Traditional developmental mathematics sequences are a major impediment for community college students who need to acquire college-level mathematics credit in order to attain their long-term academic goals. Each year, approximately 500,000 students fail to complete their developmental mathematics coursework, jeopardizing their ability to earn an…

The Community College Pathways initiative is composed of two pathways, Statway® and Quantway® that provide post-secondary students with accelerated means to complete developmental mathematics sequences and attain college-level mathematics credit. Since its inception in 2011, the Pathways initiative has made tremendous strides toward reclaiming…

An evaluation system that is designed to support and improve teacher practice--rather than simply to assess and manage teacher performance--would have as its foundation effective and reliable processes to observe classroom practice and give teachers useful feedback. Such an improvement-focused evaluation system should be aligned with and…

The question for this brief is whether education leaders can use value-added measures as tools for improving schooling and, if so, how to do this. Districts, states, and schools can, at least in theory, generate gains in educational outcomes for students using value-added measures in three ways: creating information on effective programs, making…

The Carnegie Foundation launched its Math Pathways initiative nearly six years ago at 29 colleges across the country with the aim of improving success rates in developmental math. Tens of thousands of students a year, who need additional preparation for college-level math, are shut out of earning degrees and fulfilling careers due to the huge…

The Community College Pathways initiative consists of two pathways, Statway® and Quantway®, that accelerate post-secondary students' progress through their developmental mathematics sequence and a college-level course for credit. Launched in 2011, the Pathways have been remarkably successful, helping thousands of students achieve success in…

This report details five principles for creating powerful classrooms and offers a new vision for professional development: (1) High Structure; (2) High Challenge; (3) Intensity; (4) Intentionality and Learning How to Learn; and (5) Inquiry and Making Learning Visible. Included are recommendations drawn from the work of the 11 community college…

The Community College Pathways (CCP) program had an outstanding second year. In 2012-2013, the program reproduced the positive outcomes realized in the first year of implementation, including successful course completion rates of over 50 percent for both Pathways. Simultaneously, the administration of the Pathways has continued to develop and…

90-Day Cycles are a disciplined and structured form of inquiry designed to produce and test knowledge syntheses, prototyped processes, or products in support of improvement work. With any type of activity, organizations inevitably encounter roadblocks to improving performance and outcomes. These barriers might include intractable problems at…

Building a stronger teacher workforce requires the thoughtful orchestration of multiple processes working together in a human capital system. This white paper presents a framework that can be used to take stock of current efforts to enhance the teacher workforce in school districts or educational organizations, as well as their underlying theories…