How can school counselors support large-scale postsecondary and career-readiness initiatives? While schools and districts want to use personalized learning or individualized learning plans as a way to align students' school experiences to their postsecondary and career goals, schools may lack the human capital to support and guide this endeavor.…

Opponents of educational choice recycle the same false prophesies of doom without regard to the evidence or the size and scope of the proposals. Part I of this report assesses the validity of choice opponents' predictions that choice policies will lead to significant losses of district school funding and declining academic performance. Part II of…

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to supporting local afterschool, before-school, and summer learning programs. Over the years, the program has evolved to become a local afterschool model -- serving students attending high-poverty, low-performing schools in…

This paper argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high school nor college--designed specifically to…

Researchers at NIET and elsewhere have studied the effectiveness of "TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement" (TAP) in raising student achievement, improving the quality of instruction, and increasing the ability of high-need schools to recruit, retain and support effective teachers. This document provides summaries of some…

Following the Department of Education's announcement of the $3.5 billion in Title I funding, 831 of the nation's "persistently lowest-achieving schools" received federal funding during the 2010-11 school year to embark on significant change in the form of a School Improvement Grant (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The Department of…

"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This month's issue commences with a report stating how the number of states that ensure the college and career readiness of their students has increased since Achieve first started tracking progress on the college- and career-ready policy agenda five years…

States jockey for position as the U.S. Education Department readies billions of dollars in "Race to the Top" awards--the stimulus program's grand prize. Even before they've finished spending their first block of federal stimulus aid, states are getting a head start in a national "race to the top" for better public education,…

This is the second book in a series entitled "P-16: The Last Education Reform." It was the purpose of the authors to chronicle the growth of existing state and local P-16 councils and compacts across the United States and to look at what might constitute successful efforts and an ideal relationship between state and local efforts. The…

One of the oldest and more popular forms of school choice in the United States is educational tax credits. Like many other types of school choice, educational tax credits enable parents to send their children to the K-12 school of their choice, public or private, religious or non-religious. One type of educational tax credits, tax-credit…

The future prosperity of the United States relies strongly upon the success of its higher education system. With an increasingly technological and competitive world economy, more jobs require the advanced skills and knowledge that higher education provides. Yet despite the significant efforts toward improving elementary and secondary education in…

This study investigated the problem of applying a single model in international cross-cultural studies of effective classroom teaching. The context of the social-efficiency tradition was used as a framework for understanding how teacher education is reflected in actual teaching behaviors. The model chosen for study was the Developmental Teacher…

Discusses how to prepare teachers to use educational technology and how to affect their attitudes toward change. Technology in public schools in Indiana is examined, and the international Long Distance Learning Network Project (LDLN), which was designed to determine the effectiveness of long-distance learning in elementary and secondary schools,…

The purpose of this study was to explore an American model (Harris 1986) of effective classroom teaching behaviors as a framework for teachers' professional growth. The particular focus was on the self-assessment component of the methods related to the model. An empirical approach was adopted, and comparative data were gathered from American and…