Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

State policy plays a critical role in determining whether and how well local education improvement strategies can be implemented. As states rework their education policies under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state and local leaders need a way to assess their current policy environment and identify the changes needed to encourage local innovation and problem-solving. To identify the legal and regulatory barriers to local autonomy, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) researched 14 states that already have one or more large cities pursuing local innovation strategies. We find that: The accretion of state law over the years has constrained local education leaders' ability to innovate, improve, and transform their schools; States have set up command-and-control frameworks, viewing districts rather than schools as public education's first responders, which is at odds with school-level efforts to address the particular needs of students and communities; and State policy leads to conflicts and disincentives that play out for worse at the local level. This analysis is intended to help policymakers, education leaders, and advocates understand the changes in state law and policy needed to support local strategies that empower educators, promote new schooling options, and let parents choose.

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert