This research summary provides the key findings and interpretive summary--chapters 3 and 4--from the full report, "Reaching for Improvement: Teacher Evaluation and its Role in Instructional Improvement." The full report contains additional details on the context, methodology, and findings of this study. This document has minor…

Research for Action's "Educational Opportunity Dashboard" is an interactive on-line tool to synthesize data and rank all 50 states by how well they provide students access to schools that offer 14 indicators of educational opportunity from the federal Civil Rights Data Collection. On the Dashboard the indicators are compiled into an…

District leaders seeking to close schools often frame decisions as "right-sizing" or "modernizing the footprint" of the district. Historical influences such as population and economic shifts and desegregation during the civil rights era, and more recent factors like deteriorating building conditions, school performance…

How students feel about their schools--their perception of the safety, inclusiveness, rigor, and level of collaboration in the learning environment--is an increasingly important part of conversations about school quality and improvement. For these reasons, measures of school climate have become central to school accountability systems across the…

Research has begun to show that certain schoolwide characteristics--such as student-centered learning environments, leadership, and safety--can be important for improving student outcomes. In keeping with these insights, school improvement efforts around the country are becoming less narrowly focused on the performance of individual students and…

Traditionally, schools have often made decisions about instruction, discipline, and other schoolwide policies without youth involvement. And yet, research suggests that when students have choice, control, and leadership opportunities, their motivation and engagement increase, which in turn is linked with better educational outcomes. This new guide…