Universities have much to contribute to the improvement of health delivery, research, and teaching/learning. In progressing health reform, the Government should be mindful of the need to: (1) strengthen high quality medical research; (2) promote translation of research to teaching, population health and health services; and (3) address Health…

Smooth early childhood transitions are key to ensuring positive outcomes for young children the world over--but in today's fragmented early education systems, it's difficult to ensure continuity among programs and services. Early childhood professionals will help change that with this book, the first to propose a comprehensive, practical framework…

Since Achieve launched the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network at the National Education Summit on High Schools in February 2005, state leaders across the country have been hard at work aligning their standards, graduation requirements, assessments and accountability systems with the expectations of colleges and employers. To monitor state…

For nearly a decade, ACT has measured student progress in the context of college readiness. "The Condition of College & Career Readiness" is ACT's annual report on the college readiness of the most recent high school graduating class. The data herein provide insights to catalyze and guide efforts to improve college and career…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in the United States is not equivalent to a national curriculum; however, it does set forth some conditions essential for enhancing student achievement at scale (e.g., curriculum standards, assessment standards, and expectations of compliance). The missing component within these conditions is support for…

Although becoming widespread, especially in view of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and without a universally-accepted definition, most discussions of standards-based reforms (SBR) include certain commonalities, including: (1) Academic expectations for students; (2) Alignment of key elements of the educational system to promote attainment of these…

This paper contributes to the debate over how the federal government can best help state and local authorities improve student achievement by providing examples from other countries of innovations in the role of the national government. The authors believe that the degree to which foreign policy structures parallel those of the United States are…

This report focuses on the college and career readiness levels of the ACT[R]-tested US high school graduating class of 2012. The report represents 52 percent of all 2012 graduates in the United States. Findings in the report suggest that for this cohort of tested students, the condition of college and career readiness has slightly improved over…

This report provides information about the performance of 2012 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2012 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the context of…

This report provides information about the performance of 2012 Hispanic/Latino graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2012 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in…

State public policy has been an important tool for improving the educational preparation and opportunity for many communities. However, without concerted statewide efforts it will continue to be difficult to substantially expand opportunities to accelerate higher education attainment and workforce preparation. Over the next 15 years, the states…

The current IFT Education Standards used to evaluate Food Science programs for IFT approval have been in place now for 5 years. Most Food Science programs in the United States (as well as some in Mexico and Canada) have been reviewed according to these standards. The transition to instruction based on assessment of student learning outcomes, in…

When the Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education (subsequently referred to as the commission) convened in fall 2008, the educational landscape was facing a number of issues that the commission's members recognized as formidable challenges to those students who aspire to enroll and succeed in college. Summarizing the…

The "TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics" summarizes fourth and eighth grade student achievement in each of the 63 countries and 14 benchmarking entities which participated in TIMSS 2011. The report includes trends in mathematics achievement over time for participants in the previous TIMSS 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007…

School systems aspire to provide equal opportunity for all, irrespective of socio-economic status (SES). Much of the criticism of recent school reforms that introduce accountability, autonomy, and choice emphasizes their potentially negative consequences for equity. This report provides new evidence on how national features of accountability,…