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Education Commission Of The States Wikipedia

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education commission of the states wikipedia

The Education Commission of the States (ECS) is a nonprofit that tracks educational policy.[1] It is led by over 300 appointed commissioners from across the United States.[2] ECS was founded as a result of... states, three territories (American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands) and the District of Columbia. The idea of establishing a compact on education and creating an operational arm to follow up on its goals was originally proposed by James Bryant Conant, president of Harvard University. Between 1965 and 1967, John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford took up the idea, drafted the proposed Compact, obtained the endorsement of all 50 states and got Congress'... The organization opened its offices in Denver in 1967 and began administering the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test until the Reagan administration in 1982 made the decision to privatize the test, which...

That decision threatened the very existence of the commission, leading to the virtual closing of ECS's Information Clearinghouse, the laying off or early retirement of half of its 117-member staff and a 50% cut... Each member jurisdiction (state, territory, and the District of Columbia) has seven seats on the commission, including the governor and six appointed members, usually including members of the state legislature and education officials, such... The commission gives out three yearly awards. The James Bryant Conant award has been given since 1977 for "outstanding individual contributions to education". The commission also gives out the Frank Newman award to a state or territory, and a corporate award to a corporation or nonprofit organization.[3][4] Introducing Gov.

Mark Gordon's 2025-27 Chair’s Initiative! Check out the six policy areas guiding our work. Search for enacted and vetoed education bills across the country. Subscribe to our newsletters to receive our latest education policy resources, tracking and events right in your inbox. State leaders require clear, actionable information to guide decisions that advance economic mobility for all. The Education-to-Workforce Indicators (E-W) Framework developed by the Gates Foundation and Mathematica can help leaders and communities assess their data systems, identify gaps and opportunities in data collection, and improve their ability to answer...

The United States has no single national education system. Instead, 50 distinct state systems operate with different priorities, funding mechanisms, and success measures. This arrangement stems from the U.S. Constitution, which grants states primary authority over public education. The Education Commission of the States was formed in 1965 to help states navigate their responsibilities and serve as a strategic consortium for policymakers. Its creation responded to growing federal influence, strengthening state capacity to lead on education policy.

For years, the No Child Left Behind Act imposed prescriptive federal mandates requiring states to meet nationally defined accountability standards. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 marked a shift, returning substantial authority to states. ESSA dismantled many rigid requirements and let state leaders design their own systems for measuring school performance, identifying struggling schools, and setting educational goals. This renewed state control amplified existing differences. States now diverge on nearly every major policy aspect. They use vastly different funding models, creating wide resource disparities.

They’ve built unique accountability systems reflecting specific values, measuring everything from college readiness to chronic absenteeism. States take widely varied approaches to academic standards, school choice, teacher workforce policies, and what is taught in the classroom. School finance methods determine resources available to students and reflect fundamental decisions about equity and local control. Investment in a child’s education varies dramatically by zip code. Education Commission of the States Share The Education Commission of the States (ECS) was created by an interstate compact in 1965 to strengthen the capacity of the states as a counterbalance to the rapidly... With start-up grants from the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford Foundation, Governor Terry Sanford of North Carolina cofounded the ECS and convened its first meeting in Chicago in 1966, when 36 states had formally...

By 2018, 47 current and former governors served as the chair of the ECS. To ensure bipartisanship, the chair’s position alternates between Republicans and Democrats and the vice chair’s position is held by a state legislator. Recognizing the states’ constitutional authority in education, the ECS serves as a strategic consortium of state policy stakeholders in education. It is neither a lobbying organization nor an entity that is narrowly defined in terms of a particular political or policy office (such as the U.S. Conference of the Mayors). It encompasses broad representation across a wide spectrum of educational interests at the state level.

