EDLF 750: Education Policy Winter 2026

Research in Higher Education I manage a higher education program. I work in North America. Half of our students reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Figuring out what is actually happening in our program half a world away is very tricky, not just because of the physical distance, but because of the distance between context and cultural expectations. Add to that the complexity of running a program that spans 150 counties, and watch the difficulties pile up. I often find myself wishing I could access better data, both quantitative and qualitative. In my organization, we do our very best to collect data virtually. We travel a fair amount too to get an in-person perspective. But sometimes we question–how are these judgment calls we are making every day playing out in the field in real time? Are we making the right decisions? Are we the only ones struggling with this? Turns out, no. Our specific global reach aside, higher education research in general is under-studied, especially in contrast to K1...

  As I continue to learn more about the administration of K-12 education, I am increasingly surprised at the many complications that professional educators and administrators face. As a parent, I am grateful for the education to which my children have had access. I have watched my children go through the US education system in multiple states, and I am increasingly grateful for the teachers, administrators, school board members, legislators, and others who contribute to quality education systems around our country. I was an active parent in my children’s classrooms but was largely unaware of how the district was being governed, how the state played into the local administration of our schools, and how other outside interests sought to promote their own agendas or to attain some level of influence on the local level. Of course, creating a quality educational system is a challenging and complicated undertaking. We may all agree that we are trying to create a quality education syste...

  Blog Post for Jan. 24   School (the) Board   It’s remarkable that all 50 states have their own department of education and each one has required that control of local districts is maintained at the local level. It’s also quite a challenge. My father taught school for 35 years and, upon retirement, was elected to his district’s school board where he served for 12 more years. A career educator, Dad was a great benefit to the administrators and faculty of each of the schools in his district. He noted, however, a lack in training for the school board, which signaled a deficit in the board’s effectiveness and efficiency. Most school board members were not former teachers and furthermore had never even set foot on a campus since their own school years as students. How would they go about making recommendations and conducting oversight of the district’s education efforts without the proper training and experience? Through this experience, Dad created a consulting b...

When it comes to reform in education, people's opinions run a wide gamut of ideas. Ideas can be well-informed and even based on research and facts. However, so much of the passionate debate around the quality and experience of education stems from our deep interests in our children and their future. Many of us have strong opinions and ideas because we have so much vested in our own children, in our communities, and in the future of our nation. And this is good news! It is great that so many people care so much. It creates lively debate and, in many ways, we are all right (and sometimes wrong) to some degree with the ideas that we bring to the table.  In conversations around effective education, we all bring our own ideas, experiences, and judgements. As Jonathan Haidt points out in the Righteous Mind, our moral foundations act as a guide for our decision making. These moral foundations become part of our nature and guide our way of seeing things and how we make decisions. In his bo...

What School Reformers Need School reformers have similar goals of advocating for, designing, or implementing planned changes in educational policies, practices, and structures to improve student outcomes and system efficiency. The l etters to a young education reformer argue that disagreement is intellectual and is useful when it’s done effectively, especially in a polarized world. There is a value in engaging seriously with people who see things differently and have different ideas whether ideologically, professionally, and institutionally. Hess frames disagreement not as a hurdle to be removed but as an essential condition for more thoughtful, durable school reform.  Why is disagreement valuable? We typically tend to stay or be comfortable with people who are similar to us and we treat people with opposing ideas as obstacles. When I arrive at an event, meeting, class, or a conference I typically scan the room to see if I notice anyone that I know to go sit by. This is similar to...

Agree to Disagree   Divided. Opposed. So far apart. To read that introduction, the average reader would not assume that I am describing the sentiments of citizens of a free country which calls itself "United." And yet citizens of this great nation have become quite polarized on matters ranging from gun laws to gas prices. Given the freedom of speech generously granted to every citizen of the United States of America, each American ought to feel free to exercise their rights to share their feelings even and especially when they differ from others.   It is a great blessing and benefit to be able to think and process freely without coercion or undue influence. This has been a cherished American ideal since its founding. In the process of forming opinions, we are naturally inclined to cling passionately to our personal paradigms. So what do we do when our thoughts disagree with someone around us? A natural response seems to be to put up a defense and fight for ...

  If Only Men Were Angels, We Could Protect our Schools If men were angels, no government would be necessary! But men are not angels so what do we do? Federalist 51 : 1788 essay written by James Madison is one of the most famous essays in American political thought, largely because of one statement: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” An angel is simply defined as a spiritual being believed to act as an agent or messenger of God or a person who is exemplary, pure, holy, kind, divine, and conducts oneself in such a way that is pleasing to God. James Madison knew people in power are not angels, so the Constitution had to be designed with human nature in mind. The solution that he suggested was not to wish for better leaders, but to build a government where different parts of the system would keep each other in check–using ambition to counteract ambition so that liberty has a fighting chance. The core problem discussed in the Federalist 51 essay is that people in ...