Innovation in education is vital for responding to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and for building progress on longstanding challenges in schools. The infusion of substantial, highly flexible pots of federal relief dollars created an opportunity to pilot new programs and initiatives. Many states and districts opted to invest…

The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) provided states with newfound flexibility on accountability measures and school improvement strategies. Many policy experts have analyzed states' ESSA plans, which explain how states use their federal funds under various provisions of the new law, as well as the approaches states take to identify and rate…

Across the 50 states, career and technical education (CTE) programs at the K-12 and postsecondary levels have seen enormous policy action - 2013 alone saw at least 78 substantive policy changes via legislation, state board rules and executive orders specific to CTE and workforce development. What are the drivers behind this sudden policymaker…

Building on its previous work examining education and the economy, the Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance), with generous support from State Farm[R], analyzed the economies of all fifty states and the District of Columbia to determine the economic benefits that states could see by improving high school graduation rates. Using a…

Human capital is the key to economic development. Without highly-skilled workers, states and territories cannot attract the productive businesses they need. That makes higher education a key element of any governor's growth strategy. But many public colleges and universities are struggling to produce more graduates. Overall graduation rates often…

A few years ago, in "Student Success in College (SSiC)," the authors profiled twenty colleges and universities that were unusually effective in fostering student engagement and success, defined as better-than-predicted scores on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and better-than-predicted graduation rates. These schools are…

Few people realize the impact that high school dropouts have on a community's economic, social, and civic health. Business owners and residents--in particular, those without school-aged children--may not be aware that they have much at stake in the success of their local high schools. Indeed, everyone--from car dealers and realtors to bank…

This issue brief is focused on policies and practices that improve college and career readiness by strengthening the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The brief is largely based on a February, 2009 American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) field trip to Indiana, and details the cross-system efforts implemented to help more of the…

Today's students--as exemplified by the three inspiring people on this report--are a remarkably diverse group with unlimited potential. America is home to tens of millions of these 21st century students, and their success is vital to the nation's future. For the United States to thrive in the rapidly changing global economy, the full potential of…