Many technical, test design, and implementation questions are involved in designing new statewide assessments. These are all critical, shaping often underexamined aspects of testing: student test experience and families' perceptions of testing in this new structure. Although the state outreach to students and families is needed generally, it is…

The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) was asked to provide information on how other states are approaching the development and implementation of Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) as part of a comprehensive assessment system. Specifically, the request asked for information about KEA measures used by other states, the processes…

This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…

Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Commission on Career and Technical Education challenges states to build bridges from high school to postsecondary attainment and career advancement by developing rigorous, relevant career pathways that align secondary, postsecondary, and workplace learning and lead to high-skill, high-wage jobs in…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

All of the 15 states in this study have recently been involved in school accountability system reform. Since 2011, the states have taken advantage of a federal program to give them flexibility around certain accountability requirements of the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 (NCLB), the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and…

The goal of this publication is to provide a snapshot of some of the publicly available resources describing efforts across Race to the Top States to ensure that turnaround schools have effective leaders. It is based on a review of Race to the Top State Annual Performance Reports, including State reports of Year 1 accomplishments and second year…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. The Legislative Reports follow education and budget issues from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in each of the 16 SREB states. This report presents final legislative and budget actions in…

The U.S. Department of Education (Education) established the Race to the Top (RTT) grant fund to encourage states to support school reform efforts. In 2010, Education awarded 12 RTT grants totaling nearly $4 billion, making RTT the largest competitive grant fund ever administered by Education. Individual grantee awards ranged from $75 million to…

Implementation of college- and career-readiness standards is some of the most important work currently underway in states to improve public education and student achievement. This report provides a summary of findings from SREB's research into the efforts of 15 states--12 in the Southern Educational Research Board (SREB) region--to support…

This latest brief updates education leaders on the key policies the 13 (Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states plan to implement under federal waivers to No Child Left Behind. It details,…

The Evaluation of Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services (WPRS) systems was designed to provide the U.S. Department of Labor information on how states are designing, implementing, and operating their worker profiling and reemployment services systems for dislocated workers and to compare the effectiveness of different state approaches to…

Selected information is displayed in the form of charts, tables, and graphs about: (1) the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) program and other state-level student financial assistance programs; (2) the primary state agency or organization responsible for administering these programs; and (3) the general state characteristics relating to student…

This paper highlights eight states that have implemented alternate assessments for children with disabilities who cannot participate in their state and district-wide assessment programs. The alternate assessment systems in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia are briefly described, along with their…