At a time when innovation and flexibility have been lauded and prioritized in federal education policy, the passage of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) presents a unique opportunity for state education and workforce leaders to explore innovative ways to transform postsecondary outcomes for…

In late 2011, we created a Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) program focused on improving student performance in high-risk STEM courses. Our PALs are modeled after the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) program, which has been shown to provide long- and short-term benefits to both students (Chan & Bauer, 2015; Gosser, Kampeier, & Pratibha, 2010;…

This chapter describes some of the major principles, practices, and processes involved in designing and founding a new community college dedicated to improving student outcomes by doing things differently.

This book is an authoritative examination of summer learning loss, featuring original contributions by scholars and practitioners at the forefront of the movement to understand--and stem--the "summer slide." The contributors provide an up-to-date account of what research has to say about summer learning loss, the conditions in low-income…

This chapter surveys WNS findings that explored how "at-risk" identities affect students' educational outcomes and offers advice on how to ensure the success of these students.

Communities and governments can learn from each other to provide access to education and meet the learning needs of their most vulnerable children. Education Diplomacy can be used to prioritize education challenges, build mutual understanding, and shape consensus toward solutions that are supported by empowered parents/guardians, teachers, school…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

Since the publication of "Redesigning America's Community Colleges" (Thomas Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins) in 2015, guided pathways reform has become a national movement in community colleges. As of spring 2018, more than 250 community colleges have committed to undertaking large-scale guided pathways reforms as part of…

As a chief pillar of higher education and technological innovation, universities have been enhancing national innovative capacity and promoting the social and economic development of the nation. Graduate education is an important channel of nurturing high-level talents, of which the cultivation of graduate students' practical ability is at the…

Twenty-first-century students are adept at using technology, which means that incorporating appropriate technology into the classroom can excite and engage students and improve oral production and fluency, which Rossiter, Derwing, Manimtim, and Thomson (2010) have identified as missing from many language classrooms. Therefore, academic…

This teaching tip describes an intervention used in a third-grade classroom implemented to help students pass an end-of-grade reading comprehension test. Low scores on a practice end-of-grade comprehension test prompted a re-examination of classroom reading instruction and a plan for intervention. This teaching tip describes the phases implemented…

This report summarizes the Bridgespan's Group latest research project, "School District Innovation Zones: A New Wave of District-Led Efforts to Improve Economic Mobility." The report focuses on a new wave of district-led "innovation zones" that holds promise to overcome the challenges of turning around failing schools and…

Long, unreadable sentences in her students' essays led Rachel Foster to improve her post-16 students' punctuation. Her journey resulted, however, in more than improved punctuation. It led her to theorise what historians are really doing in their "signpost sentences". She found herself showing students how an academic historian…

Growth mindset, or the belief that talents and abilities are malleable and can grow, is known to hold immense benefits in the world of education. What benefits could it hold for our students' musical growth as well? This article explores the many benefits of instilling a growth mindset into our ensembles by examining research in educational…

Empowering teachers to use data effectively as part of a process of instructional improvement calls for schools and districts to engage in systematic collection and analysis of evidence as part of an ongoing school improvement cycle. In research and practice, the author has identified four steps school leaders--supported by central office--must…