Welcome to the Third Education Group (TEG). Third Education Group publishes the Third Education Group Review (Independent Education Review), an on-line journal on education policy. This publication reflects our belief in a need for a review independent of the currently dominant education camps.

            We envision this review as having the following characteristics:

                    1. It focuses on education policy issues.

                    2. All articles are peer reviewed, except for critiques and reviews.

                    3. It is available on-line.

                    4. It is nonideological, reflecting our belief that the test of any education policy is its effect on student learning.

            The review includes:

                    1. Original research and evaluations

                    2. Commentary that helps advance our understanding of education policy issues .

                    3. Reviews and critiques of research, books, reports, web sites, and media coverage, including of articles in this journal.

            All content is reviewed by an editor and, in the case of the first two categories, at least two outside reviewers. We aim to practice transparency. For more information on submissions that would fit the mission of this journal, go to this discussion.

            Why is there a need for this review? In our experience, the planned review duplicates no current publication. The handful of academic journals specializing in education policy reflect a bias against measurement and against basing policy decisions on measured results. Other publications are essentially house organs for members of foundations or think tanks. Too often, in our view, they publish articles based upon ideological agreement or mutual self interest.

            Another issue we hope to address is the difficulty in finding good information. There is a large number of journals both in education and in other disciplines that publish occasional articles on education policy issues, some very good, but hard for policy-makers to find. Thus we plan to include critiques of research published in other publications and book, report, and web site reviews in addition to original research.

             If well implemented, the peer review process helps assure quality and reliability in the research published. The process also serves as a signal to potential authors that their submissions will be judged on the basis of quality, not on who the author knows.

             A prime motivation for publishing on-line is timeliness. The long lead times of some print journals may mean that research results are not published until years after a study is completed. Publishing on-line also makes this review much more accessible to those who could use its information.

            We welcome any work on education policy from anywhere in the world. The test of whether an article is relevant to this review is whether it would help policy-makers make better decisions--policy-makers such as school board members, legislators, and citizens and parents wishing to influence policy.

            Underlying this review is the belief that consistent improvement in education requires ongoing measurement of outcomes. Discussion of policy issues, in turn, should be informed by the results of such measurement.

            Please let us know by e-mail of your interest in participating in this exciting endeavor and if one of the many roles, from content contributor to editor of one of the sections, particularly appeals to you. We would also be interested in your suggestions for others who might be interested in subverting the status quo in education policy.

Bruce R. Thompson
Professor & Program Manager MSEM
Rader School of Business
Milwaukee School of Engineering

Third Education Group, Inc., was incorporated in January 2005 as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of Wisconsin. The United States Internal Revenue Service has determined that Third Education Group, Inc., is exempt from Federal Income Tax under section 501(c)(3) of the US internal revenue code. Contributions to Third Education Group, Inc., are deductible under section 170 of the Code. It is also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Code.

To view the corporate by-laws (pdf format), click here.

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