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Describes the revenue structure of U.S. public education. Covers funding by federal, state, and local governments. Examines in detail two federal education laws: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Although these laws account for less than 7% of U.S. public funding for education, their mandates strongly influence the activities of schools and school districts. Includes a bibliography. A rewritten version of an earlier note.

Surveys educational outcomes among public school students in the United States. Educational outcomes are categorized as achievement outcomes (measured primarily by students' performance on standardized test results) and attainment outcomes (measured primarily by students' completion rates at various grade levels). Deals with outcome trends within the general U.S. school-aged population and covers educational outcomes in various subpopulations of students, including ones defined by race, income, family background, and gender. Describes student outcomes in U.S. public education; it does not explain them. For example, the first half of the note presents data on stagnating achievement levels in the general U.S. population over the last 30 years, but it does not cover in any detail the debate that surrounds the causes of this trend. Similarly, the second half of the note summarizes, but does not interpret explicitly, certain stark correlations between students' educational prospects and their race and socioeconomic status.

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest performing in the nation. A variety of public officials, politicians, and entrepreneurs are engaged in the rebuilding process. Also, explores the tensions that emerge as the community faces both the rebuilding task and conflicting visions of what the future should look like.

Five years after the launch of the Frederick Douglass Charter School, the school's performance is under review by the state board of education as part of a decision about whether to renew the school's charter for a school as well as the implications of a state-administered accountability system based on student achievement data.

Examines the ongoing efforts of an urban public school district to strengthen and support as well as manage and evaluate principal instructional leadership. Highlights the challenges posed by an influx of new first-year principals, partnership with two different principal development programs, and the looming retirement of more than half the district principals.

Examines the Aldine Independent School District's (AISD) efforts in 2005 to sustain and accelerate significant increases in student performance achieved during the preceding decade. Highlights the school district's managerial challenges posed by higher state standards, performance gaps within AISD, and the district's historically decentralized approach toward the implementation of reforms at the school level. Looks at organizational alignment or coherence, leadership, and managing performance gaps across various field units.

On November 17, 2004, as Teach for America's (TFA) national board meeting adjourned, Chief Operating Officer Jerry Hauser considered the opportunity before the organization. The board had just given the go ahead to move forward with development of a new strategic plan for 2005 through 2010. The aspirations were ambitious, and if they succeeded in reaching the goals set out in the plan, TFA would take its place among the country's most enduring institutions. Hauser knew that the key to converting a plan into success was ensuring that the organization had the right strategy and the capacity to execute effectively. As he looked toward the future, he reflected on the opportunities and challenges that TFA had faced in its first 15 years to identify lessons that might be useful for its next phase of growth.

Examines the start-up process of a new, small high school inside the New York City public school system, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Covers the entrepreneurial process, the specific performance challenges in public high schools in the United States, and the quest for sustainability in a new enterprise. Also addresses the small high school movement in the United States.

The PELP Coherence Framework is designed to help district school leaders identify the key elements that support a district-wide improvement strategy, bring those elements into a coherent relationship with the strategy and each other, and guide the actions of people throughout the district in the pursuit of high levels of achievement for all students. The Framework is intended to help school district leaders effectively implement their strategy by strengthening coherence among actions at the district, school and classroom level, and ultimately, improve student performance at scale. Achieving high-performance at scale--in every school, for every student in a district-- is an imperative for school systems given today's heightened accountability environment. The framework emerged out of interactions with hundreds of U.S. public school leaders eager to identify ways to better organize and manage their complex organizations. Although it resembles models used in the business and nonprofit sectors, the framework was designed to fit the unique context and challenges of managing in public education.

Supplements the (A) case.

San Diego City Schools embarked on an ambitious, districtwide reform effort to improve student achievement in 1998. Examines the role of resource reallocation in supporting the district's reform strategy, highlighting how resource allocation choices and processes affect organizational coherence and strategy execution. In the fall of 2003, the district leadership contemplates making substantial changes to its resource allocation system in response to a serious budget crisis and mounting internal and external pressures for change.

To support a strategy that puts decisions about instruction and resources in the hands of school communities, the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School district implemented a weighted formula to allocate resources to school sites based on the learning characteristics of the students attending each school. Considers full in-district choice for parents regarding which school their child will attend, academic planning and resource allocation by local school site councils, and an accountability system with performance consequences for schools unable to meet academic targets or attract enough students to remain financially viable.

Discusses the adaptation of the private sector concept of strategy to the public education sector.

In mid-2003, as the 10-year anniversary of Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative approached, the group's faculty and staff decided to analyze its past performance and to formulate its future strategy.