top one or two percentile of the curve, speededness is very helpful.” Get rid of it, she said, and you’ll have more perfect scores, which to a psychometrician is an unfortunate, avoidable inconvenience.
“If you thought that your job was to produce a perfect bell-shaped curve and not have too many perfect scores on a standardized testing instrument, then absolutely you would add a speeded element, because then fewer people will get a perfect score,” Colker said. “But I think that’s a pretty crappy reason to have the test speeded.”
UNC’s Cizek, who is also a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, observed that the goal of most test-makers isn’t to produce a bell curve. “If we asked a thousand people to run the 100-yard dash, some people would be really speedy, some people would be really slow, and probably you and I would finish in the middle of the pack,” he said. “It’s just an artifact of a lot of human aspects that turns out to be kind of bell-shaped, but they don’t design it to get that.”
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_toppo_fig01.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49691688" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_toppo_fig01-small.png" alt="More Students Are Accessing Testing Accommodations under 504 Plans (Figure 1)" width="690" /></a>
Hard to Say No
Perry Zirkel, a professor emeritus of education and law at Lehigh University, noted that the rate of 504 diagnoses has more than doubled since 2003, when the College Board got rid of the “asterisk.”
Most of the growth came after 2008, when Congress may have unwittingly made it easier for parents to game the system (see Figure 1). Seeking to give returning veterans better access to rehabilitation services, it allowed students to test their performance without medication, making it more likely that they’d qualify for help. So, for instance, a student who is prescribed Ritalin may test in the 50th percentile in reading while taking the drug, but in the 15th percentile without it. Under the 2008 rules, he’d qualify for an accommodation if he sat for a screening without Ritalin—even though he may take the medication every morning before school and do just fine.
At an annual “504 institute” Zirkel holds at Lehigh, school officials each year mostly want to know more about current legal standards. “The implicit agenda is, ‘How do we say no? How we do withstand this pressure?’” he said.
“It isn’t just a simple matter of sitting down with a team of people and looking at these legal standards. When you say no, it causes all kinds of pressure and backlash and it’s just very, very hard,” Zirkel said.
In general, cash-strapped school districts “don’t want to say no” to parents who insist on a testing accommodation, Zirkel added. In practical terms, giving a student more time on tests is cheap. Fighting a well-connected family could be expensive. “The inclination is to sort of give in.”
Zirkel recalled that when he taught undergraduates, he found that many students who legally qualified for extra time on tests throughout their education hadn’t learned to advocate for themselves as adults. “The day before the final they’d say to me, ‘I’m entitled to extra time.’ And I’d say, ‘Look at the university policy—you were to go to [the Office of Disability Affairs] two weeks ago.’”
Eventually, Zirkel found, keeping track of all the extra-time requests became an administrative nightmare. “I gave everybody extra time,” he said. “As much as you want.”
He discovered that those who had better basic skills did better on the tests. “I was taking away this false advantage that these kids had,” he said.
It was, in a way, revelatory. If you really care about a student, he said, often “the Band-Aid of a 504” is not going to be beneficial. Instead, he suggests, schools should do a better job helping all students attain better reading fluency, reading comprehension, time management, and self-advocacy.
<div id="attachment_49691694" style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-full wp-image-49691694" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XX_1_toppo_img04.png" alt="Savannah Treviño Casias, who was diagnosed with dyscalculia, did more than 500 points better on the SAT when she took it a second time." width="350" />Savannah Treviño Casias, who was diagnosed with dyscalculia, did more than 500 points better on the SAT when she took it a second time.</div>
For his part, Cizek said having untimed state assessments in kindergarten through 12th grade is a very bad idea. “It really disadvantages kids” with accommodations, “and people just aren’t willing to stomach the political fallout from it,” he said.
Because the state tests are often used to measure teacher effectiveness, teachers have little incentive to push students to finish in a timely fashion, Cizek said. “Their incentive is to say to the kid, ‘Hey look: If you need more time, take more time. Have you checked your answers? Maybe you want to sit down and check them again.’”
Students whose IEPs or 504 plans lay out the need for more time on tests generally get it, Cizek said. But when educators make these tests untimed, they give extra time to students who don’t necessarily need it, giving them an unfair advantage. What’s perhaps most insidious about this arrangement, he noted, is that students who end up taking more time are the very ones who miss out on instruction when the other students finish on time and go back to the classroom.
“A kid who was behind anyway is falling further behind because they’re now losing out on the instruction, when somebody should have just said to him, ‘Look: This is a one-hour test. You’ve been at it for two hours. You should probably wrap it up now.’ But it’s hard to say that to a low-performing kid. I get why it’s not an attractive policy position, but by and large it’s actually harmful to kids,” Cizek said.
The speededness discussion may soon be moot, as test-makers are increasingly tinkering with computer-adaptive assessments that turn the timed-test paradigm on its head. Instead of requiring all students to sit for a defined number of questions over a set time, these tests pose questions in a progressively customized sequence, quickly generating a probability that the user knows the required material.
Cizek said that perhaps half of the states rely on adaptive tests for K–12 assessment. What’s more significant, about 80 percent of professional licensure certification is now adaptive, including tests for medical and legal licenses and for other professions such as real estate.
The College Board’s Goldberg said they’re looking into the possibility of using adaptive assessment technology for the SAT, but that it’s “really in an exploratory phase and not so far along.”
As for Treviño Casias, the Phoenix charter-school student, the second time around she got twice as long on each section of the SAT. She was allowed to sit by herself, over two days, in a classroom at her old, familiar high school. One of her teachers proctored the test. “It just helped me feel more comfortable and I guess just have less testing anxiety,” she said.
Her second score: 1550, more than 500 points higher than the first, putting her among the top 1 percent or so of test-takers. “I was really surprised,” she said. “I just expected a little improvement. I didn’t expect 500 points.”
Now 23, Treviño Casias graduated in May from Arizona State University. She earned the bachelor’s degree in psychology she’d been seeking—and began studying for a master’s degree in counseling in August.
Even with twice as much time on her second SAT, she said, she couldn’t do her best work. “I still could have used even more time to figure out a math problem—and even more time to actually have my mind process the information.”
She still doesn’t quite see the point of speededness, especially for someone training to be a therapist. “I wouldn’t want to give any spur-of-the-moment advice,” she said. “I would be working with a person—their whole being would be kind of in my care. So I wouldn’t want to rush things.”
Greg Toppo, former national education writer for USA TODAY, is author ofThe Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Support Builds For Making the SAT Untimed For Everyone' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/support-builds-making-sat-untimed-for-everyone-possible-solution-gaming-the-system/' data-summary='A possible solution to the &quot;Gaming the System&quot; problem' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:87:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:98:"Straight Up Conversation: Microsoft Chief Talks Augmented Reality in Schools – by Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"https://www.educationnext.org/straight-up-conversation-microsoft-chief-talks-augmented-reality-schools/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 23 Sep 2019 09:02:22 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:19:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"augmented reality";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Dan Ayoub";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"digital learning";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"education technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"educational technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Frederick M. Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Halo";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Microsoft";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Rick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Rick Hess Straight Up";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"STEM";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:27:"technology in the classroom";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"technology integration";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"virtual learning";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:18;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"virtual reality";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49691652";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:206:"Dan Ayoub, who helms Microsoft's education team after a decade leading the famed Halo gaming franchise, discusses the possibilities and pitfalls of bringing augmented and virtual reality to the classroom.
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11780:"Dan Ayoub is the general manager of mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and STEM education for Microsoft. Before that, Dan worked for 20 years in the games industry, most notably as the development lead for the iconic title Halo. I recently talked with Dan about Microsoft&#8217;s work to bring augmented and virtual reality education to the classroom, and here&#8217;s what he said.
Rick Hess: Dan, you&#8217;re general manager of Microsoft&#8217;s education team. Can you say a bit about what that actually involves?
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49691651" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-sept19-blog-hess-ayoub.png" alt="" width="350" />Dan Ayoub: Thanks, Rick! The high-level goal for the team is to empower every learner on the planet to achieve more. Which is a pretty big task! So what that means concretely is we make products and curriculum for educators and learners of all ages, we partner with classrooms to implement technology, and work with researchers on where the puck is going. In addition to what you generally think of when you think of Microsoft, we have tools for collaboration, tools to help students learn to read, gaming like Minecraft, and so on. We have a central education group, and of course a number of people are working on education across the company. It also involves fostering lifelong learning and future skills like cloud, AI, and data science.
Rick: You came to this work from outside of education, after leading the famed Halo game-development team for eight years and after nearly two decades in gaming. What led you to make the jump?
Dan: It&#8217;s kind of crazy that after 18 years of making games, to do a jump like this. I came to Microsoft to continue working on games about a decade ago; about seven or eight years ago, I got really interested in education from an intellectual standpoint, probably related to having kids. At the same time, working with all of this future tech and working at a big tech company, I started to see where things are headed, and it became really clear that the current way of thinking wasn&#8217;t preparing kids for the future. So there I am working on Halo at Microsoft but fascinated with this problem and having no idea how to get involved. Then I was offered a role in the mixed-reality team to look at how we could use the technology for helping students, and it just seemed like the perfect intersection of my development background and my interests.
Rick: It often seems like game designers have figured out some things about engaging youths that have yet to show up in educational software. Is that fair?
Dan: There&#8217;s a great quote by Marshall McLuhan: &#8220;Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn&#8217;t know the first thing about either.&#8221; I think it&#8217;s hard to compare when the context is so different, but I think there&#8217;s a lot of what games do well that make sense in the classroom. Like making the student the center of the experience, gradually giving skills, and building on them. I think games are also great at teaching grit, resilience, and the understanding that failure is a part of success. Games are also increasingly social in nature, which is really interesting to think about in educational scenarios.
Rick: What&#8217;s the one big lesson you&#8217;ve brought over from your time at Halo, and how has that affected your work at Microsoft?
Dan: Designing for the user. In this case, the final user is the student, but you need to think about the actual teacher using the tech as the primary user, because if they aren&#8217;t comfortable using the technology, it isn&#8217;t making it into the classroom, or you need a ton of professional development to make it happen. I&#8217;d also add that in games we are constantly listening to our customers on how to make their experience better, and this is something I have definitely brought with me. Finally, it&#8217;s all about engagement, and that is really key. Working on Halo gives me incredible cred with students when I go into classrooms.
Rick: Ha, I can imagine! So what have you found to be the biggest bumps, headaches, or disconnects when it comes to designing useful educational software—and helping educators use it effectively?
Dan: I think two things come to mind. First is the notion of technology as a silver bullet; at the end of the day, it&#8217;s all about the teacher, and if you bring technology into the classroom and use it the same way you used a paper and pencil, and don&#8217;t adapt, then you aren&#8217;t going to reap the benefits. At the end of the day, great technology will allow a great teacher to do more and help their students to succeed, but that involves changing how they work in the classroom. I think the second is making sure the software is user-friendly to the teachers and helping them to use it effectively through training, support, and so on.
Rick: Can you talk about one or two of the really eye-opening, head-shaking developmental things you all are working on that might truly one day be transformative—but perhaps not for a decade or two?
Dan: I think two of the most transformative, jaw-dropping things coming down the road are augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Both are in very early stages, but there is massive potential for them both. I think both will completely change education forever once they reach scale and the tech is ready.
Rick: OK. I&#8217;ve heard you talk about the distinction between augmented and virtual reality before. Can you explain the difference for a general audience?
Dan: Understanding the difference can be tricky, for sure. In a nutshell, virtual reality is entirely immersive, so you put on a headset and you are transported to a different world and have no awareness of what&#8217;s going on around you. The immersion limits your ability to work collaboratively with people near you, though you can co-habit a virtual environment, but that immersion can be beneficial for people who may have challenges focusing and is great for singular experiences. It&#8217;s also been shown to be great for empathy-building. Augmented reality, like a Hololens, works by creating holograms over your field of vision, so you can still see everything around you—this is great for classes in the same room together.
Rick: So what do we know about how well augmented reality can work?
Dan: We spent a lot of time researching the effectiveness of the technology, and there were a bunch of studies pointing to the potential, but I was really eager to see the practical results. Here&#8217;s what we know: Some partners are seeing a full-letter grade improvement when using the technology. Others are seeing up to a 60 percent reduction in the time it takes to teach their content. All of this is due to the lower cognitive load required to learn while using the hardware. Outside of the classroom, this tech is being used today in corporate and vocational training and workflows in industries like automotive and design, to name a few.
Rick: How about virtual reality?
Dan: Similar to augmented reality, we are seeing great results in the classroom. VR is also being used in corporate training as well; Walmart is using the tech to help train their employees, and every day I see new cases of the tech at work. It&#8217;s really quite exciting because it&#8217;s all still so new, and people are crafting some amazing things in the workplace and the classroom—I am seeing a bunch of really interesting use cases in vocational education as well. We recently made over 30 hours of standards-aligned content free for educators, and it&#8217;s been great to see the response.
Rick: What are some of the ways that K-12 schooling might ultimately benefit from virtual or augmented reality?
Dan: As time goes on, I have two scenarios I am extremely excited about: first is the potential for distance learning, as you can have students collaborate with other students all over the planet in virtual environments; you can also learn from literally the best people on the planet regardless of where they are and be in the same room with them. The second is as we can weave AI into the experience, we can start to get to the idyllic personalized learning or 1:1 learning scenario for every student. Another area I am extremely excited about is differentiated learning—so how do we use this technology to diagnose things like dyslexia earlier through eye tracking or to assist autistic children?
Rick: On a somewhat different note, as someone who comes to ed tech from outside, can you offer some tips as to the pitfalls those making ed tech need to be focused on?
Dan: I have been really vocal that companies focused on the wrong thing in the early days by creating these showcase experiences that focused more on showy visuals than actual curriculum. Our job is to help teachers do their job, so we made a decision to focus on standards-aligned content that would help teachers do what they need to do, and the response to this has been great. Like any educational technology, it&#8217;s a tool that can help students immensely, but it requires thinking about how you&#8217;ll approach it. At the end of the day, it&#8217;s still all about pedagogy.
Rick: In education, we have a long history of getting jazzed about the possibilities of new tech—only to be disappointed, time and again. What&#8217;s your advice for schools or systems that want to avoid the usual rash of mistakes?
Dan: I think first and foremost, if you just adopt technology and continue to teach like we did during the Industrial Revolution, then ed tech isn&#8217;t going to fix all your problems. I like to say that you need to be diligent, learn about the tech and how to maximize it, and adapt it to your needs, but also change how you teach. Also, please ask us—we love to talk to educators and we prefer to talk about the problems they are trying to solve rather than just pushing technology. Let us know what you&#8217;re trying to accomplish and help us to make our products better for you.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and an executive editor at Education Next.
This post originally appeared on <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2019/09/straight_up_conversation_microsoft_chief_talks_virtual_reality_in_schools.html" target="_blank">Rick Hess Straight Up</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Straight Up Conversation: Microsoft Chief Talks Augmented Reality in Schools' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/straight-up-conversation-microsoft-chief-talks-augmented-reality-schools/' data-summary='Dan Ayoub, who helms Microsoft&#039;s education team after a decade leading the famed Halo gaming franchise, discusses the possibilities and pitfalls of bringing augmented and virtual reality to the classroom.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:75:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"Has President Trump Scared Away All the Foreign Students? – by Alex Usher";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:133:"https://www.educationnext.org/has-president-trump-scared-away-foreign-students-facts-behind-fears-higher-education-revenue-recession/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 27 Aug 2019 04:01:30 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:22:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Features";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"Governance and Leadership";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Homepage";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Journal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Alex Usher";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"college";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"college admission";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"college enrollment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"college revenue";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"college transfers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Donald Trump";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"foreign exchange students";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"foreign students";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"President Donald Trump";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"President Trump";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:18;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"study abroad courses";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:19;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"study abroad programs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:20;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"Trump";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:21;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"Trump administration";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49690976";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"The facts behind fears of a higher-education revenue recession";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Alex Usher";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21279:"<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49690969" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_img01.png" alt="" width="400" />The United States has long been the world’s most popular destination for international students studying abroad. Yet in 2017–18, American universities sustained a 6.6 percent drop in new enrollments by foreign students, continuing a trend that began in 2015–16 and causing much handwringing in higher-education circles and the media. In covering the dwindling enrollment, the Wall Street Journal quoted a college-recruitment specialist as saying that foreign “students are not feeling welcome” in some states, while the Washington Post cited “questions about whether President Trump’s nationalist rhetoric and policies have undercut overseas demand for U.S. higher education.”
