KU News Release

School reform expert to speak at KU

LAWRENCE — A leading researcher into the effects of government policy on schools and vocal critic of the No Child Left Behind act will give a public lecture Monday, Oct. 15, at the University of Kansas.

Richard Elmore, author of “School Reform from the Inside Out: Policy, Practice, and Performance,” will speak on “Preparing Leaders and Teachers for School Improvement” from 11 a.m. to noon at 150 Joseph R. Pearson Hall.

Elmore is the Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard University. His research focuses on the effects of federal, state and local education policy on schools and classrooms. He is exploring how schools of different types and in different policy contexts develop a sense of accountability and a capacity to deliver high-quality instruction. He also has researched educational choice, school restructuring and how changes in teaching and learning affect school organization.

He has referred to the No Child Left Behind act as “The single largest and the single most damaging expansion of federal power over the nation’s education system in history.” The act is facing renewal by Congress this year.

Elmore is director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, a group of universities engaged in research on state and local education policy, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. He teaches regularly in programs for public-sector executives. He has held positions with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the U.S. Office of Education (1969-71) as well as several government advisory positions at the city, state and national levels.

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