Policy shapes practice, and the increasingly important realm of professional development is no exception. To identify effective professional development policies and strategies, a Stanford University research team examined the policy frameworks supporting high levels of professional development activity in four states--(1) Colorado; (2) Missouri;…

In 2009 the Obama administration announced a focused commitment to turn around 5,000 of the United States' chronically lowest-performing public schools as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This commitