This CAPR brief focuses on multiple measures assessment (MMA) implementation in the state of Arkansas, where a decentralized governance model grants colleges considerable autonomy in determining their assessment and placement policies. Despite strong evidence supporting MMA, challenges remain for its widespread adoption. As the higher education…

A leadership academy is a formal professional learning opportunity for current school leaders, focused on augmenting knowledge and skills, increasing specialization, and refreshing leadership practices. States interested in supporting leadership academies through federal or other funding sources can look to current models of leadership academies…

Computer science (CS) education helps students acquire skills such as computational thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration, among others. As these skills take preeminence in the rapidly changing 21st century, CS education promises to significantly enhance student preparedness for the future of work and active citizenship. Based on prior…

This document compiles information from multiple sources to offer readers a snapshot of Preschool Development and Expansion Grant (PDG) states' progress towards implementing a full comprehensive assessment system, as well as the tools they are using for each of the components.

This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…

The state's Race to the Top (RTT) application requires changes to the state's evaluation/accountability system. It requires a teacher effectiveness measure, district effectiveness measure, leader effectiveness measure. Regarding the teacher effectiveness measure, RTT requires linking the data of individual students to individual teachers as part…

The Arkansas Department of Education Co-teaching Project was designed to assist Arkansas schools in the implementation of more inclusive service delivery models for students with disabilities. The project began due to a need to increase the number of students being served in less restrictive environments, but evolved into a systematic statewide…

Response to intervention (RTI) can be both a system for providing early interventions to struggling students and a special education diagnostic tool for evaluating and identifying students with specific learning disabilities. Contributing to the very limited literature on state-level approaches, this report describes how nine states define and…

This annual report on gifted education programs in Arkansas outlines the status of recommendations made in prior reports and urges action on new recommendations, such as acquiring additional staff positions and ensuring that enrollment in gifted programs reflects the ethnic and economic makeup of the total school population. Appendices contain:…

Three states, Ohio, Texas, and Arkansas were selected to study implementation of policies relating to the identification of gifted students from special populations, i.e., culturally diverse students, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities. Individual profiles were completed for each state, and a cross state comparison…

This manual was written to assist communities, especially in Arkansas, in developing an educators-in-industry program, a graduate credit course that gives educators firsthand knowledge of the nature and range of employment in their regions. The guide contains 17 sections that give advice on how to set up and conduct the program. The guidelines…

This document's purpose is to establish the minimum standards for approval of programs for education of gifted students in Arkansas. Guidelines are included to: (1) enable school districts to establish equitable criteria for identification of gifted and talented students; (2) establish programs which will lead to appropriate educational…

This document provides guidelines for the preparation of school district plans for implementation of the microcomputer instructional programs recommended for Arkansas schools. Introductory materials include suggestions for school administration leadership activities in a microcomputer utilization plan, a message to the superintendent, and six…

The goals of the Arkansas Capacity Building Dissemination Project (Project AID--Arkansas Information Dissemination) were to (1) increase the use of information for decision-making in Arkansas, (2) increase implementation of beneficial programs and practices in Arkansas schools, (3) develop a strong dissemination and communication staff at the…

A project was undertaken to develop and disseminate an activity-based learning experience booklet to enhance student self-development in career orientation classes at the junior high school level. Included among the major project activities were the following: identification of an appropriate needs assessment instrument; administration of a needs…