Is the United States losing its edge as the go-to place for study abroad?
A first glance at the numbers might suggest so, but a closer look discloses that while growth in the international-student market has slowed, the total numbers are trending upward. In 2018, the number of foreign students studying here attained a new high, exceeding one million for the third year running, according to the Institute of International Education. Furthermore, the country has experienced, and recovered from, growth-rate dips in the past.
For colleges and universities, “internationalization”—defined, for our purposes, as the recruiting and welcoming of foreign students—brings many benefits. Students from around the globe contribute diverse perspectives and cultural values to campus life. They also enrich the academic institution and the local economy through their spending on tuition, living expenses, and travel. For research institutions, the contributions of talented scientists and engineers in training are enormous. Thus, leaders in the higher-education sector have good reason to want to recruit these students. And they know they face strong competition for them from other English-speaking countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
It’s important to underline the distinctions between the two kinds of internationalization. Universities seek to attract top graduate students for their talent, but they pursue fee-paying students, many of them undergraduates, for a very different reason: to bring in revenue. As it happens, the recent decline in enrollment is not evenly distributed between these two categories.
Talent acquisition involves selecting the best students from around the world, mainly at the doctoral level, to work with professors at research institutions. American universities have excelled at this type of internationalization over the past six decades, largely because graduate students seek the unparalleled academic opportunities our institutions have to offer. The chance to work with the world’s top professors in some of the best-equipped academic laboratories has made the United States a magnet for up-and-coming scientists of promise.
This acquisition of top-notch talent, however, costs money—and lots of it. American universities waive tuition fees for these top graduate students and pay them healthy stipends. They do this because it is a good investment: it is no exaggeration to say that the American academic research enterprise, particularly in engineering, computer science, and pharmaceutical sciences, would be impossible to maintain without the labor of foreign doctoral students. When those students manage to stay in the United States—as professors, entrepreneurs, or simply highly skilled workers—they also make substantial contributions, economic and otherwise, to their communities and the country.
The second motive for internationalization is to generate surplus cash from international students to subsidize a college or university’s operations. This is now by far the dominant form of student mobility worldwide, but it is of comparatively recent origin. The United Kingdom was the first country to engage in this kind of recruitment on a mass scale when, during the 1980s, the government began to allow universities to charge international students substantial fees (tuition for domestic students was free until 1998). The Australians built on this approach in the 1990s when the government in Canberra openly encouraged institutions to find overseas students and charge them market-based tuition fees to make up for government cutbacks in education funding.
These two forms of internationalization target different markets. Talent acquisition operates nearly exclusively at the doctoral level. Revenue-enhancing efforts focus more on undergraduates and professional-master’s-degree candidates. The United States has long enjoyed healthy international enrollment in the talent-acquisition realm, but the innovation of the last few years has been a growth in the moneymaking sector of the market.
American universities did not chase this segment until recently, perhaps because raising tuition and bolstering operating revenue were never as problematic for American institutions as they were for British and Australian ones. Private institutions here turned more seriously toward recruiting fee-paying foreign students after the recession of 2001, at the same time they began to offer more domestic students heavy tuition discounts to convince them to enroll. Major public institutions took longer to enter the market. For them, the need for “high value” undergraduates was largely met by out-of-state students, until about the 2008 recession. Then, a sudden drop in state funding created a need for additional revenue exactly when families could least afford to spend more on tuition. Recruiting international students for what amounted to commercial purposes came to be seen as an “easy way out” of budgetary problems, and within five years a number of major state universities increased their share of international students from 3–4 percent of an incoming class to 15–20 percent.
The current changes in the inter-national-student market seem to have left the talent acquisition side of the equation mostly unaffected. What we see, for the most part, is a problem with revenue generation on the moneymaking side.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig01.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690962" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig01-small.png" alt="International Student Enrollment in the United States Has Stagnated (Figure 1)" width="690" /></a>
By the Numbers
The countries sending the most students to the United States are, in order, China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Vietnam (see Figure 1). Students also come here from some 200 other countries around the globe. In the decade prior to 2016, international enrollment rose by about 60 percent. During that period, the composition of that enrollment changed dramatically, shifting to students from China and India. While these two countries previously accounted for about a quarter of international students, they now contribute almost 50 percent of the total. In fact, 97 percent of all growth in international enrollments since 2006 can be attributed to increases in numbers from just four countries: China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.
Figure 1 also shows that since 2016, enrollment growth has ceased, and now the numbers may even be declining slightly. Still, the data do not justify declaring a “crisis” in international-student enrollment. Though growth has stagnated, the numbers of international students remain substantially higher than they were a decade ago. Furthermore, drops in foreign-student enrollment are nothing new: between 2003 and 2005 the numbers fell by a little more than 8 percent, but they began to rebound a few years later.
If international-student numbers remain near all-time highs, why are the media harping on the negatives? The reason is that news outlets are focusing on total-enrollment numbers, which tell only part of the story; there are other data sets in play. The first involves the number of international applications to U.S. universities. This is not tracked at the undergraduate level, but data from an annual survey by the Council of Graduate Schools show a fall in applications of about 7 percent over the past two years, concentrated mostly at the master’s-degree level. By contrast, applications to doctoral programs actually ticked upward over the same two years. The number of applications is also related to the research-intensiveness of the institutions: the “R1” institutions (the most research-intensive type of university in the Carnegie Classification system) have actually seen a rise in applications, while at master’s-level institutions the drop has been notable.
The other relevant set of data involves the measure of new enrollments, as distinct from total enrollments. Since most degrees take more than a year to complete, new enrollments don’t need to rise for total enrollments to do so: the number of new students just needs to equal or exceed the number of students leaving the system via graduation or dropping out. These numbers do not necessarily track precisely with changes in total enrollments, which institutions can raise by simply adjusting international-student admissions standards down to maintain a steady overall student-yield rate (though of course this has some potential ramifications for perceptions of prestige and selectivity). Thus, while applications from foreign students to American graduate schools fell by 7 percent, first-time enrollments decreased by only 2 percent, with the effects again felt more severely at less-selective institutions and at the master’s level. At the undergraduate level, what we see is a major drop in enrollments of 6–7 percent in 2017, with smaller declines in both 2016 and 2018. These dips are not yet large enough to make a dent in total enrollment (which rose very quickly in the four years prior to 2016), but they will start to cascade through the system over the next few years and reduce overall numbers, even if future new enrollments stabilize.
We can conclude from all this that there is some softness in the market in terms of both international applications and new enrollments and that decreases are related to students’ perceptions of institutional quality and prestige. And even if this softening is not yet evident in total enrollment numbers, it soon will be. The downward drift might be on the same scale as we saw in the mid-2000s, or it might be worse, if the weaker enrollment trends continue or intensify.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig02.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690964" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig02-small.png" alt="Recent Trends in International Student Enrollment Vary Across Countries (Figure 2)" width="690" /></a>
Comparative Picture
Is this market softness unique to America, or is it happening elsewhere as well? Global enrollment growth is slowing, driven particularly by plummeting youth cohort sizes in China, which have put the brakes on two solid decades of international-student enrollment increases. Perhaps—given demographic decline in China and the increased quality of institutions throughout Asia—there just aren’t as many international students out there for any market.
The question of whether the number of international students is falling can be dealt with relatively quickly by looking at students leaving China and India, who together constitute well over half the global flow of international students. Over the period of 2013–17, students from China in five English-speaking countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) increased by 40 percent, while the number of Indian students in the same countries doubled. Though China and India have both seen massive increases in access to higher education over the past two decades, the supply of student slots at their domestic institutions has not grown nearly so much andhas not kept up with demand from a burgeoning middle-class in both nations. Numbers elsewhere may not be quite so impressive, but there is no major country where the number of students studying abroad is declining.
As to whether the situation in the United States is unique, we can uncover the answer by comparing American numbers to those of the same four other English-speaking countries. Figure 2 compares the evolution of U.S. international enrollments in 2013–18 to those of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. It shows enrollment increasing quite steadily in Canada and Australia throughout the period, staying fairly constant in the United Kingdom, and, in the United States and New Zealand, increasing until 2016 and then flattening out.
The differences among these five countries fairly jump out of the figure. Canada and Australia have gone full out in recruiting fee-paying international students. However, both the United Kingdom and New Zealand have pursued policies that made it difficult for all higher-ed institutions to follow such a strategy. In the United Kingdom, the government has put up barriers to students who want to work in the country after graduation; in New Zealand, some private universities were prevented from recruiting, owing to concerns about the quality of the institutions. Are similar forces at work here? Though one cannot with any certainty determine from these cases the cause of the growth slowdown in the United States, one can say that the magnitude of the slump here is consistent with the flagging growth that has occurred when governments have taken steps to reduce the influx of foreign students, as happened in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig03.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690966" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig03-small.png" alt="U.S. Private Universities Are the Most Expensive Option for International Students (Figure 3)" width="690" /></a>
A Trump Effect?
While there is solid evidence for a mild “recession” in international-student numbers, concentrated mainly in less research-intensive institutions, the question is, why is it happening? Admissions professionals are floating two non-exclusive explanations. The first is an apparent diminution of America’s appeal in many countries and—more concretely—a harsher visa regime in the United States. The visa situation can be placed squarely at the feet of the Trump administration. The president may also bear some responsibility for the overall drop in America’s attractiveness, though there is evidence that this decline started prior to his election. The second is high tuition costs. Both explanations have merit.
Figure 3 shows the average price of one year of undergraduate tuition for international students across our five comparison countries. Based on these data, one would not say that U.S. public institutions have priced themselves out of the market (though it is worth noting that these figures are averages, and there can be wide distribution around the mean), but private institutions here have clearly chosen a very high price point. High-prestige privates can continue to generate many applications even at steep prices, but one suspects that the less research-intensive and hence less-prestigious four-year privates may struggle if indeed there is some kind of “flight to quality” on the part of international students.
As for more Trump-related causes, these are more difficult to track directly. We know from various surveys from the Pew Research Center that America’s reputation abroad has suffered under Trump. The ICEF i-graduate Agent Barometer survey has documented a marked decline in the number of international-student agents rating the United States as a “very attractive” destination (from 67 percent in 2016 to 57 percent in 2018), though in fairness, the country’s numbers had begun falling prior to Trump’s election (in 2015 it was 77 percent). That these perception indicators are tracking downward at the same time that applications are decreasing is suggestive, but not conclusive. Because the U.S. government does not publish statistics on the rejection rate for student visas, it is impossible to tell whether State Department policies are leading immigration officials to be tougher during the visa approval process. We do know, however, that university officials themselves believe that visa issues are part of the problem. In 2018, 83 percent of institutions participating in the Institute of International Education’s annual “hot topics” survey reported visa delays and denials were a factor in declining numbers of international students; in 2016, only 34 percent said this.
<div id="attachment_49690970" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-49690970" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_img02.png" alt="Caption on photo: &quot;China warns students about styding in US amid trade war&quot;" width="690" />The president of Purdue University, Mitch Daniels, was pressed during a recent CNBC appearance about how U.S.-China trade negotiations might affect enrollments in Indiana.</div>
The Upshot
The evidence available to us suggests that there has been a modest waning in international applications to and new enrollments in American universities and colleges, perhaps on a scale equivalent to the decline seen in 2003–05. This drop has not become fully evident in the overall enrollment statistics, but it soon will. Based on international evidence, the size of the falloff here is consistent with those that have occurred elsewhere in the wake of a major government effort to let in fewer students from abroad.
The effect on talent acquisition—that is, on attracting the best students to the best universities—appears to have been minimal to nonexistent. The squeeze on institutional revenues, though, is a concern, especially for less-prestigious and less-selective institutions, where the effects have been concentrated. For private-sector institutions in this category, the comparative data on tuition fees suggest that the double whammy of lesser quality and high price point may be a problem. More generally, there is widespread concern about the Trump administration’s visa policies causing undue delays and denials of visas to prospective students.
If there is greater concern in the higher-ed sector about the decline in international-student numbers now than 15 years ago, when there was a comparable decrease, it is probably because international-student revenues make up a much larger proportion of most institutions’ budgets now. This shift has occurred not only because the foreign-student enrollments have risen; in private institutions, it is also a function of declining net revenues from domestic students after tuition discounting, and in public institutions it is also reflects declining government funding. Simply put, increasing the number of international students has been an important way for many institutions to maintain expenditure levels in the face of stagnating or declining domestic income sources.
How reasonable would it have been to presume that international-student growth might have continued indefinitely? Even if foreign-student enrollment numbers had continued to rise after 2016, eventually some public institutions would have hit levels where voters would have demanded a halt to such increases simply to preserve spaces in local universities for local students. That is what occurred in California in 2017, where the University of California board of regents adopted a set of rules capping out-of-state enrollment (including international students) at 18 percent, though campuses that were already beyond that limit were grandfathered. At some point, the relentless search for new revenue has to stop and the college-cost disease must be confronted more squarely. Perhaps this pause in international-student enrollment growth presents an occasion to do so.
Alex Usher is president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a Toronto-based consultancy.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Has President Trump Scared Away All the Foreign Students?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/has-president-trump-scared-away-foreign-students-facts-behind-fears-higher-education-revenue-recession/' data-summary='The facts behind fears of a higher-education revenue recession' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:81:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"The Education Exchange: How Does Race Affect Special Education Identification in Schools? – by Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"https://www.educationnext.org/education-exchange-how-does-race-affect-special-education-identification-schools/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 22 Jul 2019 13:00:41 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:12:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Education Exchange";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Multimedia";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Special Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Paul E. Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Paul Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Podcasts";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Scott A. Imberman";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Scott Imberman";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"special ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"The Education Exchange";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:44:"The Education Exchange with Paul E. Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49690836";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:270:"Scott Imberman, a Professor in the Department of Economics at Michigan State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a new paper which uses data from Florida to explore how the identification of childhood disabilities varies by race and school racial composition. ";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2520:"<a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25829.pdf" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49690835" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-july19-podcast-exchange-imberman.png" alt="Link to &quot;School Segregation and Racial Gaps in Special Education Identification&quot; paper" width="400" /></a>Scott Imberman, a Professor in the Department of Economics at Michigan State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a new paper which uses data from Florida to explore how the identification of childhood disabilities varies by race and school racial composition.
The paper, &#8220;<a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25829.pdf" target="_blank">School Segregation and Racial Gaps in Special Education Identification</a>,&#8221; is co-written with Todd E. Elder, David N. Figlio and Claudia I. Persico, and is available from <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25829.pdf" target="_blank">NBER.org</a>.
Follow <a href="https://soundcloud.com/education-exchange-paul-peterson" target="_blank">The Education Exchange on Soundcloud</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-education-exchange/id1272751052?mt=2" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;apn=com.google.android.music&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iwqhn2nvgsgzmvw4haohcpbg4oq?t%3DThe_Education_Exchange%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank">Google Play</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/education-next/the-education-exchange?refid=stpr" target="_blank">Stitcher</a> or <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/category/multimedia/podcast/education-exchange/" target="_blank">here on Education Next.</a>
— Education Next
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='The Education Exchange: How Does Race Affect Special Education Identification in Schools?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/education-exchange-how-does-race-affect-special-education-identification-schools/' data-summary='Scott Imberman, a Professor in the Department of Economics at Michigan State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a new paper which uses data from Florida to explore how the identification of childhood disabilities varies by race and school racial composition.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:81:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"The Education Exchange: How Rising Costs Have Affected Higher Education – by Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"https://www.educationnext.org/education-exchange-how-rising-costs-have-affected-higher-education-vedder/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 15 Jul 2019 13:00:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:14:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Education Exchange";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Multimedia";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"college tuition";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"free college tuition";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"free tuition";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Paul E. Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Paul Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Richard Vedder";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"The Education Exchange";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:44:"The Education Exchange with Paul E. Peterson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49690737";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:311:"Richard Vedder, an Independent Institute Sr. Fellow and Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new book, "Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America," and how rising college tuition costs have changed the dialogue around higher education.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2246:"<a href="https://www.independent.org/store/book.asp?id=129" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49690736" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-july19-podcast-exchange-vedder.png" alt="" width="400" /></a>Richard Vedder, an Independent Institute Sr. Fellow and Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.independent.org/store/book.asp?id=129" target="_blank">Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America</a>,&#8221; and how rising college tuition costs have changed the dialogue around higher education.
