Walsh University's process of seeking more effective assessment practices has identified an overarching theme of university-wide continuous improvement resulting in several initiatives. The categories of these initiatives can be described as new formats in leadership, unique and collaborative improvements across campus, strategies in alignment…

COVID-19 presents assessment professionals with an opportunity to reexamine preexisting inequities for vulnerable student groups that may be more susceptible to the pandemic's economic impacts. We propose that assessment professionals incorporate student interviews more intentionally in their work so they and their stakeholders can develop more…

A recent independent evaluation by WestEd of Learning Forward's What Matters Now Network looked at the ways in which a structured, facilitated network provided support for state-level coalitions working with districts, schools, and educators to improve instruction and make progress toward achieving content standards. The network was facilitated by…

Among the multitude of solutions to the field's ongoing personnel shortage, many state associations have stepped in to commit time and resources to addressing it. One such example is in Ohio, where a joint initiative of the Ohio School Psychologists Association (OSPA) and Ohio's Inter-University Council of School Psychology programs, known as the…

Historically, despite more formal efforts to spread awareness about the profession, many school psychologists discover the field "by accident" or happenstance. This, in conjunction with attrition, training constraints, an expanding role in schools, and an ever-evolving need for increased school psychologist-to-student ratios to address…

Assessing digital scholarship services offered either through academic libraries or elsewhere on campuses is important for both program development and service refinement. Digital scholarship support is influenced by fluid campus priorities and limited resources, including staffing, service models, infrastructure, and partnership opportunities…

School leaders, specifically principals, play a pivotal role in shaping student learning outcomes. The benefits of strong leaders extend beyond academic achievement, such as reductions in absenteeism and exclusionary discipline. While quality principals are critical for creating and sustaining quality schools, the staffing pipeline is facing…

Approximately 450 community colleges nationally are part of formal statewide or national initiatives to implement guided pathways reforms to improve student success, and many other colleges are implementing guided pathways practices on their own. Because guided pathways is a whole-college reform--and because it takes several years to fully…

This article describes the creation and piloting of a series of online information literacy instructional modules intentionally incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. Using UDL frameworks to guide different elements of the online modules, the authors have been able to accommodate the challenging learning differences,…

"Stackable credential programs" are designed to make it easier for students to earn multiple postsecondary certificates or degrees in a field as they advance in their careers. To examine the stacking of credentials in Ohio and inform ongoing efforts to scale stackable credential programs, the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the…

In 2019, MDRC launched the Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) project to improve college completion rates for traditionally underserved students, such as students from low-income backgrounds and students of color, at community and broad-access colleges (those that have open or minimally selective admissions…

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a highly structured, immersive teaching strategy that emphasizes active learning through peer teams. Despite its many potential benefits for teaching introductory sociology, it has been slow to gain traction in the discipline. Instructors may debate whether the value of TBL is sufficient to justify its challenges,…

Just a few years ago, tenure appeared low on the reform list for state policy makers and district administrators, viewed as too hot an issue politically to challenge. But it was front and center in the 2014 landmark "Vergara v. California" lawsuit, which challenged teacher tenure and related policies. Yet whether to grant tenure or not…

While U.S. voters delivered a significant change in the 2024 federal elections, they opted for steady leadership at the state level. No state board of education shifted in partisan control, and only five seats saw a shift in political party out of 27 races that were contested in the general election. This policy update looks at the results of…

The Ohio "Operating Standards for the Education of Children with Disabilities" identify the state requirements and federal Part B Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) requirements that apply to the implementation of special education and related services to students with disabilities by school districts, county…