Texas relies heavily on its community colleges to provide low-cost access to undergraduate coursework for students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Yet, while the majority of Texas students who enter higher education through a community college enroll in transfer programs, only 35 percent transfer and only 15 percent earn a bachelor's degree within…

Connecticut's Teacher Education and Mentoring (TEAM) program is in its early stages of implementation. This study examined how local school districts implemented TEAM and identified factors that affected implementation. It was based on interviews with twenty-two participants at the state, district, and local school levels. The intentions of the…

The purpose of the study was to broaden awareness of legislative intentions associated with a State's facilities funding policy (Texas' Instructional Facilities Allotment, IFA). Recognizing the politically contested nature of school funding, arguments in support and against investing in facilities appear equally replete. Be that as it may, some…

This study seeks to answer the question: "What policies are in place in each of the 50 states related to state intervention with chronically low-performing schools?" To address this question, the study provides a summary of policies in place related to state interventions with chronically low-performing schools that can inform education…

With nearly 10 percent of U.S. elementary and secondary students less than fully fluent in English, many school districts are struggling to develop the capacity to meet the needs of these nearly 5 million children from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. More than two-thirds of these students live in the traditional immigrant-destination states of…

This is a time of great challenge and opportunity for American higher education. The challenges are well-established and widely acknowledged: escalating standards for economic competitiveness, coupled with a severe economic downturn and protracted recovery, require broad access to relevant postsecondary education, training and retooling as never…

Conventional wisdom suggests that local educators tend to be wary of efforts by the state to gather more information from their institutions, due to the burdens that such requests often entail. But California's current education landscape, with its shift from state to local control of funding and accountability in the K-12 system, its massive…

As California schools move into online testing and online learning, an adequate technology infrastructure is no longer an option, but a necessity. To fully benefit from digital learning, schools will require a comprehensive technology infrastructure that can support a range of administrative and instructional tools. An earlier PPIC report found…

What is the state of university-based principal preparation programs? How are these essential training grounds of future school leaders viewed--by themselves as well as by the school districts that hire their graduates? Do the programs need to improve? If so, by what means? This publication seeks to help answer those questions by bringing together…

In this report, the authors examine the extent to which states' current (or planned) accountability systems for elementary and middle schools attend to the needs of high-achieving students, and how these systems might be redesigned under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to better serve all students. In their view, states can and should take…

Industries in every state are struggling to find qualified applicants for jobs, while job seekers too often find they lack the skills needed to enter or move along a career pathway to a good job. Preparing a workforce that is poised to meet the needs of businesses and ultimately to make the state more economically competitive is a top priority for…

Analysis of student-level data to inform policy and promote student success is a core function of executive higher education agencies. Postsecondary data systems have expanded their collection of data elements for use by policymakers, institutional staff, and the general public. State coordinating and governing boards use these data systems for…

Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and now the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to assess every student at least once in high school in reading or language arts, mathematics, and science, and some states have chosen to assess students more frequently. The passage of ESSA gives states a new opportunity in how they approach high…

US curricular policies frequently bolster neoliberal power structures within both pre-K to 12 schools and universities by privileging settler-colonial narratives and excluding Indigenous knowledge. However, curricular policies can also serve to enhance social reconstructionist and social justice education. In this article, we describe two case…

Research shows that teachers' and educators' responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review…