The 21st Century Schools Project develops public policies to address systemic educational inequities and modernize the industrial-era, factory model of American public education and redefine it through a system premised on universal access, public sector choice and customization, common academic standards, and accountability for results. The project sponsors research and conferences; publishes papers, articles, and advises national, state, and local policymakers. Recently, the project's work has specifically focused on improving teacher quality, public charter schools and public school choice, special education, and reforming the federal role in education.

American schools are based on an industrial-era model matched to an economy that is disappearing. The information-based economy requires greater skills and knowledge and demands that students reach higher levels of education. This means that systemic change at all levels of education is required to move from a factory model public monopoly to a public education system premised on standards, choice, and publicly accountable schools. At the national level, the Project is at the forefront of reshaping federal education policy and redefining the federal-state-local partnership in education to reflect the realities of the knowledge economy. Around the country, the Project works with state and local policymakers to help them meet the challenges of improving their schools.

The key principles guiding the Project's work:

• American schools must dramatically change to meet challenges presented by the Knowledge Economy; we can no longer tolerate a school system that fails to prepare a substantial percentage of students to succeed.
• Neither the purely market-based model advocated by those on the political right nor the traditional hierarchical top-down structure defended by those on the political left will ensure that all students get the knowledge and skills they need in the 21st century.
• Governments must at once demand more from our public schools through meaningful standards and accountability for results, and also must support greater innovation and diversity among schools through choice and competition.
• Archaic regulatory and programmatic infrastructure at the state and federal levels should be replaced by more flexible approaches that target resources to the areas of greatest need while devolving decision-making responsibility to practitioners rather than bureaucrats.
• Governments at all levels must be catalysts for success and innovation by investing in research and dissemination of effective practices and supporting promising approaches.
• America cannot spend its way to more equity; however, adequate resources are essential to support effective schools.

The goals of the 21st Century Schools Project are a natural extension of the mission of the Progressive Policy Institute, which is to define and promote a new progressive politics for the 21st century. The Institute's core philosophy stems from the belief that America is ill-served by an obsolete left-right debate that is out of step with the powerful forces reshaping our society and economy. The Institute believes in adapting the progressive tradition in American politics to the realities of the Information Age by advocating a Third Way approach beyond the liberal impulse to defend the bureaucratic status quo and the conservative bid to dismantle government.