Prepared for the Boston Foundation and signed onto by nearly two dozen representatives from across the political spectrum, "Unlocking College: Strengthening Massachusetts' Commitment to College in Prison" explores the landscape of educational opportunities in Massachusetts prisons. The report finds that despite evidence that educational…

As numerous studies from 1906 on have confirmed, children lose ground in learning if they lack opportunities for building skills over the summer. Nonetheless, summer learning loss comes up but rarely in the national discussion of education reform. By the end of summer, students perform on average one month behind where they left off in the spring.…

Launched in 2008, the Strategic Data Project, housed at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, seeks to bridge the divide between educational research and practice in order to transform the use of data in education to improve student achievement. Through the project, the authors build robust research partnerships with…

Although a growing body of research points to the critical need to foster reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills for students in order to ensure their success in college, careers, and life, these efforts have tended to focus more on developing literacy skills in the early years, often ignoring secondary students. The outcome has…

In April 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) contracted with the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) to facilitate a series of regional workshops and provide technical assistance to strengthen efforts to improve college readiness for all students. This final report summarizes these activities…

A 2-DAY PLANNING CONFERENCE WAS HELD FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF CONFEREES REPRESENTING A BROAD RANGE OF INTERESTS. THEIR PURPOSE WAS TO PLAN A VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SUMMER STUDY PROGRAM--(1) TO TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT THE WHOLE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION ON A NATIONAL SCALE, (2) TO WORK OUT PLANS FOR INITIATING SUCH EDUCATIONAL REFORM AS…

This legislative report presents the findings of a 1986 telephone survey of states that have enacted state-funded pre-kindergarten early childhood education programs. The survey was designed to collect data related to the legislative authority, intent, and oversight of the early childhood education programs and to gain information on the…

To give states the information they need to sustain hard-fought education reform effectively, Achieve conducted research on state education reforms that have been sustained successfully for over a decade or more. Funded by the GE Foundation, Achieve hopes this work will help other state leaders, wherever they may be on their road to reform,…

DURING A 3-MONTH PERIOD (MARCH TO JUNE 1963) A GROUP OF SCHOLARS MET IN WEEKLY SESSIONS TO DISCUSS AND PLAN THE GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE CURRICULUM REFORM PROGRAM AND THE SPECIFIC UNITS THAT MIGHT BECOME PARTS OF AN OVERALL DESIGN. THE COMMITTEE'S WORK DIVIDED ITSELF INTO FOUR CATEGORIES (1) THE CREATION OF BASIC PRINCIPLES DRAWN FROM THE SOCIAL…

A SUMMER INSTITUTE WAS CONDUCTED TO PLAN NEW PATTERNS TO ATTAIN OCCUPATIONAL, VOCATIONAL, AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION GOALS. THE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE WAS THAT OF DEVELOPING CRITERIA FOR NEW INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND LEARNING AIDS FOR SUCH EDUCATION. SEVERAL RECOMMENDATIONS WERE STRUCTURED FROM THE INSTITUTE--(1) THAT THERE BE INITIATED A DEVELOPMENT…

To comply with official state regulations, public school districts in Massachusetts must establish minimum standards for reading, mathematics and writing by September 1980, and for listening and speaking by September 1981. The standards must apply to three grade levels: early elementary, late elementary, and secondary. Parents, teachers,…

This document reports how the Council of State Policy and Planning Agencies (CSPA) Academy process helped nine states develop workplace literacy initiatives involving their governors' offices, the Job Training Partnership Act system, and the educational system. The states were Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee,…

This report examines the types of professional development necessary to implement successful online learning initiatives. The potential for schools utilizing online learning is tremendous: schools can develop new distribution methods to enable equity and access for all students, they can provide high quality content for all students and they can…

This evaluation of programs conducted in fiscal 1978 under the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA) consists of an overall picture of the 1978 YEDPA program experience and case studies of programs in 12 states. Findings and recommendations are presented concerning the implementation of YEDPA programs by Comprehensive Employment…