New research from Public Agenda tracks community responses to school reform in Chicago and identifies opportunities for local engagement

"Community Response to School Reform in Chicago: Opportunities for Local Stakeholder Engagement," funded by the Joyce Foundation, examines how Chicago parents, public school teachers and school reform thought leaders think about current efforts by Chicago Public Schools to turnaround the city's lowest performing schools. Building on "What's Trust Got to Do With It?," our 2011 national communications and engagement guide, as well as our wealth of experience in public engagement around education reform, this whitepaper offers basic principles for education leaders to engage, communicate and work with Chicago community stakeholders to ensure the best outcomes for the city's children.

New Citizens' Guide: Exploring the American Job Crisis

While joblessness currently affects the lives of millions of citizens, political discussions surrounding this topic are most often cloaked in posturing, blame and ideology and presented in jumbled terms. A new book from Jean Johnson and Scott Bittle provides a resource for the average American, concerned citizen and voter. Where Did the Jobs Go – And How Do We Get Them Back? offers a nonpartisan perspective on the national jobs crisis and examines job stimulus proposals from all sides of the political spectrum – left, right and center – including balancing the budget, cutting taxes, reviving manufacturing, improving education, and losing the gap between the rich and the poor.

New research: Business leaders weigh in on the state of higher ed

Corporate executives may consider America’s higher education system the best in the world, but a new report from Public Agenda, commissioned by the Committee for Economic Development (CED), suggests that business leaders fear that skyrocketing tuition and a growing skills gap could have serious consequences for the nation’s economic future. Hiring and Higher Education, based on focus groups and interviews with nearly 40 business executives from a variety of large and mid-size companies, adds an important voice to a growing debate about the role and value of America’s higher education system in fueling an economic recovery.

NEW RESOURCE: DATA-INFORMED DECISION-MAKING TO IMPROVE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT SUCCESS

The use of data and evidence to improve policies, programs and services is at the core of community college student success efforts across the country, and a new guide from Public Agenda serves as a resource for community college leaders in data collection and analysis. Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making, the latest from the Cutting Edge series of reports produced for Achieving the Dream, will help more colleges build institutional research (IR) and information technology (IT) capacity and create a strong culture of evidence in which data and inquiry drive institutional efforts to close achievement gaps and improve student outcomes overall.

FIND IT FAST: GREAT RESOURCES FROM PUBLIC AGENDA