An innovative system-building initiative known as the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP) is transforming U.S. STEM education through cross-sector partnerships between schools, afterschool and summer programs, libraries, museums, and businesses, among others. Although logic models exist to describe how SLEs can make positive…

The advent of new technologies and increased access to robust connectivity is reshaping the K-12 landscape for teaching and learning. School districts nationwide are leveraging digital instructional materials and resources to deliver transformative and impactful personalized learning opportunities for students and to enhance the administrative…

Change swept throughout the country with the 2018 elections, bringing 20 new governors into office. Whether returning or starting their first term, governors are taking the opportunity in their State of the State addresses to highlight achievements and outline plans for the future. Every governor who has given an address has mentioned an…

A governor's State of the State address is an opportunity to outline policy priorities, highlight past accomplishments and reflect on the condition of the state and country. In 2018, 17 governors are serving their last year in office, having reached the end of their term or deciding not to seek re-election. Many of them used their State of the…

This paper identifies approaches, challenges, and best practices related to planning and designing today's academic library learning spaces. As part of the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Practitioner Series, qualitative data is presented from 49 interviews conducted with a sample of academic librarians, architects, and library consultants.…

This report provides six mini-case studies of higher education policy reforms enacted in other states, exploring the important role that state policy leadership played in developing, promoting, and implementing these policies aimed at improving higher education outcomes, and discussing the relevance of each reform effort for California. This…

This report describes the use of Lead Turnaround Partners (LTPs) in the current School Improvement Grant (SIG) program and provides the results of document review, surveys, and interviews with eight State Education Agencies and seven Lead Turnaround Partner organizations. The study focuses on the implementation of the transformation and turnaround…

The financial state of the nation's public pension funds--which provide the retirement incomes for all state employees but in most states are dominated by teachers, administrators, and other school employees--has gone from bad to worse, and is projected to continue to worsen in coming decades. A perfect storm of factors has combined in the past…

This document describes the essential elements of jobs for the Future's (JFF) four-state work force preparation policy proces. It begins with a brief outline of the following five steps: (1) use information to clarify necessary action; (2) create regional and community forums; (3) educate and empower the citizenry; (4) assess employer practices…

This document is divided into three volumes. Volume I describes what exemplary Private Industry Councils (PICS) do, Volume II explains why they are effective, and Volume III tells how to implement exemplary practice. Volume I contains case studies of 10 exemplary PICs organized by 7 topics areas (history and structure, policies and program…

As campuses and multicampus systems develop integrated systems for information networking in and among institutions, states must be concerned with their coordination and explore large-scale integration, stimulating cooperation among institutions and systems and use of telecommunications. Arizona, Indiana, Oregon, Colorado, and Wisconsin are…

A project examined changes in the workplace and in employment in four states that were broadly representative of the United States--Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. It identified common concerns and issues across the four states, including graduated awareness of the vast changes in the workplace, the ambivalence of business leaders'…

This document contains action plans for four states (Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri) involved in the Jobs for the Future program designed to enhance states' ability to handle economic change. The first section, "A Call to Action," discusses what Colorado's public and private sectors must consider doing to meet the…

Jobs for the Future undertook a program designed to enhance the ability of four states--Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri--to manage economic change is described in this report. An analysis of what was happening in the state economies, especially the kinds of jobs that were being created, was carried out. The research portions of the…

This paper is one in a series of research papers related to the state role in youth employment and training. It describes seven state-sponsored youth employment and training programs, representing a varied range of approaches that states have undertaken to address their youth employment problems. The first section of this paper provides capsule…