There is a growing call to reconsider current approaches to national and state assessment system policies and practices. State and local education agency leaders, educators, community leaders, and advocates have voiced concerns that current state assessment systems--defined primarily by end-of-year multiple-choice tests--are unable to meet…

Discussion of alternative education is growing across the country as states and districts look for ways to better serve students whose needs are not met in traditional high school settings. Alternative settings, however, vary greatly in how they operate, whom they aim to enroll, and the methods they use to educate students. The variation of…

This resource was prepared for an Early Learning Challenge (ELC) State in response to a request for information about initiatives to improve the quality of child care and early education provided by family, friends, and neighbors in the 20 RTT-ELC States. This information will be helpful to other States as they consider how to continue to increase…

Caught between extraordinary public expectations and relatively modest constitutional authority, U.S. presidents historically have fashioned all sorts of mechanisms--executive orders, proclamations, memoranda--by which to move their objectives forward. William Howell asserts that under President Barack Obama's administration, presidential…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the Common Core by providing and/or facilitating the development of instructional resources and materials aligned to the new standards. In order for instructional resources and materials to be aligned to the Common…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments, through professional learning. SREB researchers examined each state's major professional development efforts around its new standards in order to…

Implementation of college- and career-readiness standards is some of the most important work currently underway in states to improve student achievement and public education overall. SREB examined the efforts of 14 states--including 11 SREB states--to support implementation of new college- and career-readiness standards. The goal of the research…

The following profiles address decisions and actions that state education policy-makers--in the state departments of education, unless otherwise noted--are taking to foster successful statewide implementation of their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments. These profiles provide a descriptive overview of each…

The following profiles address the basic decisions and actions that state education policy-makers--in the state departments of education, unless otherwise noted--are taking to foster successful statewide implementation of the new standards and aligned assessments in 15 states. These profiles provide a descriptive overview of each state's…

A NATIONAL SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY THE RELATIONSHIPS OF SUBSTANTIVE (WRITTEN) AND COMMON LAW TO THE ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF NONPUBLIC U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. A MULTIPHASED PROCEDURE WAS EMPLOYED. INITIALLY, LITERATURE WAS REVIEWED TO TRACE THE HISTORICAL-LEGAL DEVELOPMENT OF NONPUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.…

This report outlines strategies, developed by a state-legislative committee, for reducing the dropout rate in Colorado. The committee also investigated alternative methods of completing a high-school education program and ways of stressing the importance of education to Colorado youth. To gather information, testimonies provided by students,…

Interviews with 11 Colorado state legislators about their views on local control reveal they have no fear of pushing the constitutional envelope when it comes to legislating school policy. School board members must get involved in the legislative process, whether by lobbying legislators on behalf of important education issues or testifying as…

The Education Commission of the States (ECS) together with the American Association for Higher Education recently conducted five case studies of state-based approaches to assessment in undergraduate education in Colorado, Missouri, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Virginia. The case studies, in turn, are part of the Missouri Governor John Ashcroft's…

This document, which is intended to assist Colorado's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) staff, educators, students, and students' families, presents the answers to selected questions regarding eligibility for and delivery of cooperative educational and vocational rehabilitation services for youth in transition. The introduction provides…