Head Start, the largest early learning program in the United States, provides free federally funded, high-quality early learning for children alongside wraparound supports for parents. Its mission includes helping families achieve self-sufficiency and economic security, such as by helping parents access and succeed in college and workforce…

Students with disabilities across the united states are not achieving at the same rate as their non-disabled peers. With their flexibility and capacity for innovation, charter schools offer an opportunity to improve these outcomes. However, data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), parent focus groups and surveys, and research on schools'…

Since 2016, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), with generous support from Lumina Foundation, has been working with states to explore establishing "promise-type" aid programs for adult students (adult promise programs). SHEEO is currently working with 15 states to implement adult promise programs through…

The field of educational leadership has also come to recognize the central importance of improving the quality of leadership preparation across leaders' careers, including at the doctoral level, for strengthening equitable teaching and learning in schools. What do doctoral programs that strive to realize such equity goals do? With what results? In…

The purpose of this study was to understand a school-based mentoring model that uses school staff as adult mentors. This study presents existing literature on school-based mentoring models along with a case study of one teen parent high school. The report also includes step-by-step guidance for implementation. At the case study school, all school…

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…

This Guide is designed to support the work of institutional cross-functional teams charged with strengthening adjunct faculty professional learning and institutional engagement. Each section shares key learnings from ATD's work with six Leader Colleges, including accomplishments in the form of new programs, services, or policies that can serve as…

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,…

This study investigated the prevalence of increasingly popular animal-assisted stress relief programs at higher education institutions across the United States. Although research on animal-assisted programs is increasing, there is still a lack of information documenting implementation of these programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to…

This paper examines the key aspects of stakeholder engagement that can strengthen the design, implementation and sustainability of outcomes-based funding policies. We seek to help policymakers understand the prevailing starting-point attitudes of institutional stakeholders, primarily college and university administrators, faculty and staff, and…

This article tries to "put a face" on the complex and abstract process of program change in relation to key principles from the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED). We examine the principles of the "scholarship of practice," "laboratory of practice," and "signature pedagogy" within a…

Today's nationwide focus on college completion is central to both individual and societal success. For individuals, attaining a credential has become essential to earn a livable wage and support a family. In addition, as each person's educational attainment increases, so does his or her capacity to contribute to the economy, his or her community,…

In 2001, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the multi-year, multi-million dollar Washington State Achievers Scholarship program. Concerned about disparities in college participation for low-income students in the state of Washington versus their wealthier peers, the Gates Foundation partnered with the College Success Foundation…

Fifteen application-oriented chemical tutorials were developed out of which thirteen are currently in use in the general chemistry lab rotary curriculum for chemistry students at Washington University from 1998 to 2000. The central philosophy of the tutorial that the students learn to combine information from variety of sources like science…

Legislative and programmatic efforts to improve teacher quality have become a major focus of state policymaking in recent years. States have employed numerous strategies in response to concerns about the preparation, quantity, and capacity of the teacher workforce. In this chapter, the authors introduce conceptual frameworks for understanding…