The New Hampshire Department of Education (NHED) designed a school accountability system in 2016 and 2017 to meet the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. The system was implemented in 2017 and 2018 for the first time and has been operating continuously since then, except for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Summative assessments measure students' mastery of grade-level academic standards and skills in specific content areas after learning. State summative assessment systems provide students and families, school and district leaders, and state policymakers with valuable data to help understand student progress and school quality. This Policy Guide…

We argue that teacher preparation programs considering approaches to assess teaching quality should choose measures that appropriately represent the complexity of teaching, have formative value in supporting teacher candidates develop as highly qualified teachers and consider the context, mission, and people that the program desires to serve. The…

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education announced the "Raise the Bar: Lead the World" initiative to use decades of research and professional experience to transform public education and advance education equity. There are three focus areas: (1) Achieve Academic Excellence; (2) Boldly Improve Learning Conditions; and (3) Create Pathways…

This study examines the impact of implementing the professional development program, Keeping Learning on Track (KLT), on teaching and learning in a rural school in a Midwestern state. KLT was a program developed by Dylan William and his colleagues at the Educational Training Service and published by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA).…

Formative assessment can be a powerful tool to support effective K-12 computer science (CS) instruction. Having teachers and students engage with the formative assessment process can increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes. In this guide, the authors show readers how to apply the five-step process outlined in the corresponding…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

By 2013, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had adopted college- and career-ready standards in English language arts and mathematics, placing a greater emphasis on argument writing to prepare students for life after high school. Solving the specific problem of how to help teachers teach to new standards for argument writing as well as the…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

The use of blogging as an instructional practice has the potential to reshape teacher education. The purpose of this year-long project was to examine how blogging worked to support inservice K through 12 literacy teachers' professional development. I found that the blogging that occurred in this study demonstrated that, without support, teachers…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) partnered with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) to conduct a multi-year study of Michigan's implementation of competency-based education in K-12 schools. This mixed-methods study seeks to investigate the implementation and effectiveness of CBE using data from surveys administered to 21j…

While young people are generally better educated today than ever before, recent graduates tend to lack practical skills -- especially digital skills. Certification programs offer one effective way to address this digital skills gap. They give learners a way to gain the skills they need to compete, and also to demonstrate credibly that they possess…

The Teacher Education Program at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) implemented three initiatives in 2018 to improve the practicum experience for teacher candidates. One of these initiatives was to extend the use of e-Portfolios into final practicum. E-Portfolios are first developed by teacher candidates in EDUC 431, the Education…

The Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) is a statewide education program located in the Midwest of the United States. The goal of the program is to leverage teacher education to improve and increase energy literacy in Wisconsin's K-12 schools as a means of contributing to statewide energy savings. Created in 1995, the program continues…