The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) challenges state education agencies (SEAs) to improve student outcomes by addressing the student-, teacher-, and school-level factors that drive achievement gains. This Guide for Identifying Evidence-Based Interventions for School Improvement is intended to help State Education Agencies (SEAs) carefully…

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released joint guidance on January 7, 2015, reminding states, school districts, and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that English Learners (ELs) have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve…

As state education agencies (SEAs) across the nation take on the ambitious work of implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), it is critical that they have a clear understanding of the effectiveness of their efforts: Are educators being reached with the correct messages? Are the SEAs' supports and resources meeting the needs of the…

Great teachers, principals, and other school leaders (collectively, educators) matter enormously to the learning and the lives of children. The Title II, Part A program is designed to provide students from low-income families and minority students with greater access to effective educators. It is critical that State educational agencies (SEAs) and…

This guidebook provides an introduction to Instructional Improvement Systems (IIS) for State education agency (SEA) managers and program leads. Functional components of a theoretical IIS model are discussed and used as a reference point for the introduction a seven-step planning and implementation cycle designed to guide SEAs in the development of…

This document provides guidelines for developing competency-based pathways in Iowa districts and schools and outlines waiver requirements and procedures. Competency-based pathways provide ways to validate learning of standards that occurs outside the structure of the traditional school and offer flexibility for schools to engage students in…

Education data are growing in quantity, quality, and value. When appropriately used to guide action, data can be a powerful tool for improving school operations, teaching, and learning. Education stakeholders who possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to appropriately access, analyze, and interpret data will be able to use data to take…

This documentation is for the provisional version 1a file of the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) for school year (SY) 2013-14, fiscal year 2014 (FY 14) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) . It contains a brief description of the data collection, along with information required to understand and…

This workbook guides a team in reviewing, revising, or replacing an existing professional learning system. The process outlined and the tools included support the team in conducting all aspects of its work, usually done over several months, with continuous progress monitoring and input from research, experts, and constituents. The workbook is…

This guide describes emerging social media practices among State education agencies and other governmental organizations and suggests key steps and considerations for those interested in using social media to advance education reform.

States are in various stages of reforming how they evaluate their educators, all striving for a new system that can assess a range of abilities and practices over long periods of time and capture the full nature of an educator's performance. The strongest systems look at teaching in a more comprehensive way than evaluations have done in the past,…

This guide is designed for use by information technology administrators, data specialists, and program staff responsible for the "content" in data reports, as well as education leaders (e.g., administrators who prioritize tasks for technical and data staff), and other stakeholders who have an interest in seeing that schools, school…

Supplemental educational services (SES) are additional academic instruction designed to increase the academic achievement of students in schools in need of improvement. These services may include academic assistance such as tutoring, remediation and other educational interventions, provided that such approaches are consistent with the content and…

This guidance is written to assist State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) in understanding and implementing the report card requirements under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA). Although each SEA and LEA may consider this guidance in developing and…

This guidance is written to assist State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools in understanding and implementing preschool programs supported with funds under Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA). Although each SEA may consider this guidance in the…