Rural districts have long faced challenges in closing achievement gaps between subgroups of students. This brief report describes key decision points and considerations for decision-makers interested in identifying rural districts that have closed academic achievement gaps. Examining practices in these districts may suggest activities associated…

The link between health and learning is clear: healthy, active and well-nourished children are more likely to attend school, arrive ready to learn and stay engaged in class. Yet far too many students spend their days in schools that do not offer them adequate clean air and water, nutritious food, physical activity and the support of a school…

Over the past two decades, college and career readiness became a priority in K-12 education. While graduation rates have been rising, far too many high school graduates are not ready to succeed in college or a job. Employers note that freshly-minted employees too often need additional training to perform their roles, many are ineligible for…

California's alternative education options for youth vulnerable to dropping out of school have been established at different historical points and for different student age and target populations. For purposes of this brief, "alternative school" is defined as belonging to one of six legislatively authorized types of public (non-charter)…

Leadership matters. Principals are the primary drivers of school improvement and the best long-term investment to ensure effective teaching and learning at scale. Principals are central to State efforts to implement new college and career-ready standards, execute teacher evaluation and support systems and turn around low-performing schools. These…

Making robust and reliable information about schools accessible is one of the most powerful ways to foster engagement and promote informed decisions that will shape our communities. Though education data is frequently collected and aggregated at the state level, data is rarely synthesized across cities. This report provides comparable information…

This report presents the deliberations of the Central Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The committee's report outlines the educational needs across the states of Colorado, Kansas,…

By 2025, 22 percent of the U.S. college-age population will be Latino, a level already exceeded in four states: California, Florida, New York, and Texas. However, today, only seven percent of Latinos ages 18 to 24 have an associate's degree or higher compared to 9 percent of African Americans, 16 percent of white, and 25 percent of Asians of the…

As the college-age Latino population continues to increase throughout the nation, meeting the country's future human capital and workforce needs make it imperative to improve outcomes for Latino students today. As public attention is focused on existing achievement gaps, educators and policymakers are seeking ways to improve educational outcomes…

Because a lack of adequate data eliminated the possibility of using control groups or historical comparison groups, Colorado's procedure for evaluating state bilingual/bicultural programs was designed to determine whether children in the bilingual program (K-3) had learned more than they would have learned if they had not been in the program. A…

In seeking a better match-up between the mission and the resources of the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), its senior leadership has not only been examining their own responsibility areas, but also the entire Department and how its highly varied components fit together. The starting point for this discussion paper was the State Board of…

A one-year evaluation was conducted of the Exemplary Business and Office Education (BOE) Program as implemented in seven rural Colorado schools. The individualized program featured a two-period block core curriculum with three or more optional areas of study. Evaluation objectives were to describe the exemplary projects in light of the…

This study evaluated the first phase of a three-phase project to improve baccalaureate achievement rates of minority students in Colorado. The activities of the first phase included gathering more and better data on the progress of students, analyzing those data, and using that analysis to choose and visit institutions that seem to be succeeding…

In 1980, the Colorado State Legislature passed legislation which enabled 12 southeastern Colorado school districts with enrollments from 30 to 330 to experiment with a 4-day school week as an alternative to reducing programs. Each district was allowed to determine which weekday its schools would not be in session, length of the school day, and…

Presented is the October 2005 forum, titled "Leadership for Change," where superintendents attending the three-day conference in Denver, Colorado, openly discussed the challenges they face, how they are tackling those challenges, and what is ahead for public education. They shared insightful and moving stories about efforts to close the…