Federal law requires all public school students in grades three to eight to take an annual assessment in reading and math at the end of the year and requires students to take an assessment once during high school. The goal of this assessment is to measure the extent to which all students are meeting the state's academic standards. These standards…

Turning around low-performing schools has been a constant theme in education policy for decades. Even before the latest studies, analysts and education leaders have recognized the implementation challenges schools and districts face. So, what solutions are available for education leaders and state policyholders? The article offered these…

In 2010, more than 40 states adopted the Common Core State Standards. Initially, the standards were quickly and easily embraced, but over the past year the standards have become enmeshed in various controversies, raising many questions about how the standards were written and what they include. This article attempts to provide authoritative…

Online education has become a central feature of American higher education, with three in 10 students enrolled partially or exclusively in distance education. Some policymakers hope that online education can help many more students earn college degrees through its geographic reach, flexible scheduling, and potential to scale. Yet while online…

This issue brief shares state policy recommendations and resources for policymakers who are ready to rethink state accountability systems to support student-centered learning. With the passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states gain considerably more authority and autonomy over the design of school accountability systems.…

The role of state education agencies (SEAs) has shifted significantly from low-profile, compliance activities like managing federal grants to engaging in more complex and politically charged tasks like setting curriculum standards, developing accountability systems, and creating new teacher evaluation systems. The move from compliance-monitoring…

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how…

The executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, who also is a former superintendent of education in Kentucky and Arkansas argues that successful implementation of the Common Core depends on adhering to two concepts: having an effect at scale and understanding that the effort ahead is a systems issue. This work depends on…

The purpose of this report is to provide insight into how state departments are implementing legislative requirements for educator evaluation, particularly the specific circumstances states encounter around arts education. Spotlights on Delaware, a first-round recipient of Race to the Top funding, and Colorado and Arizona, third-round recipients,…

For four and a half decades, the federal role in education has been growing. Costly in terms of taxpayer dollars spent and local control of education lost, this expanding federal control has failed to improve outcomes for America's children. National standards will further expand Washington's role--and will remove parents from decisions about the…

The "Alliance for Excellent Education" presents this Fact Sheet of answers to key questions raised surrounding implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Questions raised include: (1) What Are the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)?; (2) How Were the CCSS Developed?; (3) How Were the CCSS Adopted?; (4) What Changes in Instruction…

As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and…

For the United States to compete in a global knowledge economy, high schools need to improve dramatically. Young people leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills required for career and college success. Beginning in the 1980s, reports such as "A Nation at Risk" documented the links between education, reading and…

A national survey of school districts last fall by the Center on Education Policy found that fewer than half of the districts had planned professional development aligned to the Common Core State Standards this school year. The challenge of getting the nation's 3.2 million K-12 public school teachers ready to teach to the standards is enormous.…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law in December 2015, is the latest reauthorization of one of the most influential pieces of federal education legislation, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The law had not been reauthorized since 2001 when the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed, and ESSA is the result of…