There were a number of historic public charter school policy wins across the country in 2017. Kentucky became the 44th state (along with the District of Columbia) to enact a charter school law. Colorado and Florida provided charter school students with unprecedented access to locally raised dollars for facilities. Tennessee and Texas created new…

There is a growing body of research that suggests the first year of high school is a critical transition point for students. It also finds course-taking and successful completion of those courses in 9th grade to be valuable predictors of students' success in high school. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides states an opportunity to…

In partnership with the National Charter School Resource Center (NCSRC), the National Association for Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has been conducting authorizer assessments over the past six years. However, the correlation between high-quality authorization practices and charter school impact has largely been unexplored. This report uses a…

The first charter school law surfaced in Minnesota in 1991, and since then, 42 additional states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have passed laws governing charter schools. Yet still today, the details within those state laws vary significantly, and seven states do not have a law at all. Legislation permitting charter schools was…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers state leaders the opportunity to refocus their education systems on improving opportunity and outcomes for young people who have been underserved for far too long. The law includes a number of important requirements to focus on equity in school accountability, but it also leaves many key decisions up to…

The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) provided states with newfound flexibility on accountability measures and school improvement strategies. Many policy experts have analyzed states' ESSA plans, which explain how states use their federal funds under various provisions of the new law, as well as the approaches states take to identify and rate…

This report was commissioned by Mid-America Regional Council and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to gain an understanding of the current state of Career and Technical Education (CTE) in nine counties of the Kansas City region: Missouri counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, and Ray; and Kansas counties of Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, and…

Inclusion programs have expanded in schools across the country as educational leaders strive to meet the needs of a more diverse group of students. In response to Special Education legislation, schools and districts implemented programs and strategies for students with disabilities in the general education setting as increasing numbers of students…

In March 2008, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched a competition for states to submit proposals to participate in a Differentiated Accountability Pilot program. The stated aim of the pilots was to allow participating states "to vary the intensity and type of interventions to match the academic reasons that led to a school's…