After schools were closed in AY 2019-2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were expected to continue two-way communication and collaboration with their students' families without much guidance. In this study, we focus on how five teacher candidates navigated and continued their efforts of communication and collaboration with students'…

Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Arkansas had to implement virtual instruction into a face-to-face education system for the first time in the 2020-2021 school year. This unique situation is the setting for this dissertation. It explores how adding virtual education to face-to-face education affected student engagement as measured by student attendance.…

State education systems in the U.S. experienced major disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from assessments administered during, and at the conclusion of, the 2020-21 school year indicate substantial 'unfinished learning', with the losses generally greater among disadvantaged and marginalized students. States' assessment systems are…

Purpose: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reduced the role of the federal government in K-12 education, giving states more flexibility while maintaining protections for marginalized groups. Despite the potential to leverage flexibility, little is known about how states are addressing equity. Research Methods: Using a critical policy analysis…

Results-based school accountability has been the linchpin of education reform in the United States for at least two decades. But the COVID-19 pandemic led many schools, states, and districts to put their testing and accountability programs on hold. Chester E. Finn, Jr., argues that it is time for the accountability holiday to end and makes…

In the United States, systemic racism against people of color was brought to the forefront of discourse throughout 2020, and highlighted the on-going inequities faced by intentionally marginalized groups in policing, health and education. No community of color is immune from these inequities, and the activism in 2020 and the consequences of the…

Students' performance on standardized tests is clearly predictive of their later outcomes (Goldhaber & Özek, 2019) but whether the costs of administering tests are justified by the value of the tests for improving students' outcomes is controversial. This controversy fuels heated debates over federal testing requirements, such as those…

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened tensions around standardized testing policy and prompted the United States Department of Education to allow states to request waivers from federal standardized testing requirements. Paul Bruno and Dan Goldhaber describe the waivers that states requested and received, what they suggest about how state test results…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reverses a trend toward centralization of education policy and instead provides greater authority to the states. This study explores states' interpretation and early implementation of ESSA's equity-related provisions. Using a qualitative case study approach, we find wide variation in the design and…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the United States and around the world, school systems everywhere are in crisis management, with education leaders and teachers struggling to provide continuous instruction via combinations of in-person, virtual, and hybrid learning modes. A fundamental and familiar question centers on the…

As educators confront the challenge of remediating COVID-19 learning loss--and policymakers wrestle with measuring it amid widespread discontent with testing--now is an apt time to consider how much of the current accountability and assessment regime is truly necessary. This report examines the state of testing post-March 2020 and explores how a…

When COVID-19 forced a hiatus in federally mandated assessments in spring 2020, it interrupted a quarter century of effort to track, disaggregate, and publicize achievement levels at the school level. The aborted school year put a big data gap where 2020 scores should have been. Combined with the already raging assaults on testing, state education…

Federal regulations require that all students in specified elementary, middle, and high school grade ranges participate in state assessments used for accountability. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that all children with disabilities are included in all general state and districtwide assessment programs with…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine lessons learned when charting the path to educational equity. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education; and (2)…

Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, educators and school administrators need to understand the available distance learning models and programs that may assist students who attend school from a remote location. To meet this need, this rapid evidence review sought to identify and report on what works in distance learning educational programming.…