Follow <a href="https://soundcloud.com/education-exchange-paul-peterson" target="_blank">The Education Exchange on Soundcloud</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-education-exchange/id1272751052?mt=2" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;apn=com.google.android.music&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iwqhn2nvgsgzmvw4haohcpbg4oq?t%3DThe_Education_Exchange%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank">Google Play</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/education-next/the-education-exchange?refid=stpr" target="_blank">Stitcher</a> or <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/category/multimedia/podcast/education-exchange/" target="_blank">here on Education Next.</a>
— Education Next
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='The Education Exchange: How Rising Costs Have Affected Higher Education' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/education-exchange-how-rising-costs-have-affected-higher-education-vedder/' data-summary='Richard Vedder, an Independent Institute Sr. Fellow and Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new book, &quot;Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America,&quot; and how rising college tuition costs have changed the dialogue around higher education.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:51:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"Can We Design Student Loan Forgiveness to Target Low-Income Families? – by Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://www.educationnext.org/can-design-student-loan-forgiveness-target-low-income-families/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 16 May 2019 04:04:23 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:16:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"federal student loan program";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"federal student loans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"loan forgiveness";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Matt Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Matthew Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"student debt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"student debt and default";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"student loan debt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"student loan forgiveness";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"student loans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49690173";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:216:"How different approaches to loan forgiveness, including plans put forward by members of Congress and presidential hopefuls, would distribute benefits to Americans of different income levels and races and ethnicities.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10586:"<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690168" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness.png" alt="" width="690" />
Proposals to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/free-tuition-is-the-opposite-of-progressive-policymaking/2019/05/03/4767edc8-6c1b-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html?utm_term=.ef05b690bf19" target="_blank">make college free</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/opinion/student-debt-forgiveness-college-democrats.html" target="_blank">forgive student debt</a> have been criticized for disproportionately delivering benefits to high-income families. This pattern is difficult to reverse because students from high-income families are more likely to attain higher levels of education and to borrow more for college and graduate school. And it means policymakers seeking to forgive large amounts of debt face a trade-off between generosity and targeting.
This analysis examines how different approaches to loan forgiveness, including plans put forward by members of Congress and presidential hopefuls, would distribute benefits to Americans of different income levels and races and ethnicities.
On Monday, democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro released his education platform, which includes targeted loan forgiveness for student debt holders who also receive benefits through means-tested federal assistant programs. Former Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/opinion/student-debt-forgiveness-college-democrats.html" target="_blank">proposed</a> canceling all student debt last year, and last month Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) <a href="https://medium.com/@teamwarren/im-calling-for-something-truly-transformational-universal-free-public-college-and-cancellation-of-a246cd0f910f" target="_blank">proposed</a> forgiving up to $50,000 of debt for individuals in households with annual incomes of up to $100,000, with progressively smaller amounts of forgiveness for families making up to $250,000 a year.
I analyzed data on federal student debt from the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances, using the same methodology as a previous <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/100163">Urban Institute analysis</a> of Warren’s debt cancellation plan.
Reducing the maximum amount of debt forgiven
Households with higher incomes tend to have <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/100188">more student loan debt</a>. So, forgiving larger amounts of debt would distribute a larger share of benefits to higher-income households, and reducing the amount of debt forgiven should increase the share of benefits going to lower-income households.
Looking at the Warren plan, reducing the maximum amount of debt forgiven would slightly increase the share of benefits going to low-income households. Reducing the amount of debt forgiven dramatically decreases the total amount of loans forgiven, from an estimated $961 billion at $50,000 of forgiveness to $204 billion at $5,000 of forgiveness. Thus, the total amount of dollars going to all income groups decreases as the plan gets less generous, even if the percentage of dollars only slightly changes.
Under the most generous plan (up to $50,000), the lowest-income families would get 14 percent of the benefits, or about $135 billion. Under the least generous plan ($5,000), the same group would get 16 percent of the benefits, or about $33 billion.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness-fig01.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690170" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness-fig01.jpg" alt="Share of Forgiven Loan Dollars to Each Income Quintile, By Maximum Amount of Debt Forgiven" width="690" /></a>
Changing eligibility rules for debt forgiveness
The Warren plan would provide benefits to families making up to $250,000, or about 98 percent of households with debt. The $50,000 forgiveness limit would be gradually reduced starting at $100,000 of income; for example, a borrower with a household income of $200,000 would be eligible for up to about $17,000 of forgiveness.
Compared with the Polis proposal to cancel all federal student loans, Warren’s income-based targeting reduces the total amount of loans forgiven by about one-third, significantly reduces the share of benefits going to the highest-income families, and modestly increases the share of benefits going to low-income groups.
An alternative approach would be to <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/98884">use participation in means-tested federal benefit programs</a>, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as a proxy for economic hardship, rather than household income. Castro’s proposal would offer partial loan forgiveness for people who have received means-tested assistance for three years over a five-year period.
About 16 percent of households with debt receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), TANF, or another public assistance program, which is likely an underestimate because of <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/31471">underreporting of program participation in survey datasets</a>. The share of borrowers participating in these programs decreases from 37 percent among families in the bottom income quintile to 17 percent of middle-income families to less than 1 percent of the highest-income families. <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-to-snap-eligibility-and-benefits" target="_blank">Eligibility rules</a> for programs such as SNAP consider family size, which can make middle-income families eligible, and assets, which can make low-income, high-asset families ineligible.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness-fig02.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690171" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness-fig02.jpg" alt="Share of Forgiven Loan Dollars to Each Income Quintile, By Income Eligibility Rules" width="690" /></a>
Forgiving all education debt for households that participate in public assistance programs would concentrate benefits on low- and middle-income Americans, with the majority of forgiven dollars (60 percent) going to people in the bottom two income quintiles. About $138 billion in loans would be forgiven.
This kind of plan could be combined with a Warren-style plan. I simulate the benefits of such a plan that forgives all federal loans of public assistance participants and up to $100,000 of the loans of families making up to $25,000, with lower amounts of forgiveness for families making up to $150,000.
This hypothetical plan forgives approximately the same total amount of loans as Warren’s proposal but distributes a somewhat greater share of benefits to low-income families (16 versus 14 percent for the bottom quintile) and a significantly lower share to the highest-income families (8 versus 17 percent).
Estimated loan forgiveness by race and ethnicity
Projecting the distribution of debt forgiveness by income only tells part of the story, given the close connection between <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/99826">student borrowing and the racial wealth gap</a>.
Among the options considered in my analysis, providing full loan forgiveness to recipients of public assistance would direct the largest share of benefits to black Americans (who make up 16 percent of all households)—about 39 percent, compared with 25 percent under Warren’s plan. But Warren’s plan is more generous overall and would forgive about $240 billion of black families’ debt, compared with $54 billion under a plan limited to public assistance recipients.
Combining full forgiveness for public assistance participants with up to $100,000 in forgiveness for other low-income households would direct the greatest number of dollars to black families—$260 billion, or about 27 percent of all forgiven loan dollars.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness-fig03.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49690172" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-may19-blog-chingos-loan-forgiveness-fig03.jpg" alt="Share of Forgiven Loan Dollars to Racial and Ethnic Groups, By Income Eligibility Rules" width="690" /></a>
The fact that even targeted loan forgiveness programs provide significant benefits to economically well-off families highlights the constraints policymakers face in seeking to forgive large amounts of student debt. Providing a generous benefit to low-income families and avoiding cliff effects often leads to significant benefits for higher-income families.
One way to approach this problem would be to consider several years of borrowers’ incomes when deciding how much debt to forgive. For existing borrowers, it might mean identifying families that have had low incomes (or who have participated in public assistance programs like SNAP or TANF) for multiple years. For new borrowers going forward, it might involve <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/04/30/a-better-way-to-provide-relief-to-student-loan-borrowers/" target="_blank">making income-driven repayment universal and automatic</a>. Estimating the costs and benefits of these kinds of plans is <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-22" target="_blank">difficult</a> but is critical to designing student loan reforms that are efficient and equitable.
Matthew M. Chingos is a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute.
This post originally appeared on <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/can-we-design-student-loan-forgiveness-target-low-income-families" target="_blank">Urban Wire</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Can We Design Student Loan Forgiveness to Target Low-Income Families?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/can-design-student-loan-forgiveness-target-low-income-families/' data-summary='How different approaches to loan forgiveness, including plans put forward by members of Congress and presidential hopefuls, would distribute benefits to Americans of different income levels and races and ethnicities.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:78:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"Social-Emotional Learning: What It Is, What It Isn’t, And What We Know – by Stephanie Jones";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"https://www.educationnext.org/social-emotional-learning-isnt-know/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 30 Apr 2019 13:28:01 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:16:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Character Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Web-Only";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"American education policy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"character education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"character skills";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"education policy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:23:"education policy debate";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Grover Whitehurst";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jennifer Kahn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Rebecca Bailey";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Russ Whitehurst";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"social capital";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"social emotional learning";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"social science";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sophie Barnes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Stephanie Jones";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689979";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"Effective programming focuses on concrete, teachable skills";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Stephanie Jones";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14523:"<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689987" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-web-jones-sel-img01.png" alt="" width="690" />
In the summer 2019 issue of Education Next, Grover Whitehurst <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/prevalence-policy-based-evidence-making-forum-should-schools-embrace-social-emotional-learning/" target="_blank">expresses</a> concern about current approaches to social-emotional learning, or SEL, and the state of the evidence supporting such “whole-learner” practices in schools. His principle points are: (1) that work in SEL is misfocused, meaning it is directed to the wrong things (e.g., personality traits, dispositions), and (2) that practice and policymaking have gotten ahead of the evidence. In reality, traditional approaches to social-emotional learning do not focus on “personality constructs such as conscientiousness and broad dispositions such as grit.” Rather, as we describe below, effective SEL programming focuses on concrete, teachable skills and has been shown in many studies to lead to gains in important outcomes. Whitehurst’s sole reliance on two broad and general studies to make his case leaves out a large number of individual studies (randomized trials, no less) that reveal the promise and impact of SEL. We lay out our two key points below.
Misfocus
Whitehurst writes that work in SEL is misguided in its focus on personality traits and dispositions (e.g., conscientiousness, agreeableness, persistence, etc.), which he describes as largely influenced by genetic and environmental factors and, as such, are unlikely to be changed through school-based programming. Understandably, there is great allure in cultivating these qualities in children because there is ample evidence confirming their value. For example (and as Whitehurst points out), conscientiousness <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537112000577" target="_blank">is</a> <a href="http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/43/4/972.abstract" target="_blank">linked</a> to desirable outcomes such as academic achievement and higher labor market earnings. However, just because these traits are desirable does not mean that they are suitable targets for school-based programming. In fact, there is little evidence that interventions targeting these types of outcomes result in meaningful change. While the kinds of traits often described as character or personality are certainly important, research suggests such traits <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Personality-Classic-Theories-Modern-Research/dp/0205050174" target="_blank">are</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17661895" target="_blank">relatively</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00505.x" target="_blank">stable</a> over the life course.
The truth is that we should, as Whitehurst writes, focus on concrete, specific, observable, and teachable skills and competencies—and this is exactly what the best SEL interventions and practices do. These programs and strategies are designed this way because we have a great deal of evidence from developmental science about the relevance of such skills and competencies and about how they grow and change over time. SEL programs targeting such skills and competencies are effective because they make these skills explicit and teach them. For example, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01560.x" target="_blank">4Rs Program</a> (Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution) is a universal, elementary school-based intervention that focuses on social problem solving and conflict resolution. The basic idea behind the intervention is to target the social-cognitive processes thought to lead to aggressive behavior. That is, it is designed to help children think, feel, and act differently in situations of interpersonal conflict. For example, unit 5 in the 4th grade curriculum focuses on understanding and managing conflict and solving problems collaboratively. The unit begins with students reading a relevant book and discussing it as a group. This is followed by three specific lessons, the first focused on conflict and violence and what they mean, the second on negotiation and how it works, and the third on how conflict and specific negotiation strategies go together. This is how one program makes SEL concrete and explicit.
What’s difficult is that some of the loudest champions for the field make their case based on <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/504455" target="_blank">studies</a> that include personality and dispositional traits, and then these types of constructs become viewed as interchangeable with the concrete, developmental, and teachable skills and competencies that make up the tradition of SEL. These challenges illuminate an even more troubling issue, which is that the terminology in this field is a mess. The field goes by <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/14/542070550/social-and-emotional-skills-everybody-loves-them-but-still-cant-define-them" target="_blank">many names</a>—social-emotional learning, bullying prevention, character education, conflict resolution, social skills, life skills, and soft skills, to name just a few. Moreover, major players in the field have put forward competing organizational schemes or frameworks that often use different or even conflicting terminology to describe similar sets of skills. As a result, there is little clarity about what we mean, and the field is beset with dilemmas about how to promote and measure skills in this area, further complicating attempts to translate research into practice. Our lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education has tried to address this challenge by building a <a href="http://exploresel.gse.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">website</a> and set of tools that use a systematic coding system to identify and show relationships between different skills, terminology, and frameworks. These tools are designed to help key stakeholders in practice and policy to be concrete and explicit about their goals and align their efforts (i.e., frameworks, programs, assessments) to more effectively and deliberately achieve results. We hope these tools can serve as a starting point for ongoing work intended to bring coherence and consistency to the field.
The State of the Evidence
Whitehurst argues further that practice and policy decisions around SEL are based in skewed perceptions of the evidence, namely relying on large meta-analyses with subpar methodology and ignoring conflicting or null findings. He highlights two key studies, a 2011 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21291449" target="_blank">meta-analysis</a> of the effects of SEL and its <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28685826" target="_blank">follow-up</a> examining longer-term effects, and the large-scale <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20112001/" target="_blank">Social and Character Development Research Consortium (SACD) study</a> from the early 2000s. Whitehurst is correct to highlight the limitations of existing meta-analyses, however, they still have value. For example, many of the studies included in the 2011 study did not involve randomization or use reliable outcome measures. Indeed, the SACD study—like so many large-scale evaluations of this type—revealed no differences between the schools randomized to a variety of “social and character development” interventions and those in the no-intervention condition. If we relied on these studies alone, we might be skeptical about the nature of the evidence. These studies do, however, establish important baseline knowledge and evidence that allows researchers to ask more refined questions using stronger methods and measures. Moreover, aggregating studies over time can provide a signal that is hard to discern from a host of individual studies that target very different things. The signal emerging from a collection of meta-analyses (now there <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pits.21641" target="_blank">are</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2016.1195791" target="_blank">several</a>) is strong, and worth following with a look at the individual studies included within them.
For example, more than two decades of randomized-controlled trials evaluating Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) with socio-economically, racially, and developmentally diverse samples and conducted with rigorous research designs show positive impacts across both outcome domains (e.g., behavior, cognitive, and social) and reporters (e.g., teachers and peers). Early <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/promoting-emotional-competence-in-schoolaged-children-the-effects-of-the-paths-curriculum/AC0E5865EC8777B8AC797F4978AE72B8" target="_blank">studies</a> found that participation in PATHS improved emotion vocabulary, fluency, reasoning, and management of emotions for first and second grade children, with particularly strong findings for students with disabilities. Other <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10634266040120020101" target="_blank">studies</a> of PATHS confirm the strong and significant impact of PATHS for students in special education classrooms.
In a more recent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20350027" target="_blank">study</a> of approximately 3,000 first through third graders, PATHS demonstrated positive and significant impacts on cognitive skills (concentration, attention, work completion), authority acceptance (oppositional and conduct problem behaviors), and social competence (prosocial behavior and emotion regulation) compared to a matched comparison group. A similar randomized <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23625456" target="_blank">study</a> following approximately 780 students over the course of three years found decreased aggressive social problem solving, hostile attribution bias, and aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies for students in fourth and fifth grade. These aspects of social information processing are explicit and proximal targets in the PATHS intervention. Evidence also suggests that gains produced by PATHS are sustained two years after the intervention period.
Another example comes from the 4Rs program described above, a school-based intervention in social problems solving and conflict resolution that trains and supports all teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade in how to integrate the teaching of social and emotional skills into the language arts curriculum. A randomized <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01560.x" target="_blank">evaluation</a> of 4Rs indicated that children in the 4Rs group were less aggressive, had fewer problems with attention, had fewer depressive symptoms, and showed improved social competence, compared to students in the control group. There were no effects on academic outcomes for the full sample of students participating in the study; however, children who had higher levels of behavior problems at the outset of the evaluation showed gains in attendance, reading scores, and math scores—suggesting that high-quality SEL programs can be an effective mechanism for supporting at-risk students and reducing the achievement gap.
Interestingly, the SACD study also tells an important story. As noted above, overall, it did not detect differences between the intervention and control groups, but it is worth noting that the SACD study was a mix of very different program approaches and used a general measurement battery, rather than measures aligned to the specific skills being targeted in each program. Several of the individual RCTs embedded in the broader national study found impacts on social-emotional outcomes, and this is believed to be because the individual studies used measurement batteries closely tied to the theory of change of the specific program.
Each of these examples documents impacts in areas targeted by the specific program. Each program targets specific, observable, and teachable skills and competencies, and each rests on a slightly different theory and therefore adopts a slightly different approach. We are by no means suggesting that we should ignore null findings of larger multi-program studies, but rather that we must carefully consider the evidence, what it offers, and be prepared to learn from multiple sources. What might appear to be few or no impacts may instead reflect a lack of alignment between program targets and outcome measures.
These examples we present (and there are others) use rigorous methods to demonstrate important findings that should not be overlooked. They include diverse samples and randomized longitudinal designs, and they reveal impact variation by specific characteristics, and average positive outcomes across domains (social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive), and across measurement types. These are hallmark characteristics of a robust body of evidence. As long as we stick to that evidence, practitioners and policy-makers have much to draw upon in designing and adopting evidence-based, effective programs and interventions to improve social-emotional and other outcomes. When theory and measurement are closely aligned, we do see effects. And this brings us back to the issue of terminology—we must be explicit about what we are targeting, about the activities that underlie expected change, and about how we are measuring impact. The importance and value of this sort of precision and alignment cannot be overstated.
Stephanie Jones is the Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Rebecca Bailey is Assistant Director of the EASEL Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where Jennifer Kahn is a Research Manager and Sophie Barnes is a Research Coordinator.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Social-Emotional Learning: What It Is, What It Isn’t, And What We Know' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/social-emotional-learning-isnt-know/' data-summary='Effective programming focuses on concrete, teachable skills' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:66:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"You Might Be Surprised Which States Prioritize Higher Teacher Salaries – by Michael J. Petrilli";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://www.educationnext.org/you-might-be-surprised-states-prioritize-higher-teacher-salaries/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 26 Apr 2019 10:14:47 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:12:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"School Spending";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Teachers and Teaching";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"education spending";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Michael J. Petrilli";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Michael Petrilli";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Mike Petrilli";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"per pupil spending";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"spending";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"teacher pay";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"teacher salaries";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689905";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:130:"The U.S. is spending dramatically more per pupil than in decades past, yet teacher salaries have barely kept pace with inflation. ";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Michael J. Petrilli";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10419:"<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689923" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-img01.png" alt="" width="690" />
It’s one of the great conundrums of American public education: Even when calculated in constant dollars, and even after the Great Recession, the U.S. is spending dramatically more per pupil than in decades past, yet teacher salaries have barely kept pace with inflation. This raises several key questions: Where is the money going, if not into salaries? And how much could we pay teachers if we prioritized higher salaries instead?
To be clear, I don’t have all the answers. But I do have a fresh look at the data.
Introducing the salary-to-spending ratio
To shed some light on this issue, I decided to compare average teacher salaries to average per-pupil spending—by state, and over time, all in inflation-adjusted dollars.
This is a twist on just looking at average teacher salaries, which can be instructive if you want to understand <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/news/2019/04/16/468000/strikes-driving-change-states-lowest-paid-teachers/" target="_blank">where teachers have the best argument that they are underpaid</a> (especially if the numbers are adjusted for cost of living differences). That’s important information, especially in this season of teacher strikes and protests, but I was curious about a different question: Which states, if any, have prioritized higher teacher pay over other possible uses for their education funds? To put it another way, as spending rose in recent decades, which states have chosen to put the additional dollars into higher salaries instead of other options, such as smaller classes, employee healthcare and retiree benefits, or additional staff, especially?
That’s because, as my colleague Checker Finn has <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/teacher-strikes-teacher-pay-and-teacher-status" target="_blank">long argued</a>, if we as a country had chosen better teachers (via higher salaries) over more teachers (via smaller class sizes and more personnel), we might have gotten stronger results.
Keep in mind that changes in average teacher salaries can reflect both changes in teacher pay scales and in teacher “composition.” For example, if the teaching force becomes significantly younger over time, average teacher salaries will drop, even if the pay scale stays the same.
So let’s look at the data, first for the United States as a whole. Again, to keep things simple, we’ll compare the average teacher salary for a given school year to average per-pupil spending, and call it the “salary to spending ratio.” Here’s what that’s looked like from 1990 forward:
Table 1: U.S. average teacher salaries, average per-pupil expenditures, and salary to spending ratio, 1990–2016 (inflation-adjusted)
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-tab01.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689908" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-tab01.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2019, tables <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_211.60.asp" target="_blank">211.60</a> and <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_236.70.asp?current=yes" target="_blank">236.70</a>. 
The average teacher salary has been remarkably consistent over this period, even though spending has increased by 35 percent, and that has dropped the salary-to-spending ratio from 6.2 in 1990 to 4.5 in 2016. If salaries had risen at the same rate as spending, the average teacher salary by 2016 would have been more than $80,000 per year, versus a bit less than $60,000.
Salary-to-spending ratios: State-by-state differences
So the U.S. as a whole now has a salary-to-spending ratio of 4.5. Are there any differences at the state level? That might suggest that some states are making higher teacher salaries a priority. There are indeed differences. Here’s how it looks for 2015–2016.
Table 2: Average teacher salaries, average per-pupil expenditures, and salary to spending ratios, 2015–16
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-tab02.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689903" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-tab02.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
It’s hard to know what exactly to make of these data, but a few patterns do jump out. First, many fast-growing, low-spending states, such as Idaho, Arizona, and Georgia, appear to put more of their scarce dollars into teacher salaries. California is not exactly a low-spending state, yet it’s at the top of the list too, presumably because its high cost of living means it needs to pay more to have any chance at recruiting quality teachers.
Many high-spending states, on the other hand, appear to allocate their additional dollars into more staff, or other items, rather than higher teacher salaries. Maybe that’s understandable in low-cost-of-living states, but it sure seems that expensive ones like New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut should be putting even more of their dollars into higher salaries. If New York’s salary-to-spending ratio matched California’s, for example, it could be paying teachers an average of about $155,000 a year, instead of the actual average of about $80,000.
I also wonder about special education. Many of the states at or near the top of the list, including California, have famously low rates of special education identification, while many toward the bottom, such as New York, have high rates. Is that because some states truly have more kids with disabilities? Or are lower-spending states <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/01/11/577400134/texas-violates-federal-law-education-department-finds">finding ways</a> to be stingier about who gets identified, thus avoiding the need to hire lots of additional support staff?
State-by-state salary-to-spending ratios over time
Let’s take one more cut at the data, and see if any interesting patterns emerge at the state level over the past quarter century.
Table 3: Average teacher salaries, average per-pupil expenditures, and salary to spending ratios, by state, 1990–2016 (inflation-adjusted)
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-tab03.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689904" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-petrilli-teacher-salaries-tab03.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Now we have a different way at looking at the issue. It’s notable that the salary-to-spending index decreased in every single state, showing that salaries faced competition from other expenses everywhere. Throughout the economy, health care expenses have eaten into pay, so that’s one likely culprit.
But some states held the line on salaries much more than others.
Florida comes out on the top of this list, though it’s a peculiar case, given that inflation-adjusted salaries there actually declined over this period. But given how flat spending has been in the Sunshine State, it could have been worse had leaders not kept their scarce dollars from going elsewhere.
Better examples are Oregon, D.C., and New Jersey, all of which increased their spending over time, and found a way to drive at least some of the additional dollars into salaries.
At the bottom of the list are states that could have plowed their big spending increases into higher teacher salaries but didn’t. Illinois may be the poster child, with per-pupil expenditures rising from about $10,000 in 1990 to more than $16,500 by 2016. Yet teacher salaries barely budged. If they had instead kept pace with spending (which is what the last column shows), they would have risen from about $63,000 a year to over $100,000.
* * *
To be sure, this analysis is just scratching the surface. Additional analyses could go much deeper, looking at changes in school expenditures over time, and examining the impact of smaller class sizes; the hiring of additional staff, like teacher coaches; the rising costs of health insurance and pension payments; and other categories of spending, like administration. Breaking all of this out by state would be instructive, as it would help policymakers in a given jurisdiction understand the choices their own schools are making, and start to investigate why that might be.
In the meantime, when someone complains that teacher salaries are not high enough, you should agree with them. But next explain that the problem in most places isn’t overall education spending—it’s how we choose to invest our dollars. And you can really rock their world by saying that schools in Nevada, Utah, and Idaho are prioritizing teacher pay much more so than their counterparts in Vermont, Maine, and New York.
Mike Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, research fellow at Stanford University&#8217;s Hoover Institution, and executive editor of Education Next.
This post originally appeared in <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/you-might-be-surprised-which-states-prioritize-higher-teacher-salaries" target="_blank">Flypaper</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='You Might Be Surprised Which States Prioritize Higher Teacher Salaries' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/you-might-be-surprised-states-prioritize-higher-teacher-salaries/' data-summary='The U.S. is spending dramatically more per pupil than in decades past, yet teacher salaries have barely kept pace with inflation.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:72:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"Who Would Benefit from Elizabeth Warren’s Student Loan Forgiveness Proposal? – by Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"https://www.educationnext.org/benefit-elizabeth-warrens-student-loan-forgiveness-proposal/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:31:25 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:14:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"Governance and Leadership";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Elizabeth Warren";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"federal student loans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"loan forgiveness";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"student debt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"student debt and default";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"student loan debt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"student loan forgiveness";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"student loans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689918";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:168:"The plan is likely to disproportionately benefit middle- and upper-middle-income Americans, as well as black families, at an estimated total cost of about $955 billion.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6918:"<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689913" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-chingos-blagg-warren.png" alt="" width="690" />
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced an ambitious <a href="https://medium.com/@teamwarren/im-calling-for-something-truly-transformational-universal-free-public-college-and-cancellation-of-a246cd0f910f" target="_blank">plan</a> earlier this week that would cancel most outstanding student debt held by households making up to $250,000. Our analysis of federal data shows that this plan is likely to disproportionately benefit middle- and upper-middle-income Americans, as well as black families, at an estimated total cost of about $955 billion.
Warren’s proposal would forgive $50,000 of student debt for everyone living in a household with up to $100,000 in annual income and progressively smaller amounts for households with incomes between $100,000 and $250,000. We use data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), a nationally representative survey of households last conducted by the Federal Reserve Board in 2016, to calculate how student debt cancellation under Warren’s plan would be distributed to different income and racial and ethnic groups in the US. We focus on federal education debt, which accounts for approximately 90 percent of all student debt.
Distribution of loan forgiveness by income
We estimate that 66 percent of federal student loan dollars would be forgiven under Warren’s plan. Applying this estimate to the most recent total debt in the federal student loan portfolio ($1.447 trillion) yields a cost estimate of $955 billion dollars. This estimate is higher than the one in the <a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Experts-Letter-to-Senator-Warren-.pdf" target="_blank">economic analysis (PDF)</a> provided by Warren’s campaign, which used a different methodology.
We first assess how Warren’s proposal would distribute the $955 billion in cancelled loans by calculating the size of the benefit for different income groups. We find that, for households with federal student debt, the amount of federal debt forgiven increases as household income increases but drops for households in the top income quintile, which receive the same average benefit as those in the lowest quintile. This finding reflects the fact that average borrowing increases with household income, but the Warren proposal reduces the benefit for families in the top income group (with no forgiveness for families earning more than $250,000, who make up about 5 percent of households).
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689914" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-chingos-blagg-warren-fig01.jpg" alt="" width="690" />
If we look at total dollars rather than average forgiveness, the benefits skew even more toward the higher income groups because those households are more likely to have education debt in the first place (in addition to having larger amounts of debt). Just 16 percent of households in the lowest income quintile have any federal student loan debt, while 24 and 20 percent of households in the second-highest and highest quintiles have debt, respectively. Among households that have debt, the average bottom quintile household has about $25,600, while the average debt is $43,400 in the highest quintile.
These patterns in borrowing by income result in 45 percent of cancelled loan dollars going to households earning less than $250,000 in the top two income quintiles and just 14 percent going to the bottom quintile. In other words, phasing out the benefit for higher-income households reduces the benefit for the top income group but does not tilt the benefits to substantially favor low-income households.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689915" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-chingos-blagg-warren-fig02.jpg" alt="" width="690" />
Distribution of loan forgiveness by race and ethnicity
Long-standing <a href="https://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/" target="_blank">racial wealth gaps</a> are <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/99826" target="_blank">closely connected to education debt</a>. Warren’s proposal specifically cites the racialized nature of the debt issue and seeks to narrow racial wealth gaps, pointing out that “across all colleges, black students were on average nearly 20 percentage points more likely to need federal student loans.”
Our analysis finds that the proposal would disproportionately benefit black families: 25 percent of cancelled debt dollars would go to black households (16 percent of all households) and 59 percent would go to white households (68 percent of all households). Hispanic and other racial and ethnic groups (which are combined in the SCF to protect respondent confidentiality) are both projected to receive benefits that are roughly commensurate with their share of the population.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689916" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-april19-blog-chingos-blagg-warren-fig03.jpg" alt="" width="690" />
Loan forgiveness is just one portion of Senator Warren’s plan, which also seeks to eliminate tuition at public colleges, increase Pell grants, provide additional funding to historically black colleges and universities, and end federal aid to for-profit colleges. And other candidates are likely to release their own plans in the coming months. We will continue to evaluate how proposed reforms to federal higher education policy are likely to affect different groups of Americans and at what cost.
Additional statistics from our analysis, including results by education and age, are <a href="https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/elizabethwarrenloanforgiveness.xlsx" target="_blank">available to download here.</a>
Matthew M. Chingos is a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute. Kristin Blagg is a research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, focusing on education policy.
