In the past fifty years, governments across the world have experimented with a variety of market-based reforms to improve public service delivery. Market-based policies have been particularly influential in efforts to reform K-12 education governance in the United States. Prominent examples of these reforms include laws establishing public charter…

Ohio policymakers have consistently voiced support for rigorous education standards and ensuring that all students have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed after high school. State leaders have a duty to step in when schools are falling far short of performance standards. Students receiving a substandard education are more likely to…

In the United States, the prevailing high school mathematics course sequence begins with a year of Algebra I, followed by a year of geometry and a year of Algebra II. Educators and others have raised concerns about the extent to which this sequence, which prioritizes the mastery of algebra, is appropriate for the longer-term education and career…

The First Amendment Schools project holds rich lessons in how to change school cultures into "laboratories of democracy"--as well as in how to increase the odds of success for any school reform effort. School reform programs of any sort need to make sure to build in sustainability, to provide ways to spread their lessons beyond the…

The Supplemental Educational Services (SES) policy, under No Child Left Behind, requires underperforming Title I schools to offer academic tutoring to eligible students. A meta-analysis of findings from 44 external evaluations of district operated SES programs in Ohio showed that scores increased on the academic performance of at-risk students.…

In 2011, President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provided states with an opportunity for flexibility from certain requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, currently known as the No Child Left Behind, or NCLB, Act. A total of 43 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and eight districts in…

No Child Left Behind, hereafter referred to as NCLB, has given us an age of accountability for America's schools that includes high stakes tests for students at various grade levels. Those tests are used to measure a child's knowledge of standards in each core subject area including math, science, language arts, and social studies. The standards…

One of the modifications of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (known as the No Child Left Behind Act) gave parents of low-income students in low-performing schools a choice of Supplemental Educational Services (SEdS). SEdS include tutoring or other academic support services offered outside the regular school day, at no charge to students…

Among education researchers, there is a growing consensus that college and career readiness depends on not just academic knowledge and skills but on a wide range of social and developmental competencies, as well--such as the ability to monitor one's own learning, persist at challenging tasks, solve complex problems, set realistic goals, and…

Since the inception of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, instructional coaching has increased in low-performing schools with limited research. Practices of instructional coaches have varied greatly and the impact on school improvement is unknown. This study analyzed daily log entries of instructional coaches serving 23 Title I and three School…

The purposes of this study were 1) to examine Ohio Achievement Assessment data in the content areas of Reading, Science and Social Studies between the years of 2004-2010) to determine whether an achievement gap exists within the disability category of Deaf/Hearing Impaired; 2) to determine whether the trends present in the data of normal hearing…

This report presents statistical profiles for the Midwest Region states of school districts designated as "in improvement" for school year 2009/10 under accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and compares the prevalence and characteristics of these districts and those of districts not in improvement. It also…

In this study, the authors represent an exploratory investigation of current preparation of preservice teachers related to response to intervention (RTI) in institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the Office of Special Education Program (OSEP) Regional Resource and Federal Centers (RRFCs) North Central Region and Pennsylvania. In this study,…

Assessments matter in education. Testing is nothing new; tests have been around as long as school itself. However, over the last 15 years, state assessments have grown to be an increasingly central, and often controversial, part of schooling. As states raise their standards, it is more important than ever to ask: What is a high-quality assessment?…

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) launched a differentiated accountability pilot to allow states to distinguish between those schools identified for improvement in need of substantial help and those closer to meeting achievement goals. In July 2008 and January 2009, the Department approved waivers to give nine states the…