By 2012, all of the states in this study had started implementing new or revised teacher and leader evaluation systems. There are many and varying updates to these systems, and some of them have been made to meet conditions for a state's federal "Race to the Top" (RTT) grant. Other updates have been made to meet conditions for a state's…

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…

Community colleges are an increasingly important component of the higher education systems in the United States. Community college as a pathway toward a better educated workforce has been emphasized at a national and state level. Virginia's policy makers set an ambitious goal of producing 100,000 new baccalaureate degrees in the Commonwealth by…

This report highlights 10 of the most advanced and talked-about teacher evaluation systems nationally: Delaware; Rhode Island; Tennessee; Hillsborough County, Florida; Houston, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC (referred to throughout just as Washington); Achievement First (a charter management organization,…

Bullying is a persistent problem that negatively affects the academic performance, and the psychological, social, and emotional well-being of targeted students. Research indicates most bullying is prejudice-based. Bullying and prejudice reduction interventions used in school systems encourage empathy towards the target student to reduce these…

The importance of the first year experience (FYE) to success at university is well documented and supported with the transition into university regarded as crucial. While there is also support for the notion that a successful FYE should have a whole-of-institution focus and models have been proposed, many institutions still face challenges in…

This article focuses on how educators could design professional development to empower the learning of individuals to serve the growth of an organization that was all about student success. The leadership team at Mapleton Expeditionary School for the Arts (MESA) in Thornton, Colorado, responded to this with its version of a teaching and learning…

High-quality professional development for public school teachers is directly tied to student achievement, teacher quality and retention, and national education priorities (Kroeger et al. 2000). To stay current with the knowledge, skills, and expertise that students need to succeed in the twenty-first century, educators must increasingly retool…

This is a qualitative narrative case study set in an Idaho high school where twelve educators offered their viewpoints on the implementation of Idaho's pay-for-performance legislation. In the spring of 2011, Idaho legislators passed laws aimed at increasing student performance and college or career readiness. These laws, known as Idaho's Students…

In spite of research documenting the negative effects of punishment, most high schools and correctional facilities rely on punishment to establish order and compliance with rules and routines (Nelson, Sprague, Jolivette, Smith, & Tobin, 2009). One alternative to punitive consequences is School Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports…

The Center for American Progress previously examined the extent to which states applying for first-round Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility waivers in 2012 planned to expand in-school learning time to turn around low-performing schools. This report provides an up-to-date review of states' ESEA flexibility plans and assesses…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of high quality instructional and formative assessment tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Literacy experts have developed a framework and a set of templates that teachers can use…

Catch Up® Literacy is a structured one-to-one literacy intervention for pupils between the ages of 6 and 14 who are struggling to learn to read. It teaches pupils to blend phonemes (combine letter sounds into words), segment phonemes (separate words into letter sounds), and memorise particular words so they can be understood without needing to use…

States, school districts, and schools across the country are increasingly implementing multi-tier systems of support (MTSS) to improve outcomes for all students. Kansas is no exception. The Kansas MTSS is designed to improve outcomes for all students by instituting system-level change across the classroom, school, district, and state. Such…

This report examines state and school district implementation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program, based on surveys of state EHCY coordinators and district homeless liaisons and analysis of extant data. The study included state and school district surveys to examine program implementation during the 2010-11 school year;…