This important volume takes stock of the debate over for-profit providers to understand what it takes for for-profits to promote quality and cost effectiveness at scale.

Using administrative records for third through eighth graders in North Carolina public schools, this paper finds evidence that the offering of single-sex mathematics courses is associated with lower performance on end-of-grade math exams, and finds no evidence that the offering of single-sex reading scores increases performance on reading exams.

Tune in for a Google Hangout discussion about how policymakers can create an environment where the power of for-profit innovation and investment is leveraged to better serve students.

Mr. Obama deserves recognition for putting forward a reasonable proposal that was in the ballpark of what Republicans would accept, and for rejecting partisan pleas to stick with his previous advocacy, electorally motivated, of setting low loan rates a year or two at a time.

The House Republicans’ bill maintains transparency, reduces red tape, and gives states new flexibility. It would get the feds out of the Common Core business and put an end to Secretary Duncan’s waivers. This isn’t a federal retreat, it’s a smart, disciplined vision of a principled federal role. Conservatives should describe it that way.

For at least a half-century, the University of California has been considered the premier system in U.S. public higher education. The Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses always rank among the top 10 state schools, with several other UC campuses close behind.

Parents need to be vigilant about the Common Core. The Common Core itself is neither a good nor a bad idea. It has the potential to be a positive force in education, but it will rise and fall on how it is implemented in schools and classrooms across the country.

No financial scheme -- no matter how innovative -- can overcome the ultimate reality that this is not an economically sustainable long-term trend. We are currently overinvested in higher education.

Although two- and four-year colleges are important linchpins in state economies, there is a growing sense that the existing system is not as productive as it needs to be, particularly in this era of tight budgets. State leaders must seek out reforms that leverage existing investments more effectively and that put their higher education systems on a stable, sustainable path.