One year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced state and school leaders across the nation and around the world to immediately close school buildings, the lasting impact on students is increasingly evident: Months of online learning and limited in-person interaction with educators, coaches and mentors have led to gaps in learning, and unknown…

Change swept throughout the country with the 2018 elections, bringing 20 new governors into office. Whether returning or starting their first term, governors are taking the opportunity in their State of the State addresses to highlight achievements and outline plans for the future. Every governor who has given an address has mentioned an…

Postsecondary institutions are under increasing scrutiny to provide evidence of student learning. Despite efforts to increase the number and frequency of assessments of student learning, many colleges and universities need help to make good use of assessment results for the improvement of teaching and learning. To address this need, in February…

The deterioration of public school buildings is more prevalent in large cities that, because of funding shortfalls, have deferred maintenance and require huge sums to bring their buildings up to acceptable standards. Cities such as New York will require approximately $680 million to address the problem of deferred maintenance for needed painting,…

The Developmental Strategies for College Readiness and Success Resource Guide was produced by the Education Commission of the States and the Southern Regional Education Board for the "Countdown to 2015: Developmental Strategies to Advance Readiness in the Common Core Era" convening held April 21-23, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The…

The U.S. Department of Education recently released a "College Completion Tool Kit" intended to support the higher education attainment goals set by the Obama administration. These goals are consistent with the state's Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education. The tool kit lays out strategies for achieving higher levels of attainment…

This report showcases advocacy efforts of 11 member organizations in 10 states that recently passed an early care and education (ECE) legislative initiative. The aim of the report is to provide advocates with proven strategies for advancing progress in securing access to ECE and expanding the opportunity for all children to start school prepared…

Policy changes in state higher education since the early 1980s are described. For each innovation, the problem and impetus for change are described, as well as the results. Contact persons and some publications are identified. While two states addressed both quality and flexibility in fiscal reform, 13 states had incremental reforms addressing…

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to help policymakers, program developers, and community leaders develop innovative strategies for implementing, financing, and sustaining effective programs and policies. This strategy brief presents a…

An analysis was made of individual perceptions, implementation issues, costs, and benefits associated with the eight-state pilot of the Career Orientation Planning Profile (COPP) conducted in May-June 1991. Twenty-seven schools from eight states participated in the pilot project, administered to 1,247 students from grades 6 through 12. Respondents…

In the past two years, 26 states have established task forces to study issues of quality, mission, efficiency, governance, access, and financial support and arrive at some new solutions. What separate these initiatives from previous ones are their magnitude and scope and the resources used. (MSE)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that each state participating in the federal early intervention program establish a state interagency coordinating council (SICC) to assist and advise the state lead agencies in achieving a coordinated service delivery system. Some states have also established local interagency…

This document reports how the Council of State Policy and Planning Agencies (CSPA) Academy process helped nine states develop workplace literacy initiatives involving their governors' offices, the Job Training Partnership Act system, and the educational system. The states were Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee,…