Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education
Name	Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education
Formation	1985
Type	Nonprofit consortium
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Region served	United States
Leader title	Executive Director

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education is a nonprofit educational consortium founded in 1985 that convened school districts, philanthropies, think tanks, and corporate partners to advance K–12 reform initiatives. It sought to bridge practice and policy by collaborating with institutions such as the U.S. Department of Education, foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, research centers including the American Institutes for Research, and advocacy organizations such as the National Education Association and the Business Roundtable.

History

The consortium was established amid national debates involving figures and institutions like Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, A Nation at Risk, and organizations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, and Annenberg Foundation. Early partnerships included school districts in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, collaborations with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Brookings Institution, and exchanges with policy actors from the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Throughout the 1990s it engaged with initiatives connected to the Goals 2000 framework promoted during the Clinton administration, linked with research from the RAND Corporation, WestEd, and SRI International, and convened stakeholders that included leaders from the U.S. Congress, the National PTA, and the Education Trust.

Mission and Objectives

The consortium articulated objectives resonant with priorities championed by entities such as the National Assessment Governing Board, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and the Heritage Foundation while also drawing on comparative studies from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank. Its mission emphasized improving student outcomes in districts like Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Houston Independent School District by aligning curricular standards referenced in the Common Core State Standards Initiative era, promoting data systems akin to those advocated by the Data Quality Campaign, and fostering professional development examples modeled by the Teach For America network and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Programs and Initiatives

Programs reflected models from diverse actors such as the KIPP Foundation, Summit Public Schools, and New Visions for Public Schools, and often paralleled federal efforts like No Child Left Behind Act reform dialogues. Initiatives included pilot studies on instructional coaching inspired by work at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, assessment design dialogues with scholars from the Educational Testing Service and CTB/McGraw-Hill, and leadership training influenced by programs at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and the Stanford Graduate School of Education. The consortium also convened policy forums featuring experts from the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for American Progress, and the Economic Policy Institute, plus international exchanges with delegations from the Ministry of Education (United Kingdom), the Finnish National Agency for Education, and the Ministry of Education, Singapore.

Member Institutions and Partnerships

Membership encompassed a wide array of public districts, charter networks, universities, foundations, and corporations, including associations like the National School Boards Association, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Council for Exceptional Children. University partners included Teachers College, Columbia University, University of Michigan School of Education, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Corporate and philanthropic ties involved Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Walmart Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Gates Foundation. Advocacy and research partners ranged from Pew Charitable Trusts and Public Broadcasting Service collaborations to engagements with the National Urban League, NAACP Educational Department, and the Brooklyn Community Foundation.

Organizational Structure and Governance

The consortium adopted governance practices similar to nonprofit networks like the Annenberg Challenge and the Spencer Foundation, governed by a board with representatives drawn from school districts, higher education institutions such as Harvard University and Yale University, philanthropic organizations including MacArthur Foundation, and corporate partners modeled on AT&T and General Electric. Executive leadership often included former officials connected to the U.S. Department of Education and practitioners from districts such as Boston Public Schools and Baltimore City Public Schools. Operational units collaborated with research arms patterned after Mathematica Policy Research and evaluation frameworks resembling those used by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

Impact and Evaluations

Evaluations of the consortium’s work referenced methodologies used by the Institute of Education Sciences and outcome measures comparable to studies from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Programme for International Student Assessment, and research published by the American Educational Research Association. Impact stories highlighted district improvements in literacy and mathematics modeled after reforms in Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Denver Public Schools, and cited practitioner dissemination through outlets like Education Week, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and reports by the Urban Institute. Critiques and independent reviews from organizations such as the Center on Reinventing Public Education and the Network for Public Education analyzed sustainability, equity outcomes, and scaling challenges in contexts similar to reform debates in Detroit Public Schools Community District and New Orleans Public Schools.

Category:Educational organizations based in the United States