R14CC and the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) are collaboratively implementing projects to address high leverage problems such as school systems' fiscal transparency, literacy strategic planning, and post-secondary planning for student success. This profile provides a summary of these selected projects and an overview of state education…

The U.S. Department of Education's (Department) mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. The Department pursues its mission by establishing policies and distributing corresponding funds, focusing national attention on key educational issues,…

For more than a decade, states have evaluated school performance largely through a single measure--test scores--and rated schools on whether they improved students' performance in reading or math. The idea was to focus schools' attention on the outcomes that mattered most and to focus states' attention on the schools that needed the most help in…

We describe a unique co-curricular honor and integrity program at a large, research university's business school. We discuss the evolution of the program as well as the array of stakeholders who were involved in its early development and sustenance. We use an ethical culture template to highlight the formal and informal systems, and we discuss…

The authors discuss the long-term accumulation of unstandardized and inaccessible content within the Libguides system and the decision-making process to create and implement a set of standards using the migration to the LibGuides2 platform as a vehicle for change. Included in the discussion are strategies for the creation of standards and…

Across OECD countries, the increasing demand for evidence-based policy making has further led governments to design policies jointly with clear measurable objectives, and to define relevant indicators to monitor their achievement. This paper discusses the importance of such indicators in supporting the implementation of education policies.…

Data plays a starring role in promoting educational equity, and data-driven decision making begins with good state policies. With the recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and a proposed federal rule to address racial disproportionality in special education, states will shoulder increased responsibility for eliminating…

This "Performance Management: Description and Key Elements" document provides a general framework for State education agencies, local educational agencies and partners in the Reform Support Network (RSN) to understand and plan for the important work of performance management.

Art therapists must overcome systemic challenges in order to continue to provide art therapy services in U.S. public schools. An understanding of how art therapy programs fit within the national standards of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the ASCA National Model may help in this effort. This review article compares recently…

At the heart of most performance management systems is a reward program. However, even when we are doing everything else right, rewards can go wrong. Here, we explore five ways that external incentives can damage performance, from destroying altruistic behavior to distracting people from the task. Fortunately, most of these downfalls are…

Innovative Digital Education and Learning-New Mexico (IDEAL-NM) was created in response to the 2005 Performance and Accountability Contract, "Making Schools Work" to leverage technology. On October 27, 2006, the statewide e-learning program that would implement a shared e-learning infrastructure using a single statewide learning…

School systems across the country are working hard to fix broken teacher evaluation systems. This work offers the promise of regular, meaningful assessment of teacher performance. While this represents a significant advance, it is one part of a bigger picture: a teacher performance management system that links accountability, support, ongoing…

To meet demands for accountability, most schools and departments of education at institutions of higher education (IHEs) gather information on their current students and graduates. This paper describes issues to consider when designing a longitudinal data collection and management system, drawing on seven years' experience developing such a…

After spending decades introducing curriculum and instructional programs with little to show in the way of student achievement results, the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), under the leadership of Chancellor Michelle Rhee, decided to shift its focus. Emphasizing what to teach had yielded few results. Dogged by its standing as perhaps…

Teachers are the single most important school-related factor in students' learning, and improving student learning is the single most important goal at Achievement First (AF), a fast-growing public charter school network in the Northeast. To achieve this goal, the AF team has worked to establish a common understanding of effective instructional…