SPOTLIGHT | The Future of Data in K-12 Education

Change Management

Oct 1

Client: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation| Partnership Length: 2022 - Present | HCM Service Area Spotlight: Support Change Management Strategies| Portfolio Category: K-12

HCM Strategists’ charge is to create and support a working group focused on the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the major law outlining the federal government’s involvement in K-12 education, on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

OVERVIEW

To thoroughly understand the issues of today's education system, the U.S. Chamber Foundation and its partners are exploring the effectiveness of data and assessments in America’s K-12 public schools. This three-phase, multi-year initiative includes HCM’s support of a working group of preeminent leaders in national and local education. The working group and the U.S. Chamber Foundation share a common goal of developing policy recommendations focused on all students, especially those who have been historically underserved by the system.

OUR WORK + IMPACT

HCM is leading the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Future of Data, Assessments, and Accountability in K-12 Education initiative. The working group members include former US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, 2019 National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson, and former Louisiana State Superintendent John White, as well as the heads of organizations such as The Education Trust, Foundation for Excellence in Education, Parents Amplifying Voices in Education, and the Center for Measurement Justice. The group is seeking input from stakeholders across the country including top leaders in education policy, education administrators, local and federal policymakers, business leaders, and nationally recognized advocates. Forming such a diverse working group with differing perspectives offers a unique opportunity for collaboration as they review policies and reforms over the past 20 years.

HCM is facilitating the Foundation and the working group through a Learning Agenda, followed by a Design Challenge. During the Learning Agenda, the working group heard from an array of assessment and accountability experts with diverse and divergent viewpoints. Rather than form consensus, the Learning Agenda is intended to provide the working group and the Chamber Foundation with as much information as possible regarding perspectives of current practice.

During the Design Challenge, the Chamber Foundation will encourage experts and practitioners with ideas for how education assessment and accountability policy should change to submit proposals describing their vision. The best proposals will be reviewed by the working group, and the cream of the crop - according to a working group subcommittee - will be released publicly by the Chamber.

While this work is underway, the Chamber has asked Dr. Daniel Goldhaber and Michael De’Armond at the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, American Institutes for Research (CALDER) to develop a rigorous review of existing research. They are asking what we know - and what we don’t - about how the last 20 years of education reform efforts have affected student outcomes. The Chamber has also asked Chris Stewart and his team at brightbeam to develop companion research with a qualitative account of these reforms.

These three components will culminate in a set of policy recommendations from the U.S. Chamber Foundation, describing what they hope to see in the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which will shape how states assess student learning and hold the system accountable for results for years to come.

PARTNERS

Led by HCM, our Future of Data project team member organizations include:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Vestigo Partners
Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, American Institutes for Research
Center on Reinventing Public Education
brightbeam