Federal law defines English learner (EL) eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, students, allowing for broader entry into the EL category, along with its accompanying resources and services. We interviewed EL leaders from 25 state departments of education to learn about their level of understanding of the…

American public education policy and practice has long focused on what can be done to meet the academic needs of all students during the school day. Today, more families and students are facing challenges outside of school that affect student academic performance in classrooms. Challenges such as homelessness, food security, mental health and…

This brief reviews state plans submitted to the U.S. Department of Education as of October 1, 2017. It focuses on three key topics for early learning in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): setting clear goals and policy priorities for early learning, integrating early learning into school improvement, and supporting early childhood educator…

State education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) made clear in a recent Reform Support Network (RSN) survey and follow-up interviews that staff must have the capacity to successfully engage stakeholders through social media. This is not a new challenge for government; staff capacity -- the number of staff and their access to…

Of the many inequities in the education system, gaps in access to strong teaching have proven to be among the most stubborn. That is not to say that there are not excellent teachers in high-poverty schools. Research shows an indisputable and wide-spread pattern in schools and districts across the country: Low-income children and children of color…

Examines the role that state departments of education in California, Florida, Maryland, and Washington play with local school districts in planning, designing, constructing, and/or operation and management of educational facilities. (MLF)

This study profiles four diverse states (Alabama, Maryland, Nebraska, and Washington) where successful programs have been developed and implemented to provide Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) instruction to elementary and secondary school students. The report identifies common factors and strategies for…

Materials collected in this book and in Volume I (SP 003 238) are related to the Multi-State Teacher Education Project (M-STEP). They deal with program experiments and resulting directions, including guide-line type materials resulting from the project effort and items prepared by other sources as project-centered aids. Part I, "A Forward…

Materials collected in this book and in Volume II (SP 003 239) are outgrowths of the Multi-State Teacher Education Project (M-STEP), a 3-year program to strengthen the capacity of state departments of education in the development of joint responsibility between local education agencies and teacher education institutions with emphasis on laboratory…

The three case studies in this report describe state-level efforts to address diversity and equity in postsecondary institutions in California, Maryland, and Washington. A preface provides some background on affirmative action programs, litigation history, and the roles of state coordinating agencies and institutional governing boards. The…