National Center on Education and the Economy

10/20/2026

School systems are often inundated by new ideas, tools, programs, and priorities. Emily Shaw, program manager at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, described a tension she often sees:

“We’re always looking for the next best thing, or that silver bullet.”

That raises important questions for leadership teams:
💭 What is already working?
💭 What needs time to deepen?
💭 What should be adapted?
💭 And what may be distracting from the core work?

These are the kinds of questions leaders in NISL NEXT are examining through their own district contexts.

https://ncee.org/nislnext/

10/16/2026

Too often, teacher PD lives in:
➡️ Slides
➡️ Workshops
➡️ One-off sessions

What if professional learning looked different?
✔ Embedded in real teaching
✔ Driven by inquiry
✔ Designed for continuous growth

Explore how TEL2 is helping districts transform instruction.→ Let’s talk about what this could look like in your schools. https://ncee.org/tel/

10/16/2026

Our team’s time in Ireland has been filled with thoughtful conversations about assessment, accountability, and what makes high-performing education systems work.

But between school visits and stakeholder meetings, they, of course, found time to enjoy the local scenery.

One theme keeps coming up: strong education systems are built on policies and structures. They're also built on relationships, connection, and trust.

10/15/2026

NCEE’s global benchmarking framework asks how well education systems prepare people for life.

By looking at data from early childhood through adulthood, we identified systems that successfully balance academic achievement with future-ready life skills.

Our evaluation includes:
⚖️ Student well-being: Measuring curiosity, a sense of belonging, and the quality of relationships between students and teachers.
⚖️ Real-world success: Using adult competency data to track how literacy and math skills translate into higher wages and economic opportunity.
⚖️ System efficiency: Identifying jurisdictions that deliver world-class results while spending their budgets more effectively.

“Our methodology reflects a more human-centered and economically grounded view of education.” -Tracey Burns, NCEE’s Chief of Global Strategy and Research

Learn more about the high-performing systems: https://ncee.org/top-performing-countries/

10/14/2026

Every week, our team is in the field alongside school and system leaders who are committed to strengthening their practice and creating better opportunities for students.

This week, we're celebrating the latest for School Leaders cohort in partnership with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.

Bringing together leaders from Snowline Joint Unified School District, The Colton Joint Unified School District, Alta Loma School District, Mt. Baldy Joint Elementary School District, and Victor Elementary School District, this cohort is building connections across district lines and strengthening their capacity to lead meaningful change.

We're proud to be part of their leadership journey.

10/13/2026

There’s so much we can learn from how schools around the world approach teaching and learning. NCEE's Jackie Kraemer shares five takeaways from her visits to schools in Shanghai.

By Jackie Kraemer A robot that helps students find library books of interest Middle school math teachers who analyze whether and how AI apps deepen students’ conceptual understanding of the Pythagorean theorem A tech-enabled kitchen that allows elementary students to plan, prepare, and serve a ful...

10/11/2026

In Wayne, Indiana, the Learning Progressions Design Team is grappling with what it means for their Learner Profile to influence students' learning experiences across the district.

As the conversations progressed, the questions expanded.

They began asking about classroom use, student agency, assessment and grading, educator workload, accountability, equity, districtwide consistency, professional learning, and whether this work will become an enduring shift or another initiative that eventually fades.

Bringing learning progressions to life requires learning and change from adults, leaders, schools, the district system, and ultimately students.

The design work continues, and we are honored to walk alongside the district team throughout the process.

10/09/2026

Our latest Designing Systems that Work sessions brought leaders together to examine what’s working, wrestle with where greater alignment is needed, and turn big ideas into practical decisions for their schools and students.

There’s no one-size-fits-all roadmap for this work. Lasting system change has to reflect the strengths, challenges, and aspirations of the community it serves.

We’re proud to be doing this work alongside The Colton Joint Unified School District .

10/09/2026

A forest in Wisconsin.
A student business in Illinois.
An environmental investigation in Oregon.
Local history in Iowa.

The projects look very different. But across them, students are investigating, making decisions, solving problems, working with others, and contributing to their communities.

Explore the StoryMap to see how rural educators are preparing young people to continue learning throughout their lives and connecting schools with the broader communities around them.→ https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a2f393ccdfa44ccf828cf94328521aa6

Rural Schools Collaborative

10/08/2026

🌐 Why are some countries doing a better job supporting their most disadvantaged students?
🌐 What roles do teachers, student belonging, health, and other supports play?
🌐 And what could the U.S. learn from their approaches?

NCEE's Chief Global Strategy & Research Officer Tracey Burns spoke to New Jersey Spotlight News. It’s an accessible, thought-provoking look at what the numbers can—and can’t—tell us about building stronger education systems.

Read the Q&A: https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2026/09/qa-how-china-and-canada-beat-the-u-s-in-educating-poor-kids/