More than half of U.S. states have enacted policies to expand financial literacy education in schools with kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) with the goal of improving students' financial literacy skills. Although financial literacy education can be key to building long-term financial capabilities and well-being, more information is needed on…

RAND researchers conducted a study that aimed to fill the information gap on how to successfully implement a statewide financial education mandate by studying the implementation of Nevada's 2017 financial literacy education reform. The study focused on the reform enacted by the Nevada Legislature in 2017, Senate Bill 249, which required that…

Standardized testing and accountability are currently unavoidable components of Texas Public Education. Through years of push-back, parents and educators have demanded that Texas consider alternative testing options that would reduce the high-stakes testing burden on students and schools. In 2015, the State of Texas passed legislation requiring…

The author compared NCLB-prompted standards-based reforms with earlier reforms and found that earlier manifestations of standards-based reforms may have been more productive and constructive. NCLB, with its emphasis on accountability through high-stakes testing, has produced many perverse results alongside documented achievement gains, the author…

International comparisons have highlighted that the U.S. mathematics curriculum, both in terms of curriculum influences (e.g., textbooks, standards) and actual instruction, is broad and shallow. Standards-based reform is explicitly designed to improve coherence and reduce redundancy across grades. This article evaluates the redundancy of…

A recent massive infusion of federal funding marked a dramatic shift in the federal approach to helping low-performing schools. As part of the broad array of economic stimulus efforts included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Congress appropriated an extra $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to…

A debate over the quality of teacher education programs has been ongoing for nearly 100 years. The most current round in this debate started with "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) and has escalated in recent years to involve an increasing number of participant-constituents, each of whom has voiced…

Educators and policymakers have debated in recent years how best to improve academic performance in the middle grades. In the absence of outcomes-based research about what works, school districts have reshuffled grade configurations, bolstered their focus on "academic rigor," and worked to ensure that students are engaged in school as…

This technical brief responds to an Arizona Department of Education request to study academic performance in schools receiving funding through the federal Title I compensatory education program, the section of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 governing resources for schools and districts serving disadvantaged populations. The brief describes…

Educators are increasingly pressured to raise standardized test scores. Test-focused school leaders, however, may neglect school climate factors associated with positive student development and increased student achievement. The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) and its Resilience Youth Development Module (RYDM) represent a research-based,…

This report describes efforts by five states (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) to improve adolescent literacy. Highlighting common challenges and lessons, the report examines how each state has engaged key stakeholders, set rigorous goals and standards, aligned resources to support adolescent literacy goals, built…

South Carolina made a significant step forward in middle level education reform by enacting middle level teacher certification in 2001. This qualitative case study documents the process through which the state legislation developed, with a particular focus on how middle level teacher certification arrived and remained on the public policy agenda…

Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) is a set of principles helpful in guiding the process of designing classroom environments and instruction that are conducive to the learning of all students. UDI, designed by the Center for Applied Special Technology, is a framework that has been successful for all students, including those with disabilities…

Accountability for students with disabilities who receive special education services is now a result of policy requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Together these pieces of federal legislation require that students participate in statewide…

Richard Murnane observes that the American ideal of equality of educational opportunity has for years been more the rhetoric than the reality of the nation's political life. Children living in poverty, he notes, tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped teachers. They are likely to leave school without the skills…