The report on which this brief is based describes performance assessments and their value for guiding and evaluating high school students' learning, as well as informing colleges and universities about what students know and can do. It explores state and local policies that support the use of such assessments, along with emerging higher education…

This article illuminates major features of high-quality leadership programmes across different education systems. We do so by focusing on capturing commonalities and variations in high-quality pre-service programmes from five differing societies, all of which are high-performing education systems. To this end, we first delineate key profiles of…

Gifted education is often faulted as compromising the principle of equity and perpetuating social inequalities. This article focuses on making gifted education socially defensible and educationally productive. To accomplish this goal, key values and priorities guiding policy and practice, such as excellence, selectivity, diversity, equity and…

A recent review of data provided by the New York City Department of Education reveals that African-American charter school students were 60 percent more likely than their public school counterparts to earn a seat in one of New York City's specialized high schools in 2009. For Hispanics, the rate of acceptance was twice as high for charter school…

The practices of "gapping" (the practice of meeting only part of the financial need) and denying admission based on need are discussed. Some schools would deny aid to some of those admitted who have financial need. This practice is referred to as "admit/deny." (MLW)

This document draws from an extensive review of articulation practices in schools and colleges in New York State. It summarizes and comments on articulation activities, and describes individual programs. Areas discussed are: (1) acceleration and crediting of college-level study; (2) curriculum articulation; (3) guidance, counseling and advisement;…

The experiences of 10 states described in this paper illustrate how higher education can be a constructive force for change in the schools, and how the changes taking place in school-based curriculum and assessment provide valuable lessons for collegiate reform. The 10 states profiled are California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New…

In 1999, the City University of New York (CUNY) abolished remedial programs in its four-year colleges and began to rely on standardized test scores as criteria both for exiting remediation and for admission to bachelor's programs. By doing that, the university has in effect eradicated its three-decade-old "open admissions" policy, argue…