National Association of State Boards of Education

The National Association of State Boards of Education is the only national association solely dedicated to meeting the needs of state boards of education, and its membership has been directly responsible for state-level policies that affect arts education for over 50 years. Support for this project will enable the association to partner with the Arts Education Partnership (also a Hewlett project grantee) to provide a web-based resource for state board members where they can access the knowledge necessary to create policies that strengthen the arts in their state education systems.

The National Association of State Boards of Education is the membership organization representing the nation’s State Boards of Education. A non-profit organization founded in 1958, NASBE works to strengthen state leadership in educational policymaking, promote excellence in the education of all students, advocate equality of access to educational opportunity, and assure continued citizen support for public education. The goals of the grant are to support a design phase for a planned national center for evidence-based state policy-making. In particular, NASBE will use funds from the Program, along with support from the W.T. Grant and Spencer Foundations, to develop a conceptual framework and a business plan for the proposed center. It is anticipated that this planning grant will enable NASBE to fundraise for the establishment of the center in 2013.

State and territorial boards of education play important governance and leadership roles on a wide range of policy issues essential to advancing deeper learning. The National Association of State Boards of Education represents these bodies, strengthening states’ leadership in educational policymaking, advocating for all students’ equal access to quality education, and assuring citizens’ continued support for public education. For selected board members, the association will mount activities to increase awareness of deeper learning’s importance and definition, dispel erroneous assumptions about the nature of learning that often exclude deeper learning from their thinking, and build their expertise in developing reform policies related to deeper learning.