School district takeovers--when a state education agency (SEA) assumes control of a low-performing district--are the most aggressive accountability intervention available to SEAs. Much of the scholarship on takeovers has been skeptical on both normative and pragmatic grounds, but these analyses don't wrestle with what else to do when students'…

Authentic connections and experiences frequently occur between students, educational material, peers, and staff. Staff set the climate and culture of the classroom and impact the academic, behavioral, social, and emotional achievement of students. To support students behaviorally and academically, schools across the United States have created a…

Test-based accountability (TBA) draws on a managerialist ideology that emphasises standards, constant measurement, and external motivation for improvement. It stands in sharp contrast to the idea of professional learning communities (PLCs) that aim to mobilise teachers' internal motivation and willingness to cooperate with peers to facilitate a…

The implementation of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) has been successful in multiple elementary systems across the United States. Providing three tiers of support for students struggling academically, social-emotionally, and behaviorally in the classroom setting and created success for many students until they reach the secondary level,…

The implementation of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) has been successful in elementary systems across the United States. For secondary schools, the implementation of MTSS has not been as successful. Secondary teachers often note difficulties include understanding data from different sources, what sources are available, and how it applies…

Through this retrospective interview study, we explored the ways in which coaches described how their daily work with teachers was impacted by a pervasive culture of pressure surrounding standardized assessment and achievement in one school district. Ultimately, we identified five ways in which coaches' work with teachers was impacted as a result…

The anticipation, inclusion, responsiveness, and reflexivity (AIRR) framework (Stilgoe et al., 2013) is a novel framework that has helped those in science and technology fields shift their focus from products to the processes used to create those products. However, the framework has not been known to be applied to the development and…

A simple act of motivation priming can significantly impact the validity of test results, which is crucial for institutional accountability. The progression of the studies discussed in this article illustrates a clear trajectory of building upon previous findings to refine and expand the understanding of motivation priming when gathering…

A majority of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), particularly those served in alternative educational settings, have a history of trauma exposure before placement. Evidence-based interventions such as Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) may be more effective for these students if the interventions are systematically adapted to include…

All states identify schools most in need of improvement by using school accountability systems and other metrics. State improvement strategies range in intensity from general technical assistance to alternative governance for identified schools or districts. This 50-State Comparison provides research into the K-12 school improvement policies in…

This reflection examines the impact of a hybrid Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) mini-series developed through a partnership between a comprehensive public university's center for teaching and learning and its largest college. Longitudinal participant survey results indicate that this intervention was effectively designed, with broad…

In this brief, we discuss embedding and framing the evolving literatures related to improvement and implementation sciences into a general intervention perspective. From that perspective, we sketch out some basic considerations related to improvement and implementation research, practice, and policy.

Chronic absenteeism and truancy have plagued the United States for more than a century. Various interventions have been utilized, yet eight million students are absent from school every day, and seven million meet the threshold for chronic absenteeism in a school year. Some communities implemented voluntary court-based truancy diversion programs…

After a review of AIR's policy review of fall 2017 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan submissions, and then a scan of the most current ESSA plans for each state, this table serves as a reference with most up-to-date information on each state's exit criteria for those schools requiring support. While CSI exit criteria is provided for all…

Public schools have experienced an endless cycle of reform aiming to improve student achievement. Despite the time, funding, and resources that have been expended, most school reforms have not been successful at manifesting and sustaining meaningful change. New Jersey's latest attempt at school reform involved Regional Achievement Centers (RACs)…