In 2014, the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) thrust adult educators into a dramatically new landscape of service expectations and partnership requirements to increase the ability of providers to meet the employment needs of students and employers. The coronavirus pandemic created an accelerating demand for adult education…

Research shows that access to school health services improves health and academic outcomes, particularly for students with chronic health issues. Finding sustainable funding has been an ongoing struggle. This policy brief presents opportunities to expand access to--and resources for--school health services using available Medicaid funds. In…

The Ruderman Family Foundation in partnership with the American Institute for Research (AIR) and the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) created two research briefs that inform the business community in Boston and several other top metropolitan areas about the challenges faced by workers with disabilities and the contributions that…

The "50-State Comparison: State Policies on Postsecondary Tuition Setting, Capping and Freezing" details the highest level of policy, by state, that addresses the authority to set tuition for the four-year and two-year public sectors. This resource shows the highest level of policy where tuition-setting authority is granted for two-year…

The "50-State Comparison: State Policies on Postsecondary Tuition Setting, Capping and Freezing" details the highest level of policy, by state, that addresses the authority to set tuition for the four-year and two-year public sectors. This resource shows the highest level of policy where the tuition rate is set for two-year public…

State assessment leaders are concerned about the challenges with receiving full approval from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) when using the ACT or the SAT as their assessment of high school achievement. USED has asked states opting to use the ACT or the SAT as the achievement indicator under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to…

Following a high-quality early care and pre-K experience, the kindergarten-through-third-grade years set the foundation upon which future learning builds; and strengthening this continuum creates opportunities for later success. Key components of a quality experience in K-3 include school readiness and transitions, kindergarten requirements,…

Transportation, or the lack thereof, can be a huge barrier to families exercising choice. Simply because a state authorizes the creation of charter schools or grants vouchers to families looking to send their children to private schools doesn't mean that those children will actually be able to attend those schools. They have to be able to get…

One of the first challenges state boards of education faced this spring was what to do for the roughly 3.5 million high school seniors whose graduations were derailed by the coronavirus. Most state policymakers across the country readily suspended end-of-year assessments and granted diplomas to those who were on track to graduate. A few states…

The 50-State Comparison on 529 Education Savings Plans provides a national comparison of state policies and activities related to state 529 education savings plans. It focuses on three main categories of state policies related to 529 plans: contributions, withdrawals, and eligible expenses. The information in this resource was gathered from state…

The 50-State Comparison on 529 Education Savings Plans provides a national comparison of state policies and activities related to state 529 education savings plans. It focuses on three main categories of state policies related to 529 plans: contributions, withdrawals, and eligible expenses. The information in this resource was gathered from state…

With colleges and schools moving online to curb the spread of COVID-19, state leaders will need to act quickly to ensure that policies do not prevent student-teachers from graduating and becoming licensed to teach in the fall. This brief includes immediate and longer-term recommendations to prevent pandemic closures from escalating the teacher…

State policymakers are confronting well-documented intersecting crises -- medical, economic, and racial -- with especially dire implications for educational equity. State education leaders face a moral urgency to both understand and respond to the challenges students are experiencing and to do so in ways that address burgeoning equity gaps.…

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) grants states unprecedented discretion in implementing many of the federal law's requirements concerning the needs of the nation's educationally disadvantaged students. This theoretical paper addresses a void in the policy implementation literature on why ESEA reform efforts have not been more…

California's K-12 funding and instructional policies for English learners (ELs) have changed significantly over the past 2 decades, including new requirements for instructional materials specific to ELs statewide and a new school funding system that funds ELs at a higher rate. These major policy shifts held the potential to change student learning…