The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed in 2015, signaled a major shift in the roles of states and districts in supporting school improvement. Under ESSA, state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) have more responsibility and flexibility in developing and implementing plans, informed by local context, to support the…

This brief explores the lessons learned from the 2016 Parents and Children Thriving Together: Two-Generation State Policy Network (PACTT Network), a collaboration between the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). Through this initiative, five states explored how to use the two-generation approach to…

Awarding credits based on student mastery of content and skills can remove barriers to increasing student readiness for college and careers, according to a new issue brief released by the National Governors Association. This brief shows how governors can lead efforts to foster alternative methods of awarding credit by working to: (1) Build…

Since the early 1990s, Congress has supplemented the Department of Education's (Education) Impact Aid program by providing funds for the Department of Defense's (DOD) Impact Aid program to compensate school districts with a high number of military dependent students. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 required GAO to…

In a 2012 paper for the Center for American Progress, "The State of Evaluation Reform," Patrick McGuinn (Drew University) identified the opportunities and challenges facing education agencies in Race to the Top (RTTT) grant-winning states as they prepared for the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems. The 2012 study undertook…

Project Forum at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) and the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) worked together to collect information regarding the need for a policy forum on the topic of administrative collaboration between school personnel who support homeless education under the McKinney-Vento…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

Best preschool programs provide both developmentally appropriate curricula and school-based family support services. This article describes four exemplary, innovative, and low-cost early education programs in Kentucky, Colorado, Iowa, and Florida that integrate family support, day care, and health and social services. These districts had visionary…

By creating the Colorado Preschool Program (CPP) in 1988, the Colorado General Assembly responded to the needs of 4- and 5-year-old children who are at risk of educational failure in Colorado. This paper is an executive summary of a report to the state's general assembly on the project's first 6 months of progress. The CPP addresses two critical…

This fifth annual report describes activities of Colorado's Statewide system of services and supports in compliance with Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The report notes an increasing emphasis on the following: values-oriented planning with extensive family involvement, interagency coordination, coordinated…

During the 1992-93 school year, 13 local migrant education projects, conducted by 5 Colorado school districts and 8 boards of cooperative educational services, served 2,233 migrant students in 326 Colorado schools. In the summer of 1993, 13 migrant education projects served 2,714 students in 15 schools. Federal funds in the amount of $2,303,388…

Issues in interagency collaboration and the experiences of a collaborative effort in a rural, economically depressed county of Colorado are discussed in this paper. The first section reviews the concepts of cooperation and collaboration as they relate to interagency activities and offers a literature review. The second section presents the…

This final report describes a 3-year project to provide services to all children (approximately 144) between 0-21 years with deaf blindness in Colorado. The project addressed seven areas: (1) information for identification, (2) technical assistance to develop services, (3) home-based services to infants and toddlers, (4) transition services, (5)…

This report outlines the national and state environmental context for the SECCS Initiative in supporting MCH strategic planning in early childhood systems building. This strategic context has implications for roles, relationships, and activities within a planning process and ultimately an implementation process. It summarizes the opportunities and…