A leadership academy is a formal professional learning opportunity for current school leaders, focused on augmenting knowledge and skills, increasing specialization, and refreshing leadership practices. States interested in supporting leadership academies through federal or other funding sources can look to current models of leadership academies…

Promise programs (also known as free college programs) have grown in popularity over the last few years. When targeted correctly, these programs have the potential to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation rates for underserved students. By focusing a promise program on adult students and including additional supports and services, states…

While their authority for program approval may vary from state to state, state boards of education should ensure that the secondary school career and technical education (CTE) programs are part of a continuum that prepares students for further education, training, and the workplace. By expanding apprenticeship programs, state boards can give…

This Special Report examines four principles for state leaders to consider as they develop or evaluate financial aid redesign reform efforts. The financial aid redesign principles, identified through a Thinkers Meeting that included experts from across the country, fall into four areas: Financial aid programs should be student-centered,…

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper,…

To arrive at the key components of a comprehensive school-to-work transition strategy, researchers for the study reported here reviewed the literature in the field of school-to-work transition and also consulted with numerous experts in the field. To determine how many states have adopted the components of comprehensive strategies, the researchers…