Giving Compass Take:

· Frederick M. Hess discusses the shift from policy to educational practices and his concern that those pushing the change are not making it clear what they mean by practice.  

· What does educational practice mean? Is it everything in the classroom? Is this just a repackaging of familiar policy priorities?

· Read more about the shift from policy to practices in education. 

Amidst the ebbs and flows of school reform, big shifts are underway. One involves education advocates, analysts, and assorted policy-centric do-gooders increasingly seeking to downshift from “policy” and instead focus on educational “practice.”

What’s going on? Interest in policy and foundation funding for policy advocacy have shrunk in the past few years. Polarizing fights and the stubborn insistence that middle America sit down and shut up have engendered backlash and left public officials leery of “reform.” Meanwhile, the advocates and analysts want to stay relevant. They’ve rightly judged that promoting the same things they were pitching five years ago would be pointless. And they need to raise funds from foundations which have pivoted from policy to practice. Thus, they’re seeking to reinvent themselves as hubs of “good practice.”

Read the full article about the shift from policy to practice in education by Frederick M. Hess at AEI.