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 a senior research analyst and research 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, including analysis of personalized learning initiatives, portfolio management strategies, and charter schools. She is an authority on systemic strategies to help families to access school choice, including unified enrollment systems, information systems, and other efforts to support choosing. She has examined evidence and outcomes of district and state reforms across the country, and has advised and consulted with districts leaders to formulate strategy and implementation.
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.
Prior to working at CRPE she was a research analyst at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania and a math instructor at the University of Wisconsin. She also leads the Center’s “Reinventing the Wheel” Bike to Work efforts, with several eager riders and many more reluctant ones. 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 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.
This analysis examines 18 cities offering public school choice to determine whether 1) their education systems are continuously improving, 2) all their students have equitable access to high-quality schools, and 3) their strategies...
This brief, the first in a multiyear series examining DC School Reform Now’s innovative High Quality Schools Campaign, offers lessons for district and city leaders who want school choice to work for all families.
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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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CRPE's new cross-city analysis examines the current state of public school choice in 18 American cities.
Report suggests Denver and other cities should invest in the supply of high-quality schools in order to dramatically improve access for students most in need.
CRPE research director Betheny Gross is quoted in this Hechinger Report article on the challenges of studying personalized learning.
CRPE research director Betheny Gross is quoted in this Seventy-Four piece on common enrollment in Indianapolis.
CRPE research director Betheny Gross is quoted in this Chalkbeat Indiana article on Indianapolis's new unified enrollment system.
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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.
Betheny Gross shares how some localities are creating system-level initiatives and networks to help educators remake their classrooms. This is the eighth installment in our series of "Notes From the Field."
Betheny Gross and Michael DeArmond urge educators to seek out systematic evidence on digital tool effectiveness. This is the seventh installment in our series of "Notes From the Field."
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