The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to…

In the following Q&A, NEBHE's [New England Board of Higher Education's] Fellow for Open Education, Lindsey Gumb, takes the pulse of Open Education in Rhode Island with two key leaders in the field: Dragan Gill, who is a Rhode Island College reference librarian and co-chair of the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative, and Daniela Fairchild,…

The North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program awarded private school vouchers to over 7,000 low-income students in 2017-18, yet only 61% of the state's private schools registered to participate in the Opportunity Scholarship Program and just over half of schools (54%) actually enrolled voucher recipients. Given that the program is anticipated…

The College Credit Plus (CCP) program, adopted and implemented by the state of Ohio in the 2015-2016 school year, presents some unique opportunities for examining the impact of accelerated college credit on preparing students for success in college. This study attempts to examine three of these unique features to examine the relationship that the…

In the ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC), education agency leaders, community organization leaders, and others have together taken on challenges facing schools and school leaders in their states. They have produced advice to state agencies on policy design and rollout, for example on official definitions of equity, on requirements for…

Utilizing narrative inquiry and thematic analysis, this study followed up with adult students who initially participated in a qualitative project, Understanding How Students Reconnect: A Longitudinal Study (Collom et al., 2021). Five participants shared their experiences as adult students during COVID-19, which included their experiences shifting…

Teachers need training and support to address the secondary traumatic stress (STS) they may experience as well as identify and address students' trauma. To ensure that all teachers can do both, state leaders need to embed trauma-informed practices in mandated teacher training on trauma and self-care. A trauma-informed education system will ensure…

The dramatic decline of rural industries (such as coal mining, millwork, or farming) over the last several decades coupled with most jobs requiring some sort of postsecondary education in today's U. S. economy means postsecondary credential attainment has taken on increased importance for rural social mobility. College accessibility appears to be…

Understanding long-term impacts is essential to knowing whether an Extension program is achieving its goals. I describe a process for long-term program evaluation, using evaluation of the Utah Master Naturalist Program (UMNP) as a successful example. Surveys revealed that the UMNP had impacts on participants up to 10 years after program…

Practical aspects of curriculum development, especially that involving multiple authors, often are overlooked, but they are critical to moving a curriculum from concept to finished product. The Ohio 4-H Camping Design Team developed a competency-model-based curriculum for training the state's 4-H teen camp counselors. The team incorporated action…

The statement "The only thing that is constant is change" is an apt description of state accountability systems over the past few years. With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), many states have significantly refined their existing school accountability systems or completely redesigned new systems in recent years. The…

With more children and young adults experiencing mental health emergencies over the last 10 years, state and federal leaders made millions of dollars available to school districts for developing school-based mental health services and hiring and training school counselors, psychologists, and social workers. Yet schools still face considerable…

Effective instructional coaching has long demonstrated positive impacts on teacher practices and early learning outcomes. Providing effective instructional coaching at scale is a challenge that many state and local systems tackle. This case study report highlights four systems (Alabama, AppleTree, Maine, and Washington) that are uniquely…

Appendix C includes publicly available data at the district level for all school districts within at least one Regional Challenge Grant (RCG) partnership's service region. The included data capture key outcomes and student sub-groups identified in RCW 28B.120.060. Specifically, district-level high school graduation rates, direct to college…

Policy makers in California intend to provide free preschool to all 4-year-olds solely within public schools by 2026, becoming the nation's second largest single pre-K program in the United States after Head Start. This initiative builds on the state's existing Transitional Kindergarten (TK) option that has served a modest share of 4-year-olds…