Head Start programs in many of the states with higher rates of children living in poverty have received less per-child funding allocations than programs in states with lower rates of children living in poverty for years. Further, the educators who teach these children are vastly underpaid, and their pay is also inequitable among states and…

Observation tools that measure the quality of children's classroom experiences are a key component of pre-K quality improvement initiatives. However, the information provided by these tools has limitations for improving the quality of instruction for the full range of pre-K program types, even when supported by an instructional coach. This report…

This report provides a brief overview of the major provisions of the Higher Education Act (HEA), organized by title and part. Appendix A of this report provides detailed appropriations figures for HEA programs, from FY2019 through FY2023. Appendix B gives a brief overview of the General Education Provisions Act, which applies to the majority of…

Students in rural schools have the potential to achieve at high levels; however, they need support to develop this potential. Research indicates a particular need in the area of STEM education. This study looks at how to enhance school-wide instruction, collaboration, and assessment related to increased student participation in coding and computer…

New teacher evaluation reform efforts in the United States hold principals accountable for improving teaching and learning. Yet little is known about how effective principals are at these instructional leadership tasks or how principals experience and adapt to the demands of teacher evaluation reform over time. In the current study, principals (n…

Schools in rural communities face many challenges in retaining effective teachers, many of which are beyond school leaders' control: need for educators to serve multiple roles, lower teacher salaries, and large percentages of students from low-income backgrounds. However, cultivating a school culture where teachers are supported to be effective…

Every child deserves access to a quality education, and teaching is a core determinant of students' educational experience. Quality teaching is correlated with better learning outcomes, increased student achievement, and higher salaries and other benefits in adulthood. In this report, the Center for American Progress proposes a new federal…

This study examines the impact of a federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant award that expanded a partnership between Cross County School District and the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to create systems that support ongoing, continuous improvement for teachers. Through the implementation of the TAP System for Teacher and…

This report is an evaluation of the Investing in Innovation (i3) program, a tiered-evidence grantmaking initiative at the U.S. Department of Education. The program's primary purpose is to support the development, testing, and scaling of field-initiated programs for high-need students in K-12 education. This report reviews the program's early…

Research Findings: Preschool teachers' relationships with children are a critical component of classroom quality. We draw from a sample of N = 2,114 children attending Head Start to examine child-centered profiles of experiences across two dimensions of classroom interaction quality that are often considered separately: individual teacher-child…

Evaluations of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) based in part on the performance of program completers have emerged as an education reform strategy in several states and have become central features of the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant competition. The objective of this policy review is to examine how the state of Tennessee measured and reported…

Educational reforms have occurred throughout the history of public education. In 2009, the federal Race to the Top initiative was born and included many educational reform models. To have these reform models gain traction at the state level, a call was made by the U.S. Department of Education (Race to the Top Program Executive Summary, 2009) for…

This is the second in a series of policy notes and related publications exploring prospects for developing indicators of teaching quality. The first examined federal databases that include information about teachers, demonstrating that almost none of the measures in these datasets provides indication of teaching quality. This policy note takes the…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) changed federal teacher policy in a number of important ways. This article uses No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top, NCLB waivers, and ESSA to detail these shifts. Since ESSA is in the early phase of implementation, we analyze the policy through the lens of previous empirical work as a way of…

This case study describes the peer evaluation system the Maricopa County Educational Services Agency (MCESA) is using in the districts participating in its Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) 3 and 4 grants. Maricopa County's TIF districts cover much of the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area. Including both TIF 3 and 4 cohorts, 12 districts with a total…