School improvement is an iterative process through which districts and schools develop their capacity, implement and refine new policies and practices, and respond to new developments and needs over time. School improvement policy can also be considered an iterative process, with policy implementors learning from previous rounds of a policy.…

This mixed-method study examines Michigan's Partnership policy for school turnaround, which positions the district and superintendents as key policy implementation actors. We first interviewed 21 of 35 Partnership superintendents/leaders across Michigan and surveyed teachers to understand the initial response to the turnaround policy and the…

Over the last several years, the guided pathways approach to whole-college redesign has become a national movement in community colleges. Approximately 300 colleges are implementing guided pathways reforms as part of formal state or national initiatives, and many more are doing so on their own. Some of the earliest colleges to implement guided…

As community colleges across the country look for ways to promote student success, the need for scaling effective approaches is critical. This guide builds on a framework of four phases of scaling developed in Job For the Future's (JFF's) previous publication, "Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College…

The Accelerated Learning Work Group's introductory Guide to Accelerated Learning offers descriptions, resources, and examples of state education agencies implementing Accelerated Learning into their programs. It also answers questions, such as: (1) How should Accelerated Learning be implemented?; (2) How are educators best supported during…

According to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), a State wanting to receive Federal funds must submit a plan indicating which of nine programs it wants to receive funds for. This is the final report on the results of the audit of the U.S. Department of Education's processes for reviewing and approving State plans…

College Promise programs aim to make students believe they can afford college, and to give them the opportunity to go to college and earn degrees without taking on significant debt. At the core of all College Promise programs is a scholarship: All eligible College Promise students receive scholarships that may cover up to 100 percent of tuition…

Researchers examined the potential of Presidents' Councils on Diversity (PCDs) to position advancing diversity and inclusion agendas at 11 higher education institutions. Researchers investigated strategies and the degree that PCDs set up agendas through the mobilization (i.e., creating vision and setting priorities), implementation (i.e., creating…

The Middle-Grades Leadership Development (MLD) Project was designed to develop principal leaders and leadership teams who create high-performing middle-grades schools. Designed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, the four-year project was funded from 2013 to 2017 by a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3)…

Hitching a ride on an automotive metaphor comes easily when Michigan is at the center of the story. After the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) spent a couple years noodling in the design shop about the optimum drivers of school improvement, its education engineers were convinced that the local school district was positioned to shift the…

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII, or the Center) in 2011. NCII's mission during the first five years of funding was to build the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to support schools, practitioners, and other stakeholders in the…

This resource is part of a series of reports about challenges facing statewide science assessments and innovative solutions states are enacting to meet those challenges. Deciding to implement a system of assessments is a critical step toward ensuring that all students are getting the high-quality science education they need--but it is also…

Home visiting is one tool used to prevent child abuse and improve child well-being by providing education and services in families' homes through parent education and connection to community resources. This toolkit provides state policymakers and advocates with strategies for extending and expanding access to state- or federally-funded home…

The National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) has a mission to build district and school capacity to implement intensive intervention that will improve reading, mathematics, and behavioral outcomes for students with disabilities in Grades K-12 who have severe and persistent learning and/or behavioral problems. The purpose of this document…

This document represents the first of two volumes presented in "Study of the Impact of the Statewide Systemic Initiatives Program" (Norman L. Webb and Iris R. Weiss). In an effort to evaluate the impact of the Statewide Systemic Initiatives (SSIs) on student achievement and the lessons that could be learned from the National Science…