How can local education agencies (LEAs), elementary schools, and teachers make sure the kindergarten year deepens and builds on children's previous learning? What are the best ways to keep children and families connected to school and engaged in learning? And how can LEAs, schools, and classroom teachers provide the smoothest transition possible…

This resource was prepared for a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State in response to a request for examples of States that support local Early Learning Councils. Local Early Learning Councils are public-private partnerships that work to align and strengthen a comprehensive early childhood system and to coordinate funding coming…

When President Obama took office in 2009, his administration quickly seized on teacher evaluations as an important public-policy problem. Today, much of his legacy on K-12 education rests on efforts to revamp evaluations in the hopes of improving teaching across the country, which his administration pursued via a series of incentives for states.…

This resource was prepared in response to a request from a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State for information about the Transformation Zones that 10 RTT-ELC States had included as key projects in their RTT-ELC plans. This information will be helpful to other States as they consider how to continue to increase the quality of…

The state of Florida has taken an unprecedented approach to teacher professional development in its Race to the Top (RTTT) Program application by proposing to promote an international innovation that originates in Japan, "lesson study," as a statewide teacher professional development model. Since winning the US$700 million RTTT funding…

In this Issue Brief we discuss the impact that the Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) has on improving the outcomes of several current federal, state, district, and school education reform initiatives. Federal initiatives include Race to the Top, School Improvement Grants, and Campaign for Grade-Level Reading; Common Core…

This Race to the Top--Early Learning Challenge Notice invites applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2011 (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.412). To assist States in preparing the application and to respond to questions, the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)…

State education agencies have been tasked with an immense productivity challenge--increasing student outcomes on fewer funds for the unforeseeable future. The federal government has expected more from states over the last few decades in improving district and school performance: however, there were minimal gains even when states had more money.…

It's been a decade since former President Bush proposed and Congress passed the No Child Left Behind law. The goal of this law was to raise student achievement and reduce the gap between different groups of students, especially white and minority students. The law's passage reflected a broad consensus among elected officials, business leaders and…

Several briefing papers were presented during the 14th Annual National Indian Education Association (NIEA) Legislative Summit. This briefing book contains the following papers presented during the summit: (1) Restoring the Trust in Native Education; (2) NIEA Legislative Priorities for 2011: "Talking Points"; (3) Reauthorization of the…

School funding has become an increasingly volatile issue in Florida and nationwide over the past year. In 2011, the state of Florida cut $1.4 billion from public education as part of an effort to balance the budget during an economic downturn without increasing tax revenues. In Duval County, that translated to a $91 million shortfall and several…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or the Recovery Act) of 2009 provided an unprecedented level of funding for K-12 education. The program created a "historic opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of jobs, support states and school districts, and advance reforms and improvements that will create long-lasting results for our…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) A Time for Deeper Learning: New Alliance Brief Says Deeper Learning Is Imperative for All Students; (2) Setting New…

This volume contains briefing papers presented at the 13th Annual National Indian Education Association (NIEA) Legislative Summit held in Washington, DC. The following papers are included: (1) NIEA Appropriations Priorities for FY11; (2) The President's Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2011 for Native Education; (3) BIE Race to the Top; (4)…

The charter school landscape is dramatically different today compared to when the federal government first forayed into the field in 1994. That year it established the Charter School Program as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA. The Charter School Program, which is designed to support the startup of new public charter…