This post originally appeared on <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/who-would-benefit-elizabeth-warrens-student-loan-forgiveness-proposal" target="_blank">Urban Wire</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Who Would Benefit from Elizabeth Warren’s Student Loan Forgiveness Proposal?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/benefit-elizabeth-warrens-student-loan-forgiveness-proposal/' data-summary='The plan is likely to disproportionately benefit middle- and upper-middle-income Americans, as well as black families, at an estimated total cost of about $955 billion.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:90:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:5:{s:0:"";a:7:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"Is Wi-Fi a Health Threat in Schools? – by Kenneth R. Foster";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"https://www.educationnext.org/is-wi-fi-health-threat-schools-sorting-fact-fiction/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"comments";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"https://www.educationnext.org/is-wi-fi-health-threat-schools-sorting-fact-fiction/#comments";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 16 Apr 2019 04:04:09 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:14:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Features";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Journal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"education technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"educational technology";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"internet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Kenneth R. Foster";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"radiation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"student health";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"technological innovation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"technology and schooling";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:27:"technology in the classroom";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"technology integration";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"wi-fi";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689418";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:27:"Sorting fact from fiction
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Kenneth R. Foster";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32245:"<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49689412" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_img01.png" alt="Wi-Fi illustration" width="400" />Since the early 2000s, when wireless connectivity and the Internet evolved into everyday technologies, they have come to pervade our home and work lives, revolutionizing the way we share and access information. Wi-Fi circuits, which connect a device to a wireless network and the Internet, are incorporated into billions of devices, ranging from bathroom scales and “smart” electric outlets to equipment that streams movies and music. Wi-Fi is installed on our smartphones and laptops, at home and in the workplace, in cafés and airports, and of course, in schools everywhere.
Digital learning and wireless connectivity have become so entrenched in schools that many educators now consider high-speed Internet access a requirement for effective teaching. The federal government, via the Federal Communications Commission, subsidizes wireless connectivity and other technology in schools through its E-rate program. Advocates aspire to equip every student in America with wireless access, and the organization EducationSuperHighway estimates that as of 2017, 88 percent of schools had robust Wi-Fi capability in their classrooms, up from 25 percent just four years earlier (see Figure 1). Some school districts are providing Wi-Fi access to places like football fields and school buses to help students without reliable Internet access at home complete and submit assignments.
But schools are finding that a substantial number of people have health concerns about the radio frequency, or RF, signals emitted by Wi-Fi devices, even as exposure levels are far below government safety limits. Objectors have banded together to protest what they consider to be the health hazards of wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi in schools. The 2018 documentary Generation Zapped chronicled the efforts of key players in this campaign, who blame RF exposures from low-level sources such as Wi-Fi for a host of detrimental health effects, from headaches and hearing loss to Alzheimer’s and brain cancer. Some scientists and physicians support their views (even though they might not agree on just what those adverse health effects might be), and the issue has been taken up by alternative-medicine proponents such as the physician Joseph Mercola (better known for his anti-vaccine advocacy).
While digital culture has brought great benefits, it has certainly had negative consequences as well—such as loss of privacy, disruptive hacking, and harms to children from misuse of cell phones. But need we worry about the health risks of environmental exposure to radio frequency energy? The evidence we have accumulated so far would suggest not. National health agencies have credibly concluded that no adverse health effects have been demonstrated at radio frequency exposures that fall within established safety guidelines—and the exposures from Wi-Fi fall well below those limits.
Yet a substantial number of people do worry about exposure to RF energy in the environment. In 2017, noted risk expert Peter Wiedemann, then at the University of Wollongong in Australia, reported on a survey of 2,454 people in six European countries about their concerns over electromagnetic-field exposure. The investigators found that 40 percent of the respondents had some concerns, with 12 percent describing themselves as “enduringly concerned”—that is, frequently thinking and talking about electromagnetic-field exposure. Most of their worries were related to radio frequency sources. Cell towers, Wi-Fi, wireless-enabled electric utility meters, and other sources of “involuntary” exposure were noted as particularly troubling. Numerous websites serve as echo chambers for these apprehensions, offering alarming interpretations of scientific developments. Some of the sites sell RF-shielding garments or provide templates of letters for concerned individuals to send to political leaders.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_fig01.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689405" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_fig01-small.png" alt="Schools Have Rapidly Added Wi-Fi to Classrooms (Figure 1)" width="690" /></a>
The Science behind RF Energy
With any potentially hazardous agent, the dose makes the poison. At high exposure levels, radio frequency energy can indeed be hazardous, producing burns or other thermal damage, but these exposures are typically incurred only in occupational settings near high-powered RF transmitters, or sometimes in medical procedures gone awry. Two fundamental questions about any health risk are: what kinds of adverse effects may possibly occur under given exposure levels, and how much exposure do people actually receive in the real world?
<div id="attachment_49689413" style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-full wp-image-49689413" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_img02.png" alt="Generation Zapped film poster" width="350" />The 2018 documentary Generation Zapped chronicled the campaigns of activists who warn about what they claim are dangers of Wi-Fi exposure.</div>
The very word “radiation” is scary to many people, who may associate it with overexposure to x-rays, or the cancers induced by massive exposures during the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. But, technically speaking, radiation is simply energy moving through space. Thus, even light from a flashlight is a form of radiation. Radio frequency energy transmitted from an antenna is also a form of radiation, but unlike x-rays and other forms of potentially dangerous radiation, RF energy is non-ionizing: that is, the photons that carry the signal do not have enough energy to disrupt molecules in the body to form free radicals, which can damage cells and tissues. RF energy has nothing in common with ionizing radiation in terms of potential health effects. The term electromagnetic field, or EMF, refers to electromagnetic energy in general, regardless of frequency. In health discussions, the term is used broadly to refer to any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, most typically to power-line fields (at 50 or 60 hertz) or radio frequency fields.
“Wi-Fi” does not refer to any specific physical agent, but rather is a trademarked name for devices that conform to a set of engineering standards that enable them to communicate through wireless links. Currently, Wi-Fi devices transmit in two bands of the radio frequency spectrum, near 2.45 and 5 gigahertz, but additional frequency bands will be used in the future. The lower frequency range is part of the industrial, scientific, and medical band that has long been used by household microwave ovens, diathermy and other medical equipment, industrial heaters, and many other devices. Wi-Fi operates in the microwave part of the spectrum (300 megahertz to 300 gigahertz). Nearly the entire microwave region of the spectrum is used for something—cell phones, broadcast applications, radar, industrial heating equipment, and, since the late 1990s, a vast number of low-powered communications devices, of which Wi-Fi is only one of several classes.
A Wi-Fi network (technically called a wireless local-area network) is configured around sets of low-powered RF transmitters. Access points, which in schools are typically mounted high on walls or above ceiling tiles, allow Wi-Fi-enabled devices (called clients) to connect to the network and access the Internet. In a school, these devices would include laptops, tablet computers, and often printers and audiovisual equipment in classrooms.
Wi-Fi devices transmit streams of brief radio frequency pulses at somewhat lower peak power levels than those used by cell phones, and at a very low-duty cycle (fraction of time spent transmitting). Only one device can transmit at a time on a Wi-Fi network. If the network is operating at full capacity (an unusual situation, even in a classroom of students accessing the network), the total amount of RF energy transmitted on the network might be roughly comparable to that from a single cell phone in use in the room or to the small amounts of microwave energy that typically leak from the front door of a kitchen microwave oven while in use. These signals come, in turn, from every device that is connected to the network, most of which are located at some distance from any given individual in the room.
Individuals who are in the vicinity of a Wi-Fi network are exposed to radio frequency signals in two ways: from the typically weak signals in the network and also from the generally stronger but more intermittent signals coming from RF transmitters (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell phone antennas) in the user’s own device. Any wireless device that is legally sold in the United States must be authorized by the Federal Communications Commission, which requires appropriate testing by manufacturers to document compliance with the commission’s safety limits. Those regulatory thresholds are far below any demonstrably hazardous exposure level that could cause excessive heating of tissue, which cannot happen with low-powered Wi-Fi equipment.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_fig02.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689407" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_fig02-small.png" alt="Wi-Fi Is a Small Fraction of Total Radio Frequency Exposure (Figure 2)" width="690" /></a>
Exposure in Schools
Numerous surveys have examined levels of exposure to the population from environmental sources of radio frequency energy. While these levels vary greatly, the largest exposure an individual generally incurs is from use of a cell phone. Below that level are signals from cell phones operated in the person’s vicinity. Still lower, on average, are signals from many other sources in the environment: cell towers, broadcast and communications transmitters outside the home, and microwave ovens, wireless baby monitors, cordless phones, Wi-Fi, and other RF-emitting devices within the home. The cumulative exposure from all sources in ordinary environments is invariably a tiny fraction of established safety limits. Those limits are designed to provide adequate protection against all established hazards from radio frequency energy over any duration of exposure.
Two studies illustrate the exposure levels involved. In 2017, Lena Hedendahl and colleagues in Sweden fitted 18 teachers in seven schools with instruments that recorded exposure from multiple RF sources many times a day for entire school days. The average RF exposures to the teachers from Wi-Fi in school were comparable to that from sources outside the school (chiefly, for those schools, “downlink” signals from nearby cellular base station antennas, which are the yard-long antennas seen today on many rooftops) and considerably below “uplink” signals from cell phones in the teachers’ vicinity. All exposure levels were a tiny fraction of U.S. and European safety limits.
More recently, a large multinational group of investigators led by Elisabeth Cardis of the University of Barcelona surveyed radio frequency exposures to 529 children ages 8 to 18 living in five countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Spain). The investigators fitted the kids with personal RF dosimeters that recorded their exposures from a variety of sources in and out of school for up to three days. Consistent with other studies, Wi-Fi amounted to only a small fraction of the children’s total RF exposure (see Figure 2). RF exposures in the schools, the study found, were generally comparable to or lower than those in other environments: 95 percent of the children had Wi-Fi at home, and three quarters of them used cell phones, with more than one third of the students accessing the Internet via cell phones for more than 30 minutes a day.
The overall conclusion from these and other surveys is that exposures to radio frequency signals from Wi-Fi are far below accepted safety limits, and generally lower than exposures from other RF sources in the environment. And while our environment is awash with radio frequency energy, Wi-Fi is only a small part of the total picture.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_fig03.png" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689409" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_fig03-small.png" alt="Thousands of Studies, but No Convincing Evidence of Harm (Figure 3)" width="690" /></a>
Research on Health Effects
Spurred in part by public concerns, many studies on radio frequency exposure—nearly 4,000 to date—have been done over the past half century. From the beginning, a large share of these studies used radio frequency energy in the industrial, scientific, and medical band in which Wi-Fi operates (see Figure 3), in part to address occupational health concerns from the use of high-powered microwave sources. More recently, starting in the mid-1990s, many additional studies have investigated RF exposures at cell phone frequencies (typically, 800–1950 megahertz). A small but growing number of studies have considered RF exposures from Wi-Fi signals.
The studies vary widely in quality and approach. A comparatively few studies have used standard protocols and exacting quality standards, as a drug or chemical company would in assessing the safety of a product. Such rigorous studies are expensive undertakings because they require large numbers of subjects, exacting methodology, and sophisticated engineering to produce well-defined RF exposures.
The great majority of these studies, though, are not standard risk-assessment investigations. A large share of them are smaller, often exploratory studies that vary greatly in quality, in the endpoint they investigate, and in their relevance to health. Many are one-of-a-kind studies, not replicated even in the investigators’ own labs, and many have used RF exposures well above safety limits, where heating of the sample may have produced effects. A large proportion have serious methodological problems, such as inadequate assessment of exposure levels or a lack of appropriate controls, both of which prevent reliable interpretation of the results.
While many of the studies—particularly the better-designed ones—reported no statistically significant effects of exposure apart from those caused by heating, many others have reported impacts of some sort that the authors did not consider to be thermal in origin. This vast literature shows clearly that excessive exposure is dangerous because of heating, but it also contains a wealth of often contradictory reports of small effects with no clear health significance. There have been too many fishing expeditions in this field.
In reviews of this literature, health agencies have generally applied a systematic approach, using panels of professional scientists and engineers to examine all relevant studies according to defined protocols. These reviews aim to be comprehensive, acknowledging but giving little weight to studies with obvious methodological deficiencies. In addition, the panels look for consistencies in the evidence across studies, and are reluctant to draw conclusions from one-off exploratory studies in the absence of other supporting evidence for specific conclusions. Anti-Wi-Fi campaigners, for their part, seem inclined to cherry-pick the literature and compile lists of studies that support their views, regardless of methodological quality.
High-quality reviews by health agencies run to the hundreds of pages of highly technical discussion. They have consistently failed to find convincing evidence for health hazards of radio frequency exposure that falls below internationally accepted limits. But they also point to gaps in knowledge and call for more research.
In France, for example, the Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health &amp; Safety has extensively reviewed the issue of radio frequency exposure and health. In its most recent review, 16 independent experts worked for three years, holding multiple meetings and public consultations. The final report, issued in 2013, concluded that “no available data makes it possible to propose new exposure limit values for the general population,” but it listed a number of questions needing further study.
In 2016, the same French agency issued an opinion on RF exposures to children age six and under who (the review pointed out) are exposed to such signals from a number of sources, including remote-controlled toys, walkie-talkies, and cell phones. The opinion considered evidence on nine different health-related endpoints, ranging from behavior and cognitive effects to toxicity to various body systems. The committee found that the available data for seven of these endpoints were insufficient to establish effects (either beneficial or adverse) from RF exposure. The committee found “limited evidence” for effects of cell phone use on cognitive function and general well-being, adding that “these effects may however be linked to the use of the mobile telephones rather than to the frequencies they emit.” The opinion mentions Wi-Fi only once, in passing.
<div id="attachment_49689414" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-49689414" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_img03.png" alt="Power lines" width="690" />Power lines, electric utility meters, cell phone towers, and other electrical infrastructure have met the same opposition that has confronted school-based Wi-Fi networks.</div>
Claims of Harm
In contrast to the cautious but generally reassuring findings of health agencies, those who oppose Wi-Fi argue that radio frequency exposures are hazardous to human health, even at exposure levels far below international limits. Their basic argument, which is appealing to many laypersons but not persuasive scientifically, is that the many reported bioeffects of RF energy mean that Wi-Fi fields must have some health effect, even though we cannot discern it clearly.
Undoubtedly the most widely cited document supporting this position is the BioInitiative Report, a nearly 1,500-page review of research on the biological effects of electromagnetic fields over wide ranges of exposure, compiled by a group of self-selected authors. Unlike the health agencies that sponsor the critical reviews, the report’s editors made little attempt to assess the methodological quality of the studies they discussed or evaluate the consistency of findings of different studies with similar endpoints. The report shows strong confirmation bias—paying more attention to studies reporting biological effects than to other, possibly stronger, studies finding no effects.
In a concluding chapter, the editors proposed a “precautionary action level” for radio frequency exposure that is a tiny fraction of existing international limits—less than one millionth of the current limits set by the Federal Communications Commission. The limit recommended by the report, if applied consistently, would effectively rule out any application of RF energy transmitted where people are present—not only Wi-Fi but also cell phones, broadcast television and radio, radar, and even emergency police communications.
The BioInitiative Report has been widely criticized by health agencies and other expert groups for its lack of balance. Nevertheless, it is often cited by those who campaign against the installation of cell phone towers, electric utility meters, power lines, and other electrical infrastructure. Its alarmist perspective is echoed in a number of statements by self-selected groups, such as the 2017 “Reykjavik Appeal,” which arose from a conference on “children, screen time, and wireless radiation” and urged schools to forbid cell phone use and to install hard-wired connections instead of Wi-Fi.
Two health issues dominate current arguments by Wi-Fi opponents. One is that Wi-Fi exposures might lead to cancer. This derives from a 2013 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a component of the World Health Organization that conducts highly regarded reviews of suspected human carcinogens. The study concluded that there was “limited evidence” from human or animal studies for carcinogenic effects of RF radiation, and it classified RF electromagnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic” to humans. In the agency’s specialized terminology, this designation indicates that the available evidence was sufficient to raise suspicions, but insufficient for the working group to conclude that a causal relationship “probably” or actually does exist. (The agency’s strongest classification is “carcinogenic to humans,” followed by “probably carcinogenic”; “possibly carcinogenic”; “not classifiable as carcinogenic”; and “probably not carcinogenic.”)
