This qualitative case study investigated rural high school social studies teachers' perceptions of Robert Stahl's decision-making materials within their content area and the relevance of curricular implementation. The primary questions addressed in this study focused on high school social studies teachers' perception of current instructional…

Much research has noted the misalignment between kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) academic standards and curriculum materials used in classrooms. Many states and education organizations have been pushing for greater use of standards-aligned curriculum, especially during the past several years. In this report, the authors share results…

This publication explores how state accountability systems currently address college readiness and academic and technical career readiness and offers recommendations and examples of policies and practices that incentivize and reward districts and schools for preparing more students to earn credentials and degrees in high-demand career fields.

In September 2015, Commissioner Candice McQueen and senior leadership at the Tennessee Department of Education laid out goals and priorities for Tennessee's students and a plan to reach these goals. This strategic plan, Tennessee Succeeds, aimed to give a clear, overarching vision for the key strategies the department would focus on in order to…

This report examines how technology and automation are changing the job market -- and what states can do to prepare adults for the new workplace. It analyzes shifts from low- to middle-skills jobs, details current education levels, and offers recommendations for retooling adult education programs.

This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) that were administered to principals and teachers in spring 2019 via RAND's American Educator Panels. The AIRS focused on instructional resources used and supported in English language arts,…

Education in Tennessee is on the rise. With the close of the Race to the Top era, Tennessee saw striking successes in student achievement that also called attention to the continued need to ensure students' long-term success. Tennessee is now launching a new chapter and if successful districts and schools in Tennessee will exemplify excellence and…

Background: Inclusive STEM (traditionally known to stand for "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math") high schools are emerging across the country as a mechanism for improving STEM education and getting more and diverse students into STEM majors and careers. However, there is no consensus on what these schools are or should be,…

The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), an affiliate of American Institutes for Research (AIR), publishes a biannual update of college- and career-readiness state standards and assessment resources. It is designed to assist staff in state education agencies (SEAs) and other educators in…

Twenty-six states voluntarily partnered to provide leadership and guidance for the purpose of adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). However, a need exists to examine the NGSS versus state standards to better understand changes in curriculum and instruction to make their implementation successful for all states. The present…

Data from 17 recovery high schools suggest programs are dynamic and vary in enrollment, fiscal stability, governance, staffing, and organizational structure. Schools struggle with enrollment, funding, lack of primary treatment accessibility, academic rigor, and institutional support. Still, for adolescents having received treatment for substance…

Research by Achieve, ACT, and others suggests that for high school graduates to be prepared for success in a wide range of postsecondary settings, they need to take four years of challenging mathematics--covering Advanced Algebra; Geometry; and data, probability, and statistics content--and four years of rigorous English aligned with college- and…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) are strategies designed to improve how teachers teach and students learn. The designs encourage teacher collaboration and creativity and offer flexible frameworks for building lessons in all disciplines. Their purpose is to engage students to read challenging…

This report identifies the states with current or pending state-level end-of-course assessment (EOC) programs, the subjects in which EOCs are administered in the states, and the EOCs (if any) students must pass to graduate from high school. Twenty-two states currently administer one or more EOCs to all students in an EOC course. This number will…

This research examined the effects of the new English/Language Arts standards, brought about by the Tennessee Diploma Project, on the ACT Reading test scores of high school seniors. The effects on student achievement, perceptions of secondary and postsecondary educators, as well as the effects on the test scores of at-risk students were measured.…