In the education system in Trinidad and Tobago, only 60% of students are achieving mastery in literacy and numeracy as documented by national tests. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore principals' experiences leading strategic planning designed to increase achievement in literacy and numeracy in eight high-performing primary…

Developing and scaling high-quality systems of college and career pathways that help young people successfully transition through education into high-paying, high-demand careers requires strong leadership. This piece highlights key lessons about the structures and commitments that are necessary for effective leadership and governance from JFF's…

This report provides an overview of key provisions in Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), discusses how Arizona's ESSA plan addresses accountability for Latino students and English Learners (ELs), and provides recommendations to Arizona's accountability system to better ensure that Latino and EL students in Arizona are receiving a high-quality…

This report provides an overview of key provisions in Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), discusses how Florida's ESSA plan addresses accountability for Latino students and English Learners (ELs), and provides recommendations to Florida's accountability system to better ensure that Latino and EL students in Florida are receiving a high-quality…

As the higher education landscape has expanded beyond issues of access and affordability to include an emphasis on student completion and employment outcomes, accreditors can play a leadership role in advancing this important change. A shift to student success that rightfully centers in part on closing equity gaps between low-income students and…

The high-stakes accountability policies that stemmed from NCLB and Race to the Top required minimum group sizes in order for school performance to be analyzed through state accountability formulas. Small rural schools have frequently been left out of this equation due to a lack of consistently reportable aggregate groups and subgroups. The…

High-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs represent an effective way to provide young adults with an educational experience that prepares them for both college and career success. But not all CTE programs provide accessible pathways to a bounty of educational options without dead ends. To address the false dichotomy--college…

This hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions examines reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, focusing on accountability and risk to taxpayers. The following opening statements were presented: (1) Honorable Lamar Alexander, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and (2) Honorable Patty Murray,…

This document includes the "FY 2022 Annual Performance Report" and "FY 2024 Annual Performance Plan." The "FY 2022 Annual Performance Report" provides narrative and data on the US Department of Education's progress toward the strategic goals and objectives outlined in its "Fiscal Years 2022-2026 Strategic…

In 2017-18, states and districts began to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the current authorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESSA continues to call for states to set academic content standards, assess student achievement, identify and support low-performing schools, and improve educator…

The challenge established by the persistence of student achievement gaps across ethnicity groups, socioeconomic strata, parental education, and English language learner status is the collective responsibility of federal, state, and local education agencies both public and nonpublic. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which the practices of…

The Wyoming Community College Commission's internal strategic plan for the four-year period spanning 2021 through 2024 is tied directly to the statutorily required Priorities established by the Commission. Specific agency sections for mission statement, responsibilities and accomplishments will be relayed in the agency's annual report. For the…

The purpose of this study was to examine administrators' use of data, their perceptions of data, and what their expectations were in terms of teacher use of data. In conjunction with this examination will be a closer look at the new Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) to determine the connections as well as the disconnections to…

Data use is considered a key lever in school improvement processes, but the punitive pressure of high-stakes accountability can influence whether or not data use is enacted in ways which facilitate improvement. School leaders must learn to respond to high-stakes accountability in ways which lead teachers to feel safe, efficacious, and agentic with…

The passage of ESSA in 2015 created a novel mandate for States to develop school accountability systems that use alternative measures of school quality beyond test scores. This created an opportunity for States to be innovative and make new forms of data available that could potentially lead to new strategies for improving schools. This study…