Despite the relative increase in early care and education (ECE) investment over recent decades, access to infant and toddler care continues to be a hurdle for countless families across the nation. While access is a multifaceted issue, main contributors include a lack of available slots and the high cost of providing care to infants and toddlers.…

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) offer parents a publicly funded, government-authorized savings account they can draw on for certain K-12 educational expenses. As these programs have expanded in recent years, they have become a flashpoint in education policy debates. For some, ESAs are an extension of existing private school choice programs'…

This report explains how State Entity (SE) Program grantees are using or proposed to use the technical assistance (TA) set-aside portion of their Charter School Programs (CSP) funds for these activities. This report also describes SE activities to ensure subgrantees are equipped to meet the needs of all students, and specifically students with…

Federal requirements stipulate that states and local education agencies annually calculate and report an Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate, disaggregated by student group. The ACGR includes all students who graduate from high school in four years with a regular high school diploma, plus all students with the most significant cognitive disabilities…

Sharing and integrating data across the variety of public systems, including public health insurance, child care subsidies, and food assistance, accessed by children and families is crucial to providing decision-makers with complete and accurate information that they can use to shape and improve services. This brief highlights projects implemented…

Change swept throughout the country with the 2018 elections, bringing 20 new governors into office. Whether returning or starting their first term, governors are taking the opportunity in their State of the State addresses to highlight achievements and outline plans for the future. Every governor who has given an address has mentioned an…

As chairman of Oregon's Senate Education Committee, Mark Hass kept hearing about the growing population of unemployed young adults age 24 and younger who had no education beyond high school. Until now, cost has prevented many high school graduates from even exploring a higher education. Hass is sponsoring a bill that would enable recent high…

The role of the public school principal has expanded dramatically in recent decades. The expanded role means they are now significant multipliers of effective teaching and have a real opportunity to affect student achievement. Most states have spent recent years working to improve teacher effectiveness, recognizing its importance in improving…

A large and growing body of evidence over the past several decades has shown that school leadership is a key factor in improving school performance and student outcomes. Increasingly, funders and developers of school leadership programs are articulating talent development frameworks, or leadership development pipelines, that conceive of school…

With increasingly diverse student populations, educational equity is a bigger challenge than ever for public schools across the United States. While federal government, states, and school districts work to identify and address the root causes of equity gaps, efforts are often hampered by a limited body of research-based strategies and approaches…

A state department of education (SDE) served by the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at SEDL requested information regarding state use of schoolwide, large-scale professional learning communities (PLCs). Specifically, the SDE staff wanted to know the following with respect to PLC work in other states: (1) Are PLCs state-mandated through…

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…

Increased attention to proposed federal early childhood education (ECE) legislation has sparked a debate on what the future holds for state-funded ECE systems. This brief explores how the goal of universal preschool is being shaped by the federal agenda and examines state programs in various stages of development. President Obama's Preschool for…

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…

This report details Mississippi's participation in SREB programs and services from December 2013 through November 2014. Appropriations from member states support SREB's core operations and general services. SREB leverages the long-standing commitment of member states to attract external funding for an array of targeted projects for educational…