While the agency’s “possibly carcinogenic” classification for radio frequency energy has drawn wide attention, it has been frequently misunderstood by the public. “IARC is an international agency for cancer research, not a public health agency,” noted Peter Wiedemann in a 2014 paper. “Therefore, the categorizations made regarding human carcinogens were not supposed to be interpreted as public health messages, as they have been used recently.” As a group of senior scientists associated with the panel wrote in their 2015 review, European Code Against Cancer, “radiofrequency electromagnetic fields are not an established cause of cancer and are therefore not addressed in the recommendations to reduce cancer risk.”
In short, IARC’s “possible” classification for RF fields does not tell us about the actual health risks, if any, from RF exposures, nor is it a recommendation for public policy. It points to the need for more research, which should focus on stronger sources of RF exposure than Wi-Fi.
The second health issue raised by those opposed to RF exposure is “electromagnetic hypersensitivity,” a syndrome marked by non-specific symptoms such as headache, sleep problems, and anxiety, which many people attribute to low-level radio frequency fields. There is no doubt that many of these individuals have serious health problems; their symptoms are genuine. However, many well-controlled studies have failed to link electromagnetic-field exposure of any kind to these symptoms. In blinded and controlled tests, electromagnetically “sensitive” individuals typically report symptoms when they think they are exposed to electromagnetic-field energy, not necessarily when they demonstrably are exposed. According to the World Health Organization, the condition “has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no basis to link” electromagnetic hypersensitivity symptoms to electromagnetic-field exposure. The agency said electromagnetic hypersensitivity “is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem.”
<div id="attachment_49689415" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-49689415" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_3_foster_img04.png" alt="Students with tablet computers" width="690" />Trying to produce a &#8220;radiation free&#8221; environment would be highly disruptive for schools; achieving it would also be impossible, given the ubiquity of wireless technology.</div>
Better Safe Than Sorry?
The Environmental Health Trust, an advocacy group concerned about the health effects of radio frequency fields, has published a list of dozens of actions taken by governments, health authorities, and schools around the world intended “to reduce radiofrequency radiation exposures.”
The list, though, is a mixed bag that includes policies that are not principally aimed at reducing radio frequency exposure. It cites a statement by the Canadian Paediatric Society, for example, that aims to promote physical activity in children. The statement encourages less sedentary time and screen time but says nothing about RF exposure. And policies on the list aimed to limit use of wireless communications in schools have a variety of goals. In 2018, when the French legislature banned the use of cell phones and tablets in schools by children age 15 and under, the aim was indeed to “protect children and adolescents,” according to Jean-Michel Blanquer, minister of education—but not from RF exposure. “We know today that there is a phenomenon of screen addiction, the phenomenon of bad mobile-phone use,” Blanquer told a French news channel. (Since nearly every French student has a cell phone, one wonders how French teachers will manage to enforce the ban.)
France has also banned the marketing of child-friendly cell phones to children under six, and using wireless devices in daycare centers and nurseries for children under three. The country allows Wi-Fi to be used in primary schools, but requires that Wi-Fi networks be deactivated except when they are used for educational activities.
The Environmental Health Trust lists a number of schools around the world, including some in the United States, that have removed Wi-Fi and reverted to hard-wired Ethernet connections for Internet access. (The inventory includes some Waldorf and Montessori schools for young children, which would seem to have little to lose by forgoing Wi-Fi in any event.) The list contains a miscellany of other actions, such as an order by the mayor of a small Italian town to shut off Wi-Fi in the community’s two schools because of health concerns. “Who knows?” the mayor said to the daily newspaper La Stampa. “In 20 years, some people might thank us for it.” But the action was opposed by some parents and other town leaders. “What’s the point?” a former mayor said, observing that there was already Wi-Fi in several other places around town, including the library, where children spent a lot of time.
The town’s order, as well as most of the other actions in the Environmental Health Trust’s list, are precautionary, that is, predicated on the notion of “better safe than sorry” rather than on any identified hazards of wireless communications.
An influential 2000 commentary by the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union, defined how the “precautionary principle” should be used. The commission indicated that the principle should only be invoked after a health hazard is identified, after “as complete as possible” an analysis of the relevant scientific evidence is conducted, and after the probable costs and benefits of precautionary policies is assessed. It noted that a wide range of “precautionary” policies could be adopted, from simply keeping track of scientific developments to outright bans on a technology. There is little sign that officials conducted that kind of analysis before instituting the measures listed by the Environmental Health Trust. They may well have been political accommodations to a concerned public rather than carefully considered health measures.
The precautionary principle has little standing in U.S. and Canadian law. Health agencies in the two countries generally refrain from offering health advice unless substantial scientific evidence supports it. For example, in October 2017, Health Canada advised, in response to a petition from a parents’ group in Peel, Ontario, that:
It is Health Canada’s position, based on the latest scientific evidence, that exposure to low-level RF energy, including that from Wi-Fi technology, is not dangerous to the public if the recommended exposure limits in Safety Code 6 [Canadian RF exposure limits, which are generally similar to U.S. limits] are respected. Accordingly, no additional precautionary measures are required, since RF energy exposure levels from Wi-Fi are typically well below Canadian and international safety limits. Internationally, while a few jurisdictions (cities, provinces or countries) have applied more restrictive limits for RF field exposures from certain wireless devices/apparatus (whether it be Wi-Fi or cell towers), scientific evidence does not support the need for such restrictive limits.
On its website, the Peel District School Board described its consultations with “trusted medical experts” and measurements by a consultant that showed that radio frequency exposures from Wi-Fi in its classrooms were far below Canadian limits. This approach makes sense; school officials are not capable of adjudicating complex scientific issues, nor should they be asked to.
Inevitably, some schools will have to address concerns of staff or parents of children with perceived electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Following recommendations of the World Health Organization, individuals reporting electromagnetic hypersensitivity should be referred to health professionals for assistance without the assumption that their symptoms are directly caused by electromagnetic-field exposure. Schools should be wary of requests to provide “radiation free” environments. Given the many sources of exposure that “hypersensitive” individuals cite as causes of their symptoms—compact LED and fluorescent light bulbs, electric light dimmers, Wi-Fi devices, cell phones, cell towers outside the building—trying to produce a “radiation free” environment could be highly disruptive to schools; achieving it would also be impossible, if “radiation free” means a total lack of RF signals in the environment. And, in the absence of a demonstrated link between exposure to electromagnetic fields and the symptoms that some individuals experience, there is no way to identify an exposure level that is low enough not to “cause” symptoms.
The Internet and wireless communications do present risks that schools need to manage. It would not do, for example, for Johnny to be touching up his Facebook page (or worse) during class or sending inappropriate photos to his classmates. Wireless networks and wireless-connected devices are susceptible to hacking and other cybercrimes with potentially significant impact to schools. Schools need to adopt appropriate policies for safe use of cell phones and the Internet by children—not because of unproven radiation hazards but to avoid the harms that these otherwise highly useful technologies can pose. If health agencies eventually conclude that radio frequency signals from Wi-Fi are hazardous in some way, schools can revise their policies accordingly. In light of half a century of research on the biological effects of radio frequency energy, such a conclusion seems unlikely.
Kenneth R. Foster is professor emeritus of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and an engineering consultant to government and industry. In 2012 he participated in a review of the literature related to health effects of Wi-Fi for the Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Is Wi-Fi a Health Threat in Schools?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/is-wi-fi-health-threat-schools-sorting-fact-fiction/' data-summary='Sorting fact from fiction' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:36:"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/";a:1:{s:10:"commentRss";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"https://www.educationnext.org/is-wi-fi-health-threat-schools-sorting-fact-fiction/feed/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:38:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/";a:1:{s:8:"comments";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1:"8";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:69:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"Straight Up Conversation: Teaching Matters CEO Lynette Guastaferro – by Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://www.educationnext.org/straight-conversation-teaching-matters-ceo-lynette-guastaferro/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 29 Mar 2019 04:02:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:15:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Teachers and Teaching";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Early Reading Matters";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Frederick M. Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Lynette Guastaferro";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"professional development";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:37:"professional development for teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Rick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Rick Hess Straight Up";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"teacher";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"teacher professional development";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Teaching Matters";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689544";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:203:"Lynette Guastaferro is the CEO of Teaching Matters, which currently serves 237 urban schools. Their programs include Early Reading Matters, which coaches teachers on how to better teach reading skills.
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Frederick Hess";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12787:"Lynette Guastaferro is the CEO of <a href="http://www.teachingmatters.org/" target="_blank">Teaching Matters</a>, which currently serves 237 urban schools. Their programs include Early Reading Matters, which coaches teachers on how to better teach reading skills. Lynette&#8217;s background includes working as a teacher, school-network leader, and management consultant. I recently talked with her about Early Reading Matters and efforts to improve how we teach reading skills.
Rick Hess: So, what is Teaching Matters?
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49689542" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-hess-guastaferro.png" alt="Lynette Guastaferro" width="400" />Lynette Guastaferro: Teaching Matters is a national professional learning organization that is dedicated to increasing teacher effectiveness. One of Teaching Matters&#8217; key initiatives, Early Reading Matters, is focused on closing the reading gap by second grade. We partner with the school to ensure that a child has three consecutive years of effective reading instruction in those critical early years. We do this by ensuring there is a systemic approach to how teachers teach reading, monitor student reading progress, and collaborate to learn and improve. Early Reading Matters is in 34 public schools in New York City, and it began about four years ago.
RH: How exactly does the training work?
LG: Teachers across K-2 are coached and mentored on a weekly basis for three years with a gradual release model that develops the capacity of school-based literacy leaders and teachers. This is supported by online resources, videos, and tools and a data tracking system that highlights children and classrooms that need more support. Finally, we help teachers work as a team to use data to monitor and advance student progress. This ensures a common systematic approach to reading based on research.
RH: You were pursuing a consulting career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before you got into this work. So how did you wind up doing this? And, for readers skeptical of non-educators coaching teachers in instruction, what skills or expertise do you bring that equip you for this work?
LG: Out of college, I accepted a job at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant supporting public sector organizations, including schools. Time and time again, I&#8217;d meet with teachers who seemed to have a much clearer idea of the challenges than the consultants but were rarely involved in solving the problems. I also became convinced that &#8220;we&#8221; on the outside didn&#8217;t really understand the challenges. So I became a teacher. I wanted to understand the system from the inside. I spent a few years teaching second graders in a school in Baltimore city. As a teacher, I experienced first-hand the gaps in the system that make teaching difficult. For starters, I didn&#8217;t have basic data on my students. Even things like not having access to a working copy machine became frustrating barriers to the work.
RH: How was your school experience different from what you saw in the private sector?
LG: I was struck by the isolation of teachers, the lack of collaboration, the absence of mentoring, and the infantilization of the profession. My experience at the school was in stark contrast to what I witnessed in the private sector/white collar world. The work culture at PriceWaterhouseCoopers was one that thrived on motivation, team work, encouraging collaboration and problem solving, and weekly supervision and mentoring within the work. As CEO of Teaching Matters, we work to bring that kind of mentoring and these structures for working together to schools. It&#8217;s my job to bring in the reading experts, the data experts, the experts in adult learning to ensure that the teachers succeed.
RH: Okay, so why is there even a need for what you all do?
LG: It might surprise readers, but graduates of education schools take maybe one course in reading. In less advantaged schools that can have trouble attracting teachers, they often place new teachers in early K-2 non-testing years. This means that teachers who have not yet developed mastery of teaching reading are learning on children during those critical years, when falling behind has huge consequences for children. In more affluent suburbs, teachers can&#8217;t get these early elementary positions without experience. Well where do you think they get that experience? On children of color in our highest need schools. We partner to ensure these schools provide a new teacher with a systematic approach and a team they so that can hit the ground running.
RH: Given all the things you might be focusing on, why reading skills?
LG: Reading is the foundation of future learning. You have to learn to read so you can read to learn. Learning is a set of building blocks and we need to make sure that foundation is in place especially for our poorest children. <a href="http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-EarlyWarningConfirmedExecSummary-2013.pdf" target="_blank">Research</a> shows that low-income children who cannot read at grade level by third grade are six times more likely to become high school dropouts. The research also shows that three years of effective instruction can have a transformative impact on kids. We need to invest early and focus on K-2 learning to make a difference.
RH: In your time around schools, what&#8217;s been your most striking experience—and how has that impacted your work?
LG: A few years back, I took leave of my position as CEO of Teaching Matters and became a network leader for 28 urban schools for NYC&#8217;s Department of Education. Among many duties, I was also the &#8220;red phone.&#8221; Anytime of day or night if the principal at one of these schools had a serious problem, he or she would call me and I would provide the necessary support. This reaffirmed my appreciation for the toll this work can take on school leaders and of the need urban schools have for a strong social and emotional support system for administrators as well as teachers.
RH: In your experience, what do teachers need when it comes to reading instruction?
LG: There&#8217;s not one answer to this question. Teachers have to teach children not only how to decode but also how to make meaning of what they read. This requires teachers to master a range of instructional methods. Teachers need guidance on how to structure classrooms so that the kids have adequate time to practice their reading in the right ways. They need to better assess each child&#8217;s reading level so they can provide more targeted materials. They need to know what students need to know and when they need to know it. Early reading teachers also struggle with managing children whose reading levels can vary widely. Finally, a lot of educators are just not accessing the research on how to teach reading effectively.
RH: You&#8217;ve talked a lot about how teachers should be more like doctors. What do you mean by that?
LG: Recent medical school graduates continue their training after graduation. They become medical residents at hospitals, where they work in groups and are supervised by senior doctors. No one would take a medical school graduate, put him or her in a hospital, give him a group of patients and say, &#8220;Figure it out.&#8221; Yet, that&#8217;s what we do with teachers. I would love to see a residency model focused on teachers developing mastery in reading before they were fully accountable for children; however, what we are doing is the next best thing. We work with the senior leadership to make sure all teachers have the time and effective structures for collaboration, diagnosing learning challenges, and improving instruction together. We believe that if you set the schools up where there&#8217;s a clear systematic approach to learning, new teachers will get the support they need and be more likely to stay in the profession.
RH: Given the general school of thought that a lot of professional development is a waste of time and money, why should readers trust that what you&#8217;re doing is any different?
LG: We put students at the center of assessing our work with teachers. In this program, we are constantly using the student data to drive and improve our professional learning. We look at the student reading assessments and measure how they are progressing. We are constantly reviewing our results and continuously improving based on our findings.
RH: On that note, what kind of results have you seen?
LG: Early Reading Matters is having tremendous success. Teaching Matters&#8217; reading program has dramatically boosted the reading scores in dozens of elementary schools in NYC. Many of our partner schools have seen a 50 percent increase in the number of children reading at grade level from 1st to 2nd grade.
RH: As you know, multiple factors might help explain that increase. So how much of that improvement can be attributed to Early Reading Matters?
LG: We are asking ourselves that same question and are in the early stages of designing comparative studies to figure that out.
RH: Last year, the New York Community Trust <a href="https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/teaching-matters-receives-3.6-million-to-expand-literacy-program" target="_blank">announced</a> it&#8217;ll give more than $3.6 million to expand Teaching Matters&#8217; early literacy program to 62 schools. How reliant is Teaching Matters on such donations, and what&#8217;s the cost to schools, and what are your plans for future growth?
LG: We have the potential to grow this program to 80 to 100 schools in the next three years. But to do so we have to have a mixed model where schools cover 50 percent of the cost and private donations cover the rest. Right now Teaching Matters is covering the entire cost for 32 schools in the Bronx. The new model of a mix of private and foundation and school funding is in effect in about 10 schools in Brooklyn and Queens. We are also exploring alternative delivery models, including an e-learning strategy, so we can bring the cost down and be even more efficient.
RH: Finally, what&#8217;s the fairest criticism that might be made of your work to date, and what are you doing to address it?
LG: We are reorganizing parts of our program to focus even more on kindergarten. We have a large number of kids who come into kindergarten without basic pre-reading skills. A lot of our students haven&#8217;t had the same access to books and print before they entered school. We have too many children in January that still don&#8217;t recognize the letters in their own name. Teachers need to learn what the signs for future reading problems are and to address them starting in kindergarten. We are not looking to turn kindergarten into first grade, but we do need to identify these kids earlier so that we can get them the basic pre-reading instruction they need. Developing basic pre-reading skills in the first few months of kindergarten is a strong indicator as to whether children will be reading on grade level later on.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. 
Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and an executive editor at Education Next.
This post originally appeared on <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2019/03/straight_up_conversation_early_reading_matters_ceo_lynette_guastaferro.html" target="_blank">Rick Hess Straight Up</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Straight Up Conversation: Teaching Matters CEO Lynette Guastaferro' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/straight-conversation-teaching-matters-ceo-lynette-guastaferro/' data-summary='Lynette Guastaferro is the CEO of Teaching Matters, which currently serves 237 urban schools. Their programs include Early Reading Matters, which coaches teachers on how to better teach reading skills.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:78:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:5:{s:0:"";a:7:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"What Do Racial and Ethnic Wealth Gaps Mean for Student Loan Policy? – by Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"https://www.educationnext.org/racial-ethnic-wealth-gaps-mean-student-loan-policy/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"comments";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"https://www.educationnext.org/racial-ethnic-wealth-gaps-mean-student-loan-policy/#comments";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 04 Mar 2019 11:25:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:16:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Editorial";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"cultural and ethnic diversity";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"diversity gap";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"federal student loan program";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"federal student loans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Matt Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Matthew Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"opportunity gap";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"racial achievement gap";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"racial education gap";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"racial gaps";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"student loan debt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"student loans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689108";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:233:"Higher education policy research tends to focus more on income than wealth, not because income is more important, but because it is easier to measure, but income is a poor proxy for wealth, especially for black and Hispanic families.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matthew M. Chingos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11468:"<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49689104" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-img01.jpg" alt="" width="690" />
The challenges faced by students of color—<a href="http://1xfsu31b52d33idlp13twtos-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/REHE-Essay-Chapter-8-SA.pdf" target="_blank">particularly black students (PDF)</a>—in higher education have roots in our nation’s racist history, from slavery to Jim Crow to redlining. A prime legacy of this history is the large wealth gap between black and white Americans—and this gap helps explain both why black students borrow more for college on average and why doing so is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-looming-student-loan-default-crisis-is-worse-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">especially risky</a>.
This issue is garnering well deserved attention from Senators Doug Jones, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Catherine Cortez Masto, who recently issued a <a href="https://www.jones.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Borrowers%20of%20Color%20Letter%20Jan%202019.pdf" target="_blank">call for information (PDF)</a> “on how to address racial disparities in student debt and the broader challenges faced by students of color.”
Wealth gaps increase with income
Racial and ethnic disparities in wealth are well documented, with 2016 data showing the median white family having <a href="http://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/" target="_blank">nearly 10 times as much wealth</a> as the median black family. (The gap between white and Hispanic families is similar in size.) This means students of color tend to have fewer family assets to draw on for college, often leading them to choose between attending lower-priced institutions or taking on more debt. After leaving college, students of color are less likely to be able to lean on family members for financial support that might ease the burden of loan repayment.
Higher education policy research tends to focus more on income than wealth, not because income is more important, but because it is easier to measure. The quadrennial <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas/" target="_blank">National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey</a> collects income data on a nationally representative group of college students, but it only collects limited information on wealth.
The available data indicate income is a poor proxy for wealth, especially for black and Hispanic families. The typical low-income family has less than $10,000 in net worth, regardless of race or ethnicity. But racial and ethnic disparities in wealth grow with income, as the figure below shows. The typical middle-income white family has roughly three times the wealth of the typical middle-income black or Hispanic family.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-fig01.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-fig01.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Racial and ethnic differences in student borrowing persist across income levels
How wealth gaps translate into student borrowing is not uniform across groups. Black students are more likely to borrow than white students in every income group. (Average amounts among borrowers are similar, at around $6,000.) And these data likely <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/black-white-disparity-in-student-loan-debt-more-than-triples-after-graduation/" target="_blank">understate</a> black-white differences in education debt, as they only capture borrowing in a single year.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-fig02.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-fig02.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
The lower average wealth among black families might explain some of the difference in borrowing between black and white students, especially among middle- and high-income families. (Low-income families of all races and ethnicities tend to have few assets.) And <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-accounts-for-gaps-in-student-loan-default-and-what-happens-after/" target="_blank">research </a>shows that proxies for wealth, such as homeownership and parents’ education levels, are associated with the likelihood of default.
Hispanic students are less likely to borrow than white students at every income level, despite coming from families with less wealth (although Hispanic families have <a href="http://1xfsu31b52d33idlp13twtos-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/REHE-Essay-Chapter-8-SA.pdf" target="_blank">higher average income and wealth (PDF)</a> than black families). Potential explanations include the greater rates at which Hispanic students <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/trends-in-community-colleges-research-brief.pdf" target="_blank">enroll (PDF)</a> in lower-cost community colleges and higher average levels of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858416683649" target="_blank">loan aversion</a>. At community colleges, 22 percent of students are Hispanic and 14 percent are black, but at for-profit colleges the pattern is reversed: 15 percent of students are Hispanic and 25 percent are black. This pattern might explain why low-income black families are more likely to borrow than other low-income students.
Borrowing by parents is highest among high-income and black families
Undergraduate student borrowing is constrained by <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much" target="_blank">loan limits</a> that vary between $5,500 and $7,500 per year for students who are financially dependent on their parents. But parents can take on their own debt through the <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/wealth-gap-plus-debt/part-i-intergenerational-higher-education-debt" target="_blank">PLUS program</a>, which has no limits other than the total cost of attending college.
Gaps in borrowing rates between the parents of black and white students persist across income levels. (Once again, Hispanic families are less likely to borrow than white families.) Amounts borrowed are similar across races and ethnicities within income levels but increase with income from about $10,000 among the lowest-income borrowers to about $20,000 among the highest income borrowers. The greater propensity of black parents to borrow likely reflects their lower average access to wealth, both in liquid assets that can be drawn on directly and in home equity that can be borrowed against.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-fig03.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-mar19-blog-chingos-student-loan-fig03.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
What do wealth and borrowing gaps means for federal student aid policy?
Student debt is not inherently bad; a recent study found that taking on debt can <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/benefits-of-borrowing-evidence-student-loan-debt-community-college-attainment/" target="_blank">increase the likelihood that students succeed</a>. But students take on risk when they take on debt, and that risk is greater if they cannot turn to relatives for help.
Making student loan payments <a href="https://www.urban.org/node/93296" target="_blank">income-based and automatic</a> would help by exempting low-income borrowers from making payments without having to file any paperwork. Given that black students borrow more and have lower average <a href="http://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/" target="_blank">lifetime earnings</a>, a universal income-based repayment system with forgiveness could narrow the black-white gap in default rates—and perhaps the wealth gap.
But federal policymakers might want to go further and reduce the amount of debt that students of color need to take on to pursue higher education in the first place.
Congress could increase the generosity of the Pell grant program, reducing the need for borrowing among low-income students, most of whom come from families with little or no wealth. This could narrow racial and ethnic differences in borrowing—given the correlation between income and race and ethnicity—but it would not provide additional support to students from low-wealth families with higher incomes.
To address that gap, Congress could design a grant program targeting grant funds based on family wealth. This could be difficult because it would require information on assets that would be costly to collect and difficult to verify. Recent higher education policy efforts have focused on simplifying the federal aid application process, not complicating it.
Congress could direct funding to institutions to reduce the prices paid by students of color. Broad-based “free college” programs would be an expensive way to accomplish this goal and would be unlikely to narrow racial and ethnic wealth gaps because they would benefit all racial and ethnic groups—and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/01/04/there-is-actually-nothing-for-low-income-students-in-cuomos-free-college-plan/?utm_term=.1294fc3c5fc8" target="_blank">poorly designed</a> programs could widen gaps.
An alternative would be targeted support to institutions that enroll large numbers of students of color—such as community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions—through a tailored grant program or through direct support to institutions with a track record of producing good outcomes for students of color.
These trade-offs highlight the limitations of using race-neutral policies to address the effects of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2008.00555.x" target="_blank">centuries of racist policies</a>. Grant and loan programs on their own are unlikely to make a large dent in the racial and ethnic wealth gap, even as these programs promote upward mobility by enabling more students to enroll in and complete college. But understanding these wealth gaps is critical to designing higher education policies that do more good than harm for students of color.
Matthew M. Chingos is a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute.
This post originally appeared on <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/what-do-racial-and-ethnic-wealth-gaps-mean-student-loan-policy" target="_blank">Urban Wire</a>.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='What Do Racial and Ethnic Wealth Gaps Mean for Student Loan Policy?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/racial-ethnic-wealth-gaps-mean-student-loan-policy/' data-summary='Higher education policy research tends to focus more on income than wealth, not because income is more important, but because it is easier to measure, but income is a poor proxy for wealth, especially for black and Hispanic families.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:36:"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/";a:1:{s:10:"commentRss";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"https://www.educationnext.org/racial-ethnic-wealth-gaps-mean-student-loan-policy/feed/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:38:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/";a:1:{s:8:"comments";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1:"1";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:66:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:3:{s:0:"";a:6:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:132:"In the News: Cal State Remedial Education Reforms Help Thousands More Students Pass College-Level Math Classes – by Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:128:"https://www.educationnext.org/news-cal-state-remedial-education-reforms-help-thousands-students-pass-college-level-math-classes/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 28 Feb 2019 05:03:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:12:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Blog";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Higher Education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"California State Universities";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"college";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"college access";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"college preparedness";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"college remediation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"higher ed";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"higher education";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Michal Kurlaender";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"remedial courses";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"remediation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49689058";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:192:"After the Cal State system eliminated non-credit, remedial math classes and replaced them with credit-bearing, college-level courses, nearly 7800 students passed the higher-level math classes.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Education Next";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2978:"<a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-cal-state-remedial-education-reforms-20190225-story.html" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49689056" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext-feb19-ototn-latimes-remedial.jpg" alt="" width="400" /></a>It has been just over a semester since the Cal State system eliminated non-credit, remedial math classes and replaced them with credit-bearing, college-level courses and added student support. Nearly 7800 students were able to pass the higher-level math classes last fall, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-cal-state-remedial-education-reforms-20190225-story.html" target="_blank">reports Teresa Watanabe</a> of the Los Angeles Times.
Faculty at some schools redesigned courses and experimented with boot camps and online tools, Watanabe notes. Some critics say that the new courses are not very different from the old, remedial courses, and note that many students failed the new courses.
In <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/high-expectations-demand-high-support-strengthening-college-readiness-california-state-universities/" target="_blank">an article for Education Next</a> published last fall, Michal Kurlaender wrote about the change in remediation policies in the Cal State system. She took a close look at the low rates of college readiness of students attending high schools in California and considered what colleges could do to help these students succeed.
In &#8220;<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/high-expectations-demand-high-support-strengthening-college-readiness-california-state-universities/" target="_blank">High Expectations Demand High Support</a>,&#8221; she wrote:
<blockquote>Higher education may not be responsible for the inequities students face in their prior schooling, but colleges and universities cannot ignore these disparities if we are to improve degree attainment and reduce college completion gaps. The CSU system now has an opportunity—and an obligation—to lead the way in developing new approaches not only to help more incoming students succeed, but also to reduce the number of students who arrive unprepared for college-level work.</blockquote>
— Education Next
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='In the News: Cal State Remedial Education Reforms Help Thousands More Students Pass College-Level Math Classes' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/news-cal-state-remedial-education-reforms-help-thousands-students-pass-college-level-math-classes/' data-summary='After the Cal State system eliminated non-credit, remedial math classes and replaced them with credit-bearing, college-level courses, nearly 7800 students passed the higher-level math classes.' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:99:"

";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:5:{s:0:"";a:7:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"Do Smarter Teachers Make Smarter Students? – by Eric A. Hanushek";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:124:"https://www.educationnext.org/do-smarter-teachers-make-smarter-students-international-evidence-cognitive-skills-performance/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"comments";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:133:"https://www.educationnext.org/do-smarter-teachers-make-smarter-students-international-evidence-cognitive-skills-performance/#comments";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 20 Feb 2019 05:01:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"category";a:20:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Homepage";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Journal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8:"Research";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Teachers and Teaching";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"cognitive achievement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"cognitive skills";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"effective teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:7;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Eric A. Hanushek";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:8;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Eric Hanushek";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:9;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"evaluating teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:10;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:20:"experienced teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:11;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"high-quality teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:12;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:23:"higher quality teachers";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:13;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"international comparisons";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:14;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:23:"international standards";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:15;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"international students";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:16;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Marc Piopiunik";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:17;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Rick Hanushek";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:18;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Simon Wiederhold";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}i:19;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"teacher quality";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://www.educationnext.org/?p=49688604";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:11:"isPermaLink";s:5:"false";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"International evidence on teacher cognitive skills and student performance
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Eric A. Hanushek";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:40:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28374:"<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49688602" style="float: right;padding-top: 5px;padding-bottom: 5px;padding-left: 5px" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_img01.jpg" alt="" width="400" />Student achievement varies widely across developed countries, but the source of these differences is not well understood. One obvious candidate, and a major focus of research and policy discussions both in the United States and abroad, is teacher quality.
Research and common sense tell us good teachers can have a tremendous impact on their students’ learning. But what, exactly, makes some teachers more effective than others? Some analysts have pointed to teachers’ own scholastic performance as a key predictor, citing as examples teacher-recruitment practices in countries where students do unusually well on international tests. One oft-cited statistic notes that high-scoring Singapore, Finland, and Korea recruit their teacher corps exclusively from the top third of their academic cohorts in college; by contrast, in the U.S., just 23 percent of new teachers come from the top third of their graduating class.
Can we provide systematic evidence that teachers’ cognitive skills matter for student achievement? Do smarter teachers make for smarter students? And if so, how might we recruit teachers with stronger cognitive skills in the U.S.?
To investigate these questions, we look at whether differences in the cognitive skills of teachers can help explain differences in student performance across developed countries. We consider data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an association of 36 largely developed countries that has assessed nationally representative samples of both adults and students in reading and math. We use these data to estimate the effects of teacher cognitive skills on student achievement across 31 OECD countries.
We find that teachers’ cognitive skills differ widely among nations—and that these differences matter greatly for students’ success in school. An increase of one standard deviation in teacher cognitive skills is associated with an increase of 10 to 15 percent of a standard deviation in student performance. This implies that as much as one quarter of the gaps in average student performance across the countries in our study would be closed if each of them were to raise their teachers’ cognitive skills to the level of those in the highest-ranked country, Finland.
We also investigate two explanations for why teachers in some countries are smarter than in others: differences in job opportunities for women and in teachers’ salaries compared to those of other professions. We find that teachers have lower cognitive skills, on average, in countries with greater non-teaching job opportunities for women in high-skill occupations and where teaching pays relatively less than other professions. These findings have clear implications for policy debates here in the U.S., where teachers earn some 20 percent less than comparable college graduates.
The importance of teacher quality
While many factors influence student success, the most convincing research has focused on differences in learning gains made by students assigned to different teachers. Studies of teachers’ contributions to student reading and math achievement consistently find variations in &#8220;value-added&#8221; that far exceed the impact of any other school-based factor.
These studies are unhelpful in explaining international differences in student achievement, however: they focus primarily on the U.S. and have not identified correlates of teacher value-added that can be measured consistently across countries. Such differences are a major concern for the United States, where policymakers are searching for strategies to shore up the country’s economic competitiveness. American students score rather unimpressively on the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures high-school students’ skills in math, reading, and science every three years. On the most recent PISA math assessment in 2015, for example, American teenagers ranked 40th, well below most major Asian and European countries.
Importantly, research conducted within the U.S. and in other settings has shown that common measures of teacher qualifications such as advanced degrees, experience levels, and professional preparation are not consistently related to classroom effectiveness. The story differs for research on teacher cognitive skills and salaries, however, in ways that motivate our analysis in this article.
