The Center for Public Education (Center) is a national resource for accurate, timely, and credible information about public education and its importance to the well-being of our nation. The Center provides up-to-date research, data, and analysis on current education issues and explores ways to improve student achievement and engage public support for public schools.

Our intended audience includes school board members and other policymakers, educators, community leaders, parents, and everyone concerned with the education of our children.

The Center is an initiative of the National School Boards Association (NSBA).

Mission
History
Services
Funders
Staff
Research rubric

Mission

The Center serves as America’s one-stop shop for clear, concise, and trusted information about public education, leading to more understanding about our schools, more community-wide involvement, and better decision-making by school leaders on behalf of all students in their classrooms.

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History

The Center was launched by 2006 by NSBA and the National School Boards Foundation, having emerged from discussions between NSBA and its member state school board associations about how to effectively inform the public about the successes and challenges of public schools. NSBA and its members believe that accurate, objective information is essential for building support for public schools and creating effective programs to prepare all students for the 21st century jobs and life in our democratic society.

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Services

The Center provides practical information, analysis and expertise on key education issues:

• Original studies and reviews of rigorous education research that cut through the noise of opinion and politics to get at what really works. We present this information in different formats in order to make it accessible to professionals and lay readers alike.
• Stories from the field showcasing schools and districts that are successfully applying the lessons of research and engaging their communities to the benefit of all their students.
• Guides, glossaries, and go-to backgrounders on education lingo, statistics, and topics.
• Downloadable resources and tools to help school and community leaders in their school improvement efforts.

The Center also works in close partnership with state school board associations to translate the lessons of research into effective policies and practices at the state and district level.

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Funders

The Center thanks the many foundations, organizations, and individuals who support our work through their generous contributions. Additional support for the Center is provided by the National School Boards Association. A list of our major contributors can be found here.

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Staff

Patte Barth, Director
pbarth@nsba.org

Jim Hull, Policy Analyst
jhull@nsba.org

Rebecca St. Andrie, Manager
rstandrie@nsba.org

Michael Resnick, Associate Executive Director
Advocacy and Issues Management
National School Board Association
mresnick@nsba.org

For general information contact us at centerforpubliced@nsba.org

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Research rubric

For the development of each research packet, the rubric addresses significance of the topic, timeframes, key terms, outcome measures, study designs, sample populations, and other relevant factors.

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Updated: June 2009