Robust longitudinal education and workforce data are integral in addressing disparities in educational opportunities and economic outcomes. However, not all states link their P-12, postsecondary, and workforce data sets. Kentucky and Tennessee are two state examples that proved success in linking data from different agencies. TICAS' brief analyzes…

Since 2010, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Strong Foundations survey has reported on the evolution and value of postsecondary student unit record systems (PSURSs) by illuminating the condition of state postsecondary data in the U.S. In the "Strong Foundations 2023" survey, which was administered from…

Intermediary organizations seek to make change in the world by strengthening the practice or building the capacity of direct service providers. In the education sector, these types of organizations often play important roles as technical assistance providers, capacity builders, additional administrators, investors, or funders. At the core of this…

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 upheaval, special education professionals grapple with a seismic surge in student behavioral issues. The challenges are formidable, and the interventions available often fall short of making a meaningful impact. "Best Practices for Behavior Intervention in Special Education" steps in to assist the urgent…

The overwhelming majority of families rely on public education for a foothold in the American Dream, making it perhaps the most consequential expression of America's core value of opportunity for all. State policymakers are the constitutional stewards and primary funders of America's public schools. They have the awesome responsibility of guiding…

To help provide context to MAP® Growth™ normative percentiles, this document includes multiple College and Career Readiness (CCR) benchmarks, including those from ACT®, SAT®, and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced). The comparative data in the tables presented in this report can be used as data points for instructional…

This study examines what aspiring principal candidates in one university-based preparation program learned as a result of developing and implementing a school improvement plan. A case study approach was used to examine 53 aspiring principals' reports of what they learned from implementing school improvement plans. Findings revealed three…

The statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) Survey was first administered in the summer of 2017. This annual survey was created to help inventory the current data capacity of states' and territories' SLDSs. It not only focuses on whether a given data type or use is in place, but also explores the development of these data systems and their…

Existing scholarship suggests that schools do the work of social stratification by functioning as "sorting machines," or institutions that determine which populations of students are provided educational resources needed to help them get ahead. We build on this theory of social reproduction by extending it to better understand how…

This study presents several Latin American research initiatives in the field of learning analytics (LA). The study's purpose is to enhance awareness and understanding of LA among researchers, practitioners and decision makers, and to highlight the importance of supporting research on LA. We analyzed case studies of LA research conducted at four…

Integrating data driven decision making into teacher preparation programs has been called for by several researchers in order to help lessen the barriers teachers face in using data in their teaching. This mixed methods study examined the perceptions of data use in education by pre-service teachers (N = 112) and perceived knowledge and skills…

An educator's perception of teaching is often shaped by their personal experiences in the K-12 classroom as a student. These experiences can impact how they approach many aspects of the teaching profession. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physical education (PE) pre-service teachers and their conceptions of…

This study originated as an institutionally sponsored research residency conducted using utilization-focused evaluation (Patton, 2008) to investigate the nature of dispositional changes in candidates pursuing National Louis University's M.Ed. and Ed.S. degrees leading to educational leadership (EDL) state certification in one large urban school…

Students in a master's-level graduate course in school counseling program evaluation conducted a qualitative research study to investigate school counselors' experiences with evidence-based program delivery and evaluation. We discuss the study's findings that illuminated themes of challenges faced by school counselors with implications for…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. This report updates the original June 2018 "Emerging Insights" report and…