In 1995, for example, Republican Governor Tommy Thompson (Wisconsin) was elected to chair both the ECS and the National Governors’ Association, thereby strengthening the ties between the two organizations. In 2002, the ECS sided with the National Board for Professional Standards following the release of a critical study on the effectiveness of the national certification standards. In addition to the elected political representatives, the ECS addresses the needs of the K–12 community and the higher education, business, and civic sectors. The ECS’s 50-state policy tracking databases, its annual policy forums, and its research clearinghouse and dissemination functions have provided technical assistance and facilitated interstate and intrastate exchanges of ideas on reform issues. Policy forums in the early 2010s, for example, featured partisan differences over the Common Core State Standards Initiatives. This network of broad-based stakeholders has enabled the ECS to adapt to the changing policy environment over the last four decades.

During the 1970s and the 1980s, when state governments faced numerous constitutional challenges on funding equity, the ECS conducted extensive studies on funding reform issues. Although facing financial challenges with growing competition in the mid 2000s, ECS was able to continue to maintain its mission as “an honest broker” among state stakeholders. During the era of No Child Left Behind Act between 2002 and 2016, the ECS tracked progress made by every state in meeting the federal accountability standards. ECS’s task forces also challenged the educational establishment to create a system of chartering schools and to reassess teacher certification standards. As Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 enhances the state role, ECS sharpens its efforts on state capacity building. Its National Center for Learning and Civic Engagement aims to broaden state standards to include civic learning.

In a 2017 report, ECS addressed issues of teacher licensure transfer and reciprocity across states. Clearly, ECS will continue to mobilize its policy resources and partners to strengthen the state role in education. SEE ALSO: Education; Interstate Compacts The Education Commission of the States (ECS) was created by states, for states, in 1965. ECS tracks policy, translates research, provides unbiased advice and creates opportunities for state policymakers to learn from one another. ECS was founded as a result of the creation of the Compact for Education, an interstate compact approved by Congress and works with all 50 U.S.

states, three territories (American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands) and the District of Columbia. The idea of establishing a compact on education and creating an operational arm to follow up on its goals was originally proposed by James Bryant Conant, president of Harvard University. Between 1965 and 1967, John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford took up the idea, drafted the proposed Compact, obtained the endorsement of all 50 states and got Congress'... The organization opened its offices in Denver in 1967 and began administering the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test until the Reagan administration in 1982 made the decision to privatize the test, which... That decision threatened the very existence of the Commission, leading to the virtual closing of ECS's Information Clearinghouse, the laying off or early retirement of half of its 117-member staff and a 50% cut...

Each member jurisdiction (state, territory, and the District of Columbia) has seven seats on the Commission, including the governor and six appointed members, usually including members of the state legislature and education officials, such... The commissioner chairman ship is held by the governor of a member jurisdiction. The term changed from one year to two years in 2002. It alternates between political parties. The Education Commission of the States (ECS) is a nonprofit that tracks educational policy.[1] It is led by over 300 appointed commissioners from across the United States.[2] ECS was founded as a result of... states, three territories (American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands) and the District of Columbia.

The idea of establishing a compact on education and creating an operational arm to follow up on its goals was originally proposed by James Bryant Conant, president of Harvard University. Between 1965 and 1967, John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford took up the idea, drafted the proposed Compact, obtained the endorsement of all 50 states and got Congress'... The organization opened its offices in Denver in 1967 and began administering the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test until the Reagan administration in 1982 made the decision to privatize the test, which... That decision threatened the very existence of the commission, leading to the virtual closing of ECS's Information Clearinghouse, the laying off or early retirement of half of its 117-member staff and a 50% cut... Each member jurisdiction (state, territory, and the District of Columbia) has seven seats on the commission, including the governor and six appointed members, usually including members of the state legislature and education officials, such...

The commission gives out three yearly awards. The James Bryant Conant award has been given since 1977 for "outstanding individual contributions to education". The commission also gives out the Frank Newman award to a state or territory, and a corporate award to a corporation or nonprofit organization.[3][4]

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