What does it take for school choice to “work”? How do existing tools fall short? What can be done to ensure that all families have access to quality school options? Like many cities across the nation, Washington, D.C., has looked to school choice as one way to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. School choice attempts to level the playing field between students of different backgrounds by making it possible for all families to have access to a city’s high-quality public schools—whether students live near these schools or not. But school choice requires families to make substantial investments of time and resources into the school choosing process, which can pose barriers to ensuring all families can access quality schooling options.
Betheny Gross
Twitter: @bethenygross
Betheny Gross is associate director at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and Affiliate Faculty, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, at the University of Washington Bothell. Dr. Gross oversees CRPE’s research initiatives, leading analyses of personalized learning initiatives, public school choice, out of school learning, and district transformation and improvement. She is an expert on systemic strategies to help families to access educational opportunities, including unified enrollment and information systems. She has examined outcomes of district and state reforms across the country, and has advised and consulted with district leaders and community partners to formulate strategy and implement reforms.
Dr. Gross is coauthor of Strife and Progress: Portfolio Strategies for Managing Urban Schools and the author of numerous research reports and articles. Her work has been published in several journals, including Harvard Law and Policy, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Education Research Journal, Journal of Education Finance, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Dr. Gross is on the editorial board of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and is a regular contributor to national education conferences.
Dr. Gross leads CRPE’s “Reinventing the Wheel” Bike to Work efforts, with several eager riders and many more reluctant ones. Although she’s been in the research space for many years now, she still misses her days as a math instructor at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gross holds a BA in Economics and Urban Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, an MA in Economics from the University of Iowa, and a PhD in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This report focuses on the work of DC School Reform Now. Since 2011, the organization has focused on making school choice work for families in Wards 7 and 8, two underserved areas of the nation's capital...
This brief provides an initial, formative assessment of lessons learned in the first year of ReSchool Colorado’s initiatives to expand access to out-of-school learning opportunities for children in the Denver area...
This essay explores ways to deliver more agile and responsive wraparound services and out-of-school learning opportunities for students.
CRPE researchers find inequities in current 21st century learning approaches and recommend strategies to deliver better learning opportunities for all students.
This report explores the early promise and challenges in personalized learning and calls for more system-level supports and strategies for innovation.
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Here's where to find CRPE experts at the 2016 Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) 41st Annual Conference.
Saturday, March 19
CRPE's Betheny Gross, Sarah Yatsko, and Sean Gill are participating in the National Charter Schools Conference. Here's what they'll be discussing:
CRPE's Robin Lake, Betheny Gross, and Paul Hill will be featured speakers at "The Urban Education Future?" - Lessons from New Orleans 10 Years after Hurricane Katrina conference, hosted by the Education
Join Betheny Gross, senior research analyst and research director at CRPE, for an Education Week webinar on helping parents navigate the school choice process.
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Betheny Gross writes about how five cities tackle the challenges of student transportation in Education Next.
Betheny Gross is quoted in this piece by The 74 on the effectiveness of personalized learning.
CRPE's report Personalized Learning at a Crossroads is referenced in this NPR piece on the future of the personalized learning model.
In The 74, Robin Lake and Betheny Gross write about how public education can be better aligned with career preparation, using Switzerland's system as an example.
Betheny Gross is interviewed by EdTech Magazine about CRPE's report Personalized Learning at a Crossroads.
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Betheny Gross examines how five high-choice cities tackle the challenges of student transportation.
ReSchool Colorado’s initiatives reveal the possibilities that could emerge if barriers between schools and communities were lowered—and if new structures to support students and their families were built in their place.
Even with a simplified process for choosing high schools, accessing high-quality options remains a challenge for some families.
Twenty-five years ago, CRPE was founded on the idea of the school as the locus of change. Today we are reexamining our old assumptions in light of new technical possibilities, changes in the economy, and a recognition that even the most effective schools may need to develop new approaches to
Betheny Gross offers a reality check on the limits of choice and the burden on children of hours spent in transit.
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