In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

Minority students and students with disabilities are disciplined disproportionately from their peers. Discipline has led to many negative consequences in the lives of youth in the United States, including the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance encouraging school districts to develop policies that…

Despite a quarter-century of reform, US schools serving students in poverty continue to lag far behind other schools. There are proven programs, but these are not widely used. This large-scale experiment evaluated a district-level reform model created by the Center for DataDriven Reform in Education (CDDRE). The CDDRE model provided consultation…

"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) "Educating Our Children": "Forbes" Taps Leaders in Business, Government, and Education for New…

The existence of compulsory school attendance at the secondary level may help to assure school attendance for some students, but it does little to assure that any will learn. Both the laws requiring attendance and the basic high school programs offered in most states must be remodeled. Arizona's system provides a good example. Although Arizona's…

This paper describes state, institutional, and other community-based programs deemed exemplary (on the basis of design imperatives) for successful interventions to promote meaningful access of minority group youth to postsecondary education. The imperatives include early intervention, comprehensive and integrated intervention, intervention…

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences--or stakes--for student performance. The theory of action implied by this…