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 National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving educational outcomes that traces its roots back to the early 1990s. NMSI's College Readiness Program (CRP) is a long-standing program with the goal of promoting STEM education in high schools to improve students' preparation for college. The three-year…

Policy makers at the federal level have embraced an educator effectiveness agenda, which in turn has driven many states across the country to rapidly develop and implement new and more complex teacher evaluation systems. It is increasingly clear that the success of these nascent teacher evaluation systems partly depends on the will, skill and…

School improvement models are expanding to incorporate priorities around positive youth development, safe and supportive school climates, school mental health, and school-family community partnerships. A partnership was formed between researchers and district/school leaders to examine the 3-year adoption and implementation of 1 such exemplary…

The challenges facing the United States in educating its youth have been widely documented. The dropout rate in the past decades has been staggering, with students of color and in lower socio-economic circumstances posting an even higher rate. However, educators are now beginning to embrace the promise of ubiquitous digital technologies in the…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) published a series of case studies from 28 states to showcase examples of how ARRA EETT ("American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Enhancing Education Through Technology") grant funds have impacted teaching and learning. SETDA collected data for the case studies through…

This exploration into competency-based innovation at the school, district, and state levels suggests that competency-based pathways are a re-engineering of this nation's education system around learning--a re-engineering designed for success in which failure is no longer viable. This discussion draws on interviews and site visits with innovators…

In 1994 the Ohio State Legislature established Venture Capital to support school restructuring. The Venture Capital school initiative is a concept borrowed from the business community in which the corporate entity provides risk capital to parts of the organization to stimulate creative ideas and to provide opportunities for local entities to try…

The study reported in this document was conducted to identify, describe, and assess the potential of innovative approaches to integrating vocational and academic education as one way of helping students to understand the utility of academic learning. Research activities included case studies of five integrated-curriculum programs in California,…

Economic Growth Challenge / Innovation Incentive, as proposed by the Governor's Commission on Higher Education and the Economy, is a new line item involving reallocation of current higher education funding plus matching levels of performance funding to achieve a major restructuring and refocusing of Ohio's portfolio of doctoral research programs.…

To gain some perspective on the current interest in and use of educational technology, the Ohio Department of Education awarded a grant to the Cincinnati Public Schools to conduct a survey on the uses of new technologies in school districts throughout the state. The results of that survey are summarized in this report by the following topics:…

The following papers are included: "Emerging Themes in Youth Apprenticeship Programs" (Evanciew); "Improving the U.S. System of School-to Work Transition for Youth and Young Adults" (Stone); "Recent National Studies and Reports on Education and Economic Reform" (Ellibee); "Improving Employment Readiness of Urban…

This document examines emerging issues and opportunities for community-based organization (CBO) involvement in welfare reform. The document begins with a brief section of background information on past CBO involvement in helping families move from welfare to work. The next section answers policy questions pertaining to the following issues: (1)…