Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices. However, most students have limited access to school counselors. We study one of the largest U.S. policies to increase access to school counselors -- California's Supplemental School Counseling Program. The program increased the average…

The purpose of this study was to describe my experiences as a campus principal in facilitating the use of participatory formative assessment (PFA) in an environment of accountability and high-stakes testing. The methodology I employed was autoethnography (Chang, 2008; Ellis, 2004; Reed-Danahay, 1997; Stinson, 2009). I kept journals over a period…

Touch-screen technologies, on-demand multimedia, and mobile devices are prompting a rethinking of education. In a world of increasing fiscal constraints, state leaders are under pressure to capitalize on these new technologies to improve productivity and help students excel. The task is daunting across the education spectrum, but for those in…

People do not want to know the history, minutiae of policy, or operations, or even the political intrigues of a virtual consortium. People want to know if the consortium has value, whether it can help them, and if it is a threat. In this article, the author focuses on the operating principles and policies that have proven successful in the…

In 2008, the Center for Digital Education (CDE) conducted a review of state policy and programs to determine the status of online learning policy and practice across the United States. CDE interviewed state education officials across the nation to evaluate the overall landscape of online learning. The rankings reflect the vision, policies,…

Since the announcement in 1999 of a plan to tie teachers' salary increases to student achievement by Denver Public Schools, there has been a flood of nationwide policy activity around teacher compensation. This paper examines pay plans in Denver, Toledo, Minneapolis, and New York City, offering a snapshot of the changing landscape of teacher…

Supporters of alternative certification (AC) claim these programs can help to recruit minority and male teachers and to attract talented individuals with subject-area expertise in areas such as math, science, and foreign languages. Opponents claim that AC can undermine teacher professionalism and that it does and that it does not provide the…

During the last few years, the development of seamless education systems to promote students' postsecondary success has been discussed by policymakers at the local, state and federal levels as well as reform-minded individuals. Florida, Washington, Iowa, Georgia and California either have statewide integrated systems or are moving quickly toward…

The reason that the school dropout crisis is now referred to as a "silent epidemic" is because, when we weren't paying attention, the graduation rate in our country slipped to a level that threatens the very health and well-being of our society. Each year, almost one-third of all public high school students--and nearly one-half of all…

For a national program assessing college graduates to succeed, it must be institutionalized at the majority of colleges and universities in the nation. The information generated must play a clear and key role in formulating state and institutional higher education policy, college matriculation standards, and degree-granting decisions. Such an…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) periodically to monitor the extent to which school health policies and practices are addressing the leading causes of death, illness, and social problems among young people and adults. SHPPS 2006 assessed the characteristics of…

Urban school superintendents from Pennsylvania and New Jersey met to consider issues related to the improvement of urban secondary schools. Although the public is pessimistic about all urban public schools, it regards secondary schools with particular pessimism. There are 70 urban high schools in New Jersey and 81 in Pennsylvania. Superintendents…

To understand how assessment, particularly alternative assessment, and practice interactions may differ among schools with different implementation contexts and different school cultures, this project is studying over time a set of schools representing different state and local policy contexts and including different student populations. Research…

Findings from 20 interviews conducted with individuals involved in the California New Teacher Project, which is administered by the California Department of Education and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, are reported to assess the policy environment for new teacher support and assessment programs. The study was conducted by the Southwest…

Following a brief preface, chapter 1 of this study discusses the federal government's expanding role over the last half century, including changing federal and state responsibilities in education. While chapter 2 describes the study's conceptual framework, its methodology, the criteria used for selecting eight states for analysis, and the major…