The Rennie Center seeks to foster thoughtful public discourse and informed policy making through non-partisan, independent research and constructive dialogue on key education reform issues. We strive for immediate impact, while recognizing that affecting lasting changes to the education system takes time. The following are a few examples of the impact of some of our research and convenings over the past several years.

• The Rennie Center’s policy brief Raise the Age, Lower the Dropout Rate? Considerations for Policymakers is the first publication of its kind to critically review empirical evidence on the impact of state policies to raise the age of compulsory school attendance. The Rennie Center’s report revealed no evidence to support the idea that raising the compulsory age to 18 decreases dropout rates and increases graduation rates. This finding fundamentally changed the discourse across Massachusetts about the rationale for such a policy change. As the Rennie Center recommended, policymakers now discuss raising the compulsory age as part of a broader strategy rather than a “silver bullet,” and describe it not as a guaranteed way to reduce the dropout rate, but as a valuable message that conveys to students the importance of remaining in school.
   
• The Rennie Center provided the first opportunity for the public to communicate with the Secretary of Education and other members of the state’s Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet about their work and goals for the future. Models highlighted in the Rennie Center’s policy brief on the role of Children’s Cabinets, released at that public forum, are expected to appear in the Cabinet’s forthcoming report.
   
• The Rennie Center hosted the only public forum in which key stakeholders were able to comment on and discuss the results of the Massachusetts Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey (TeLLS), a statewide survey that documented educators’ views about the conditions in schools. The Rennie Center event and the research presented there furthered the conversation on successful labor-management collaboration.
   
• The Department of Higher Education developed a pilot Professional Development Program for high school teachers, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is recommending the addition of two new courses based on recommendations from the Rennie Center’s report, Alternative High School Math Pathways in Massachusetts: Developing an On-Ramp to Minimize College Remediation in Mathematics.
   
• The Rennie Center, with support from groups including the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, urged the state to move toward a value-added approach to accountability in 2004. Today, the Growth Model for student performance, which has been launched across the state, ensures that relevant data are collected and that they are linked to demographic information as the Rennie Center’s policy brief suggested.
   
• Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for English Language Learners is the most requested of all Rennie Center publications – thousands of copies have been distributed or downloaded. This was the first report to share successful practices that could be used as models for districts struggling with a new law requiring a switch from the regular use of students’ native languages to immersion in English. The report has been used as the basis for professional development for teachers and administrators by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as a number of urban districts.