This report documents two distinct stages of decision-making regarding new charter school proposals. The first is a "development" decision which includes the following: (1) further study of a new charter school; (2) considering participation in a charter consortium; or (3) study of a federal Charter Schools Program grant or subgrant for…

Inadequate transition outcomes for youth with disabilities have produced a call for enhanced transition service delivery that includes implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). However, research indicates transition service providers still lack the knowledge and skills to effectively implement EBPs to ensure youth with disabilities…

States have begun to incorporate careers pathway programs into their workforce and professional development systems in order to strengthen and support the early childhood workforce. A career pathways approach offers career advancement through a progression of educational qualifications, training, and credentials that build on each other and are…

The Teacher Compensation Survey (TCS) was a research and development effort by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to explore the possibility of developing an administrative records survey that would compile compensation and demographic data on all public school teachers in the nation. A pilot survey in 2007 collected data from…

District costs for teachers' health insurance are, on average, higher then employer costs for private-sector professionals. How much of this is attributable to collective bargaining? This article examines the question using data from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the state of Wisconsin. In…

This report is intended to help governors, legislators, department secretaries, and advocates find information on ways to strengthen the structure and function of their existing cabinets, or create a new cabinet. The survey in this report is the nation's only survey of state child and youth policy coordinating bodies. The biennial survey assesses…

In this article, we review translation, adaptation policies, and practices in providing test accommodation for English language learners (ELLs) in the United States. We collected documents and conducted interviews with officials in the 12 states that provide translation accommodations to ELLs on content assessments. We then summarized challenges…

As the use of online courses in high schools increases rapidly across the United States, schools are using courses from a multitude of sources to achieve a variety of educational goals. Policies and practices for monitoring student progress and success in online courses are also diverse. Yet few states formally track or report student…

This article describes how schools shape family engagement practices in the context of the New Latino Diaspora. Building on critical scholarship that has called for more culturally appropriate definitions of family engagement, this study seeks to develop a theoretical understanding of how school practices influence immigrant families' access to…

This "Stated Briefly" report is a companion piece that summarizes the results of another report of the same name. The purpose of the study conducted by REL Midwest in partnership with the Midwest Virtual Education Research Alliance was to develop and administer a survey to describe online course use in Iowa and Wisconsin brick-and-mortar…

Critical to any comprehensive plan for addressing personnel shortages in the field of special education is the gathering of data on supply and demand at the state and local education agency (LEA) levels. Many states now conduct regular supply and demand studies in order to inform decisions regarding the recruitment, preparation and retention of…

This article analyzes the findings from a three-state study of teacher induction policy. It looks within and across Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin to explore the landscape and experience of teacher induction. Although the orientation and conception of each state's policy is similar, the states represent three different structural approaches to…

This report presents preliminary findings from a mail survey of all optometrists licensed to practice in the State of Wisconsin. The survey was conducted in 1972 by the International Association of Boards of Examiners in Optometry as part of a national endeavor to collect data on all optometrists in the United States. Approximately 95 percent of…

Mediation was required by the Individuals With Disabilities Education (IDEA) 1997, and resolution sessions were added to the IDEA 2004. This study examines the perceptions of 260 special education directors in Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington, and Wisconsin to determine their perceptions regarding alternative dispute resolutions in which they…

Objectives of this state survey of school food service programs in Wisconsin public schools focused on (1) nutrition education in the schools, (2) students' food selection practices, (3) improving nutrition education and (4) increasing awareness of nutritional considerations. Four questionnaires were administered to stratified, randomly selected,…