The purpose of this technical assistance paper is to assist education leaders and administrators in the consistent implementation of the Florida Career and Professional Education (CAPE) Act in Section 1003.491, Florida Statutes (F.S.). This technical assistance paper addresses questions on recent legislation, funding, and data reporting. [For the…

The purpose of this technical assistance paper is to assist education leaders and administrators in the consistent implementation of the Florida Career and Professional Education (CAPE) Act in Section 1003.491, Florida Statutes (F.S.). This technical assistance paper addresses questions on the legislation, funding, and data reporting.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given the entire country a crash course in virtual education and digital education platforms. School leaders have been forced to consider a set of very imperfect options as they struggle to reopen their schools. This three-brief collection identifies key issues for school leaders to consider before adopting a digital…

This report provides 10 lessons about how to ensure inclusive assessment practices for students with disabilities and English learners. In addition to the 10 lessons, it provides foundational information on the characteristics of these students that require consideration during all phases of assessment design, development, and implementation. The…

This document presents issues that should be considered before student test results are used in evaluations of teacher performance. As the stakes attached to student test results have increased, so has the need for educators to make informed decisions about the types of tests used to generate data for these purposes and the way student test…

Consider that colorful photographs, eye-catching illustrations, and captivating images intended to make textbooks more appealing may actually distract students from the lesson at hand. Or that asking students to simply solve math problems might not be as effective as having them explain the steps of solutions that are already worked out--even some…

Since 2012, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has supported educational enrichment in rural areas by awarding over $3.3 million in grants to six outstanding organizations operating in Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In this report, the authors combine the experiences of these organizations with findings from the…

How and how much should students be tested? What information should schools and districts be required to collect and monitor? And what should be done when that information suggests a school is not meeting the expectations? Those questions are at the heart of Congressional discussions regarding the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary…

Grade inflation has been a consistently ignored problem in the public schools and universities for over fifty years. Grades keep getting higher and higher for a multitude of reasons. Students expect high grades. Parents demand high grades of their children and teachers. Some administrators implicitly or explicitly require that their teachers give…

The requirement that individualized education program (IEP) teams make decisions about the participation of students with disabilities in general or alternate state- and district-wide assessments is nearly two decades old. The decisions that must be made have become more complicated with the addition, in some states, of alternate assessments based…

This document is an outgrowth of the 2016 National Education Technology Plan (NETP). The NETP presents a shared vision and call to action for transformational learning enabled by technology at all levels of our education system. This Higher Education Supplement to the 2016 NETP builds on the principles described in each of the NETP's five…

The nature of school security has changed dramatically over the last decade. Schools employ various measures, from metal detectors to identification badges to drug testing, to promote the safety and security of staff and students. One of the increasingly prevalent measures is the use of security cameras. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education…

In recent years there have been increasing efforts to use accountability systems based on large-scale tests of students as a mechanism for improving student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a prominent example of such an effort, but it is only the continuation of a steady trend toward greater test-based accountability in…

As the number of end of course (EOC) tests has increased along with an expansion of their role in accountability, development and implementation decisions are more important than ever. This process starts with articulating how the assessment fits into a credible theory of action that describes how all elements of the system will work together to…

For most students, test taking is a challenge. For students who are deaf or hard of hearing, classroom quizzes, tests, and exams are even more challenging. Standardized tests--The SAT, ACT, state proficiency tests, No Child Left Behind annual tests, and psychoeducational evaluations--present additional challenges for students who are deaf or hard…