Standards and Accountability: Where the Public Stands

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ON THE AGENDA

The High Stakes of Stakeholder Engagement: A Plea for Careful Planning from Public Agenda

Alison Kadlec
Feb 1, 2012

This post was written for the 20 community colleges participating in Completion by Design, a five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative that aims to significantly increase completion rates for low-income students under 26. As a “National Assistance partner” for Completion by Design, Public Agenda provides direct assistance to the colleges to help them build capacity for solutions-oriented dialogue among faculty, staff and administration. Here, Public Agenda's Alison Kadlec discusses best practices for authentic internal stakeholder engagement. While the post is geared toward Completion by Design planning teams, the principles are useful for any authentic engagement process.

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You Can't Do It Alone: A New Guide to Creating Sustainable Change in Education Reform

Allison Rizzolo
Jan 24, 2012

Far too often, throughout our work in the education field, we've seen even the most earnest and promising ideas from experts and reformers for improving schools and ramping up student learning met with confusion, anxiety or even anger from teachers, parents, students or community members.

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Standards and Accountability: Where the Public Stands

12/31/1999

Recent news reports have suggested a growing backlash by parents in many communities against tougher school standards and standardized tests. In a national national survey of parents, Public Agenda found scant evidence to substantiate a backlash, even among parents in districts that are actually implementing higher academic standards. Few parents say they want to abandon higher standards, and most support standards even if it means their own child is held back. 2000.

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Tags: K-12, parents, standards, testing

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