In this commentary, we briefly describe our methodology in conducting a remote qualitative investigation with essential workers from southwest Kansas, and then describe some key considerations, challenges, and lessons learned in recruiting and conducting interviews remotely. From August 4, 2020 through August 26, 2020, Centers for Disease Control…

With roots in student-centered pedagogies that go back at least to the 1900s, personalized learning meets students' learning goals, needs, context, and pace while incorporating their interests and preferences. Personalized learning in today's classroom depends upon and creates an abundance of rich student data, which simultaneously fosters new…

Utilizing effective data collection methods to track student progress on Individual Education Program (IEP) goals is essential to quality programming and meeting each student's specific needs. This study surveyed special education teachers in four midwestern states to understand IEP data collection methods and assessment training. Results…

The Forum Guide to Reporting Civil Rights Data presents a variety of effective methods through which local education agencies (LEAs) report civil rights data to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. In addition, the guide provides examples of how state education agencies can voluntarily help their LEAs with Civil Rights Data…

Over the last two years the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) staff conducted a thorough program review to determine the current relevance and value of the Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP). This culminated in the report "Student Reciprocity Programs and MSEP in the 21st Century" (ED627191) which utilized historical MHEC…

In 2000 several STEM faculty at Bethel College in Kansas designed and began offering a one-week intensive residential summer research experience for high school students--the Bethel College Summer Science Institute. The core idea underlying the design was to motivate students through the excitement of discovery. This event has been offered…

The Teacher Compensation Survey (TCS) was a research and development effort by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to explore the possibility of developing an administrative records survey that would compile compensation and demographic data on all public school teachers in the nation. A pilot survey in 2007 collected data from…

Representatives from the Kansas State Department of Education; the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; the University of Kansas Transition Coalition; and the transition coordinator, parents, Independent Living Center, and administrators from the Kansas School for the Deaf formed a team to establish quality transition services and…

This article chronicles the development of a video-based ethnography project documenting daily life in a Kansas elementary and a secondary classroom. The project, which took nearly two years of planning, allows a direct link to two classrooms approximately 250 miles away to provide a virtual field experience for undergraduates and a wide array of…

In 1994, the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) joined its sister compacts in offering a regional student reciprocity and tuition exchange opportunity known as the Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP). The program allowed students from one MHEC state to attend an institution at a reduced tuition rate in another MHEC state when the…

Blue Valley, the fourth largest school district in Kansas, covers 91 square miles. More than 20,000 K-12 students attend its 34 schools ( five high schools, nine middle schools, and 20 elementary schools). Of the district's students, 8% qualify for free and reduced lunch and about 3% are English Language Learners. Blue Valley began using Measures…

This report is intended to help governors, legislators, department secretaries, and advocates find information on ways to strengthen the structure and function of their existing cabinets, or create a new cabinet. The survey in this report is the nation's only survey of state child and youth policy coordinating bodies. The biennial survey assesses…

Several systemic factors contribute to the lack of stability and educational opportunities for students in foster care, including lack of transportation to the school of origin (or the schools they enrolled in when they first entered foster care), difficulty enrolling in new schools and transferring credits between school districts, gaps in…

States with an alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) that received a flexibility waiver from some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind are required to phase out their use of this assessment. And, on August 23, 2013, the U.S. Department of Education published a proposed rollback of regulation that allowed the…

As a continuum of professional learning for building and district leaders transitioning from leadership preparation programs into practice, the state of Kansas enacted mentoring and induction requirements as part of their role in supporting development of leadership skills important to on-the-job application of essential knowledge. One approved…