Third Education Group

More on Third Education Group^® Foundational Essays Declarations page

Mission

There are two sides to every U.S. education policy debate ...and that is the problem.

Those two sides – public education’s entrenched groups allied with the Democratic and Republican Parties – represent the interests of few U.S. citizens on education issues. Yet, with the cooperation of most education journalists, and some wealthy foundations, these groups have become the source of virtually all the information provided the public about education policy. Their biased information is then sold to the rest of the world as neutral, objective, scientific research that, when trusted, can compromise education policy in other nations like an invasive, exotic species of weed.

Third Education Group provides an alternative. We are allied with neither side. We have no vested interest. Unlike the many allied education pundits and researchers who call themselves independent, we actually are. And, we prove it by criticizing both sides, though probably not nearly as much as they deserve.

Third Education Group’s purpose is to provide education information the public can trust.

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Why Third Education Group?

U.S. education has an information problem, an information problem that is exported worldwide. Education research and information inundate public fora and publications. But, much of that information is awash in factual inaccuracy and cannot be trusted.

Though much high quality and trustworthy education research and information exists, little of it finds its way into education policy discussions. Its path is blocked by a wall of interest groups, think tanks, federally-funded research centers, and advocacy groups that dismiss the information they dislike and promote the information they like. These organized groups have the resources to push their agenda, saturating the media and the Web with their own particular version of reality.

In a manner of speaking, these groups own all the microphones. Any more, research and information from nonaligned individuals seldom makes it past the wall. And, few education journalists seem willing to climb over the wall to retrieve a story.

Imagine what would happen to the progress of humanity if in the fields of, say, biology and medicine, the only information ever made public came from organized interest groups, and all independent research and information was suppressed. Understanding that may help explain why our country’s education policy is stuck–it is mired in misinformation.

It is our conviction that most of the organizations allied with the two education establishments do our country more harm than good, primarily through their censorship of education research and information. Indeed, it has become rather commonplace for the aligned education groups to openly declare that vast regions of the education research literature do not exist.

Currently, there are few intellectual or policy research homes for the majority of Americans on education issues. Moreover, there exist few trustworthy sources of education policy research or technical information. Democratic politicians are dependent on vested education interest groups for a large portion of their financial and organizational support and rarely confront them.

As for the Republicans, a single, small group of related individuals has assumed control of the education function in virtually all GOP-aligned research and policy groups. GOP faithful are instructed to support what those in this core group say or do, and to ignore the vast majority of useful and relevant information.

Allegedly bipartisan organizations that simply join individuals with a propensity to censor and suppress information from "both sides" succeed only in compounding the problem.

It may seem quixotic, but in the overly-politicized world of education research, we aim to be truly independent. We are affiliated with no group or organization with any political power. We truly wish to offer a third way for those who are not on either “side.”

Third Education Group may be the first research and policy group paying more than lip service to representing and informing the non-aligned and non-partisan--the majority of Americans--on education issues. At some point, the dam could break, and all the accurate and straightforward education information that the two education establishments have strained to hold back will burst forth. At least, that is our hope.