Principals and superintendents are regularly required to write improvement plans. These are typically derided as being "left on the shelf" when they are supposed to be "living documents". The implication is that educational leaders are not working on their plans the way they are supposed to. Isobel Stevenson suggests that the…

One year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced state and school leaders across the nation and around the world to immediately close school buildings, the lasting impact on students is increasingly evident: Months of online learning and limited in-person interaction with educators, coaches and mentors have led to gaps in learning, and unknown…

The Washington, D.C. metro area schools are the fifty-third most segregated in terms of students' economic status and twenty-third most segregated in terms of Black-White separation. This segregation in the District of Columbia's schools undergirds systemic racism, creates social strife, and leaves children unprepared for an increasingly…

Significant disproportionality in special education is a persistent problem that has plagued the American public education system for over 50 years. Despite federal, state, and local efforts; this problem has yet to be solved. The persistence of this problem, despite intervention, suggests that significant disproportionality in special education…

How can faculty, staff, and administrators design a high-quality academic experience for their institution's undergraduates by adopting an established set of nationally recognized, evidence-based teaching and learning practices that promote engaged learning? How can they ensure that all students, regardless of major, achieve the essential learning…

In 2015, the U.S. Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that included provisions to support gifted and talented learners. The U.S. Department of Education's Consolidated State Plan template only required states to directly address the inclusion of gifted education under Title II, Part A: Supporting Effective Instruction (Section…

A master plan in higher education is developed to address the academic and workforce needs of a particular state. The master plan helps serve as the roadmap for implementation of proposed strategies to reach state goals in education and degree attainment. In Tennessee, Drive to 55 is a state-wide effort to increase the number of Tennesseans with a…

In anticipation of the 2020-21 school year, states have been creating and updating guidance for district and school reopening plans. This policy update outlines how state guidelines informed by public health guidelines and existing data on the state spread of COVID-19 established a process for engaging stakeholders, a menu of approaches to…

The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) grants states more authority over their school accountability systems than did No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Hence, states have an opportunity to design improved school rating systems. Three of the most important improvements that states can make are to ensure that their accountability systems: (1)…

Over half of U.S. public school students are children and teens of color, yet only about 8 percent of their teachers and administrators are people of color. Convinced that teacher and leader diversity is an essential component of an equitable education for all students, state boards of education have adopted a variety of strategies to attract,…

On April 3, 2017, sixteen states (Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Vermont) and the District of Columbia submitted their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state accountability plans to either the US Department of…

Data from past economic downturns show that "recession graduates"--those graduating from high school or college during a recession--may have worse outcomes in earnings and health for years or even decades to come. MDRC sought to work with stakeholders to better understand the challenges recent graduates are facing in the current context…

Connecticut is committed to ensuring scalable, high-performance, cost-efficient broadband to its public schools and libraries. The Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology (Commission), created in 2000, serves as the educational technology advisor to schools, libraries, and institutions of higher education and started with a mission to…

As community colleges across the country look for ways to promote student success, the need for scaling effective approaches is critical. This guide builds on a framework of four phases of scaling developed in Job For the Future's (JFF's) previous publication, "Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College…

The Accelerated Learning Work Group's introductory Guide to Accelerated Learning offers descriptions, resources, and examples of state education agencies implementing Accelerated Learning into their programs. It also answers questions, such as: (1) How should Accelerated Learning be implemented?; (2) How are educators best supported during…