Prior studies of teacher cognitive skills, largely from within the U.S., provide some evidence of positive impacts on student achievement. These studies have relied on small and idiosyncratic data sets, and their results are not entirely uniform. Nonetheless, compared to alternative measures of teacher quality, test scores are most consistently related to student outcomes.
The relevant evidence on teacher salaries is different. While studies conducted within specific countries tend to find that salaries are unrelated to effectiveness, the limited available cross-country evidence suggests that students perform better where teachers are better paid. These divergent results suggest that salary levels may have important ramifications for the quality of the overall pool of potential teachers—even if the distribution of salaries within a country is not a good index of effectiveness.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig01.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig01-small.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Measuring teacher cognitive skills
To measure teacher cognitive skills, we use data from the OECD’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey in 2012 and 2015, which tested the literacy and numeracy skills of more than 215,000 randomly selected adults age 16–65 in 33 countries. We focus on the 6,402 test-takers in 31 countries (those where we also have information on student achievement) who reported their occupation as &#8220;primary school teacher,&#8221; &#8220;secondary school teacher,&#8221; or &#8220;other teacher.&#8221; The number of teachers tested ranges from 106 in Chile to 834 in Canada, with 207 per country on average. We use the median literacy and numeracy scores of the teachers tested in each country as our measures of teachers’ cognitive skills.
These data reveal vast differences in teacher cognitive skills across countries. Figure 1 compares median teacher numeracy and literacy skills in each country to the skills of all employed adults in different educational groups within Canada, the country with the largest PIAAC sample. Teachers in Turkey and Chile score well below Canadian adults with only a vocational post-secondary degree, while teachers in Italy, Russia, and Israel perform at the level of vocationally educated Canadians. At the other end of the spectrum, the skills of teachers in Japan and Finland are higher than those of Canadians with a master’s or doctoral degree. Teachers in the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden have skill levels similar to Canadians with a bachelor’s degree.
Teachers in the United States perform worse than the average teacher sample-wide in numeracy, with a median score of 284 points out of a possible 500, compared to the sample-wide average of 292 points. In literacy, they perform slightly better than average, with a median score of 301 points compared to the sample-wide average of 295 points. While teacher literacy skills are higher than numeracy skills in some countries (including the U.S.), the reverse is true in others—a pattern we will return to below when examining the consequences of differences in teacher skills across subjects.
These differences in teacher cognitive skills reflect both where teachers are drawn from within each country’s skill distribution and where a country’s overall cognitive-skill level falls in the world distribution. While median teacher cognitive skills are close to the median skills of college graduates in most countries, teachers perform better than the median college graduate in countries like Finland, Singapore, Ireland, and Chile, and perform worse than the median college graduate in others, such as Austria, Denmark, the Slovak Republic, and Poland.
However, teachers from relatively lower parts of the distribution may have greater cognitive skills than their peers abroad if their home country’s skill level is higher overall. For example, math teachers in Chile and Finland are drawn from similarly high levels of their overall distributions of college graduates, yet Chilean teachers score at the bottom of all 31countries while Finnish teachers score at the top. Teachers from the Slovak Republic are drawn from the lowest point in the country skill distribution of the 31 countries, yet have teachers in the middle of the international skill distribution of teachers.
Measuring student achievement
Our data on student achievement come from PISA in 2009 and 2012, which tested the math and reading skills of more than a half million 15-year-old students in nationally representative samples in more than 60 countries, including 31 of the countries participating in PIACC. We use those two PISA cycles because participating students would have been taught by the teacher cohorts tested in 2012 and 2015 in PIAAC.
Student performance in math and reading also varies widely across the countries in our sample, with especially pronounced differences in math. Students in top-performing Singapore scored 70 points above the sample-wide average of 498—the equivalent of nearly two school years. U.S. students scored well below that average at 484. In reading, Singapore students again earned the highest score of 534 compared to 445 for Chile, the lowest-scoring country in our sample. The U.S. score of 498 was not statistically different from the average of 497—leaving American students roughly one school year behind students in Singapore.
Linking teacher and student skills
How do these differences in student achievement relate to international differences in teachers’ cognitive skills? We use two different approaches to address this question. In both, we measure teacher cognitive skills only at the country level, in part because our data do not let us link students to their actual teachers but also to avoid bias due to factors such as parents choosing better schools and teachers for their children.
We first examine the association between median teacher cognitive skills and individual students’ performance across the 31 countries in our sample. That is, we ask whether students perform better on the PISA math and reading tests when their country’s teachers have stronger numeracy and literacy skills, respectively. In making these comparisons, we control for a wide range of other factors that could influence students’ performance. These factors include the skill levels of all adults age 25–65 as measured by PIACC; student characteristics such as age, gender, and migrant status; family background characteristics such as parents’ education levels and the number of books in the home; school characteristics such as enrollment size and instructional time in math and reading; and the average per-pupil spending and school starting age in each country. Importantly, we also control for a measure of the cognitive skills of the parents of PISA test-takers, as estimated based on the relationship between demographic characteristics and cognitive skills among parents tested in PIACC.
Despite these adjustments, however, the relationship between teacher skills and student achievement we estimate in our first approach could still reflect differences between countries that are more difficult to measure. Countries that emphasize the importance of a good education, for example, may have both teachers with high cognitive skills and parents who do more to support their children’s education in the home.
To address this concern, our second approach exploits the fact that both students and teachers were tested in two subjects and asks whether differences in teacher cognitive skills between numeracy and literacy are systematically related to differences in student performance between math and reading. In other words, do students perform relatively better in math (compared to reading) in countries where teachers have relatively higher numeracy skills? By focusing on comparisons within the same country, this approach eliminates the influence of any differences across countries that affect student achievement similarly in both subjects.
The only lingering concern is the possibility of unmeasured differences between countries that are subject-specific. For example, the results of our second approach would be biased if parents in societies where teachers have strong numeracy skills place more value on supporting their children in math than in reading. We provide evidence that such factors are unlikely to be important below.
Cross-country comparisons
Our first approach reveals a strong relationship between teacher cognitive skills and student achievement across countries. We estimate that increasing teacher numeracy skills by one standard deviation increases student performance by nearly 15 percent of a standard deviation on the PISA math test. Our estimate of the effect of increasing teacher literacy skills on students’ reading performance is slightly smaller, at 10 percent of a standard deviation, but the difference in magnitude across the two subjects is not statistically significant. Further analysis shows that the impact of teacher skills is somewhat larger for girls than for boys and for low-income students compared to wealthier students, particularly in reading.
As expected, a country’s cognitive skill level of all adults (age 25–65) is also strongly correlated with student performance. However, when controlling for teacher cognitive skills, the estimates for adult skills substantially decrease in size and lose statistical significance. In other words, the relationship between teacher cognitive skills and student performance is not driven by overall skill levels in the country; it is what teachers know that matters.
How much does it matter? To gauge the magnitude of our estimates, we simulate the improvements in student performance if each country brought its teachers up to the cognitive-skill level of Finnish teachers, the highest-skilled teachers in our sample. In math, U.S. students would improve by roughly one third of a standard deviation, and students in lowest-ranked Turkey and Chile would improve by more than half of a standard deviation. Overall, we estimate that bringing teachers in each country to the Finnish level would reduce the dispersion of country-level PISA scores by about one quarter, reducing the standard deviation of scores from 29 to 22 points in math and from 22 to 16 points in reading.
Improvements of this size may not be realistic in the short run for many countries, however. To match the cognitive skills of Finnish teachers, Turkey would have to draw its median teacher from the 97th percentile of the college numeracy distribution instead of the 53rd percentile. The U.S. would need to recruit its median math teacher from the 74th percentile instead of the current 47th percentile, and its median reading teacher from the 71st percentile instead of the 51st.
It is also important to note that the teacher-skill estimates do not capture the effect of a single school year with a talented teacher but rather reflect the cumulative effect of teacher cognitive skills on student performance through age 15. Thus, these projections are long-run impacts that presume that the quality of students’ teachers across the first 10 grades would improve to the level of Finland.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig02.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig02-small.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Within-country comparisons
While teacher cognitive skills are significantly related to student performance in both math and reading, it remains possible that this association is driven by unobserved differences across countries. Therefore, we now exploit only within-country variation to provide even more rigorous evidence on the effect of teacher cognitive skills on student performance.
The overall story is easy to see in a simple graphic: differences in teacher cognitive skills between numeracy and literacy are systematically related to differences in student performance between the same two subjects (see Figure 2). Remarkably, the magnitude of the relationship is very similar to that observed in the cross-country analysis: an increase of teacher cognitive skills of one standard deviation is estimated to improve student achievement by 11 percent of a standard deviation.
Our confidence in this result is strengthened by various &#8220;placebo&#8221; tests, all of which indicate that our estimates reflect the impact of teacher cognitive skills and not just those of the broader society.
In the first placebo test, we replace teacher cognitive skills with the cognitive-skill level of workers in 14 other occupations, including managers, scientists and engineers, health professionals, business professionals, clerks, sales workers, and service workers. If our results for teachers were really just the result of countries differentially valuing numeracy or literacy, we would expect to find an &#8220;effect&#8221; of these other workers’ skills on student test scores as well. Instead, we find there is no occupation other than teaching whose skill level is systematically related to student performance.
In a second placebo test, we replace teacher skills by the skill level of a randomly chosen sample of adults matched by age, gender, and educational attainment to the teacher sample in each country. We then draw 100 samples of matched &#8220;teacher twins&#8221; and compare their estimated student impacts. None of the 100 samples of teacher twins produces larger impacts than teachers.
We also investigate cross-subject effects, that is, the effect of teachers’ numeracy skills on student reading performance and the effect of teacher literacy skills on student math performance. If it is subject-matter skills that are important, as we have assumed in our within-country analysis, then teacher skills in one subject should be only weakly related—if at all—to student performance in the other subject.
Consistent with this logic, we find that teacher numeracy skills have a substantially larger association with student math performance than with reading performance. Similarly, teacher literacy skills are more important for student reading performance than for math performance. The most convincing evidence comes from simultaneously including teacher numeracy and literacy skills. Here, teacher skills in either subject affect only student performance in the same subject.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig03.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig03-small.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Creating a smarter teacher workforce
International differences in teacher cognitive skills reflect both where teachers are drawn from in each country’s skill distribution as well as the overall skill level of each country’s population—and policies to improve teacher skills could in theory focus on either of these dimensions. While improving the cognitive skills of the entire population is a valuable goal, it has been widely discussed elsewhere. In contrast, the determinants of where teachers are drawn from the overall skill distribution of a country’s population has received little attention. Our international data enable us to investigate how external forces and policy choices affect the part of the overall skill distribution from which countries recruit their teachers.
We examine two major factors. First, how has teaching been affected by competition from other occupations that demand high skills? In most countries, women historically have been segregated into a constrained set of occupations, one of which is teaching, and teaching remains a female-dominated occupation worldwide. Across the 23 countries used in the analysis below (where we exclude Turkey and all post-Communist countries due to their distinctive labor-market histories), more than two thirds (69 percent) of teachers are female, ranging from 59 percent in Japan to 79 percent in Austria. At the same time, women previously were much more concentrated in teaching than they are today, and the extent of this change varies across countries.
To compare women’s access to high-skill occupations across countries and over time, we compute the proportion of female teachers relative to the number of females in all high-skill occupations in three cohorts of adults defined by their birth years. We define what counts as a high-skill occupation empirically for each country, based on the average years of schooling among males working in each job category.
For both numeracy and literacy, we find that teacher cognitive skills are higher in countries where more females work in teaching relative to other high-skill occupations. The size of these relationships is quite substantial. For example, across all 23 countries in the sample, the share of women in high-skill occupations who are teachers decreases from 29 percent in the oldest age cohort (born in years 1946–1960) to 22 percent in the youngest cohort (born 1976–1990), reflecting the increased availability of alternative job opportunities for women over time. Our results imply that this change is associated with a decline in teacher numeracy skills of one quarter of a standard deviation. Another benchmark comes from comparing the share of women in high-skill occupations who are teachers across countries, which ranges from 18 percent in the U.S. to 38 percent in Singapore. Our estimates suggest that if the employment choices of U.S. women were as constrained as those in Singapore, the numeracy skills of U.S. teachers would be nearly three quarters of a standard deviation higher, lifting them to just above the international average.
While these results shed light on one important explanation for differences in teacher cognitive skills, restricting job opportunities for women is hardly an appealing strategy to improve teacher quality. Our second analysis, therefore, focuses on the impact of teacher pay on teachers’ cognitive skills.
To investigate the salary-skills relationship across countries, we first estimate whether teachers are paid a positive or negative wage premium compared to other college graduates with the same gender, work experience, and literacy and numeracy skills. We find a wide range of wage premiums, ranging from a positive 45 percent in Ireland to a negative 22 percent in the United States and Sweden (see Figure 3). This means that American teachers are paid 22 percent less than comparably experienced and skilled college graduates doing other jobs.
We then assess how these pay premiums relate to the position of teachers in a country’s skill distribution, and we find that countries that pay teachers more also tend to draw their teachers from higher parts of the college skill distribution. In terms of magnitude, a higher teacher wage premium of 10 percentage points is associated with an increase in teacher skills of about one tenth of a standard deviation for a given level of college graduates’ skills. Those pay choices appear to carry through to student performance in the classroom (see Figure 4). In countries where teachers are better paid, students achieve higher levels.
<a href="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig04.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full" src="https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_2_hanushek_fig04-small.jpg" alt="" width="690" /></a>
Implications
Our findings have broad application for American policymakers aiming to build a better teaching workforce. Prior research conducted within the U.S. has highlighted the importance of teacher quality for student achievement. But while such work provides useful information about relative learning gains among current teachers, it does not indicate what would be possible if the teacher corps were drawn from a different pool of candidates. Rather than assessing the relative talent of our current workforce, our study of teachers in 31 countries suggests what might be possible if the pool of potential teachers in the U.S. resembled those in the most successful education systems in the world.
To be sure, our work does not speak definitively to the sources of individual teacher talent. But we find that differences in teacher cognitive skills across countries are strongly associated with international differences in student performance. An increase in teacher cognitive skills of one standard deviation is associated with an increase in student performance of as much as 15 percent of a standard deviation in the PISA test.
Our international data also allow us to investigate how external forces and policy choices affect the skills of the teaching force and ultimately, student outcomes. We find that cross-country differences in women’s access to high-skill occupations and in wage premiums paid to teachers (given their gender, work experience, and cognitive skills) are directly related to teacher cognitive skills in a country. Teachers’ wage premiums are also highly correlated with student achievement across countries.
These results speak to the potential value of increasing teacher pay but must be interpreted with care. In particular, we have not provided causal estimates of how the quality of teachers would change if teacher salaries in the U.S. were raised. Increasing teacher salaries would undoubtedly expand the pool of potential teachers and help to reduce teacher turnover. Our evidence does not, however, indicate that more talented teachers would be hired out of the enlarged pool, nor does it indicate that the teachers induced to stay in the profession would be the most effective. Thus, while making it clear that a more skilled teaching force is generally found in countries with higher relative salaries, policymakers will need to do more than raise teacher pay across the board to ensure positive results. They must ensure that higher salaries go to more effective teachers.
Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Marc Piopiunik is an economist at the ifo Center for the Economics of Education at the CESifo Group. Simon Wiederhold is professor at the Catholic University, Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. This article is based on &#8220;The Value of Smarter Teachers: International Evidence on Teacher Cognitive Skills and Student Performance,&#8221; which is forthcoming in the Journal of Human Resources.
<div class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Do Smarter Teachers Make Smarter Students?' data-link='https://www.educationnext.org/do-smarter-teachers-make-smarter-students-international-evidence-cognitive-skills-performance/' data-summary='International evidence on teacher cognitive skills and student performance' data-app-id='28510232' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:36:"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/";a:1:{s:10:"commentRss";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:129:"https://www.educationnext.org/do-smarter-teachers-make-smarter-students-international-evidence-cognitive-skills-performance/feed/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:38:"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/";a:1:{s:8:"comments";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"10";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:75:"