States, pass or fail? Innovation in education

The Center for American Progress, "a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action," examines all 50 states and D.C. and their approaches to innovative improvement in education. Two years ago they similarly co-authored with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute the first Leaders and Laggards report examining school performance.

In this follow-up report, we turn our attention to the future, looking not at how states are performing today, but at what they are doing to prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead...We chose this focus because, regardless of current academic accomplishment in each state, we believe innovative educational practices are vital to laying the groundwork for continuous and transformational change...Put bluntly, we believe our education system needs to be reinvented.

The report focuses on eight areas:

• School Management
• Finance
• Staffing: Hiring & Evaluation
• Staffing: Removing Ineffective Teachers
• Data
• Technology
• Pipeline to Postsecondary
• State Reform Environment

As reported in Christian Science Monitor, "States like Nebraska, Hawaii, and Nevada, meanwhile, receive abysmal grades in at least a few areas and don't shine in any."

Leaders and Laggards A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation:

Executive summary (pdf, 5pp/250kB)

Full report (pdf, 135pp/1.2MB)

Interactive map (html)

Individual state profiles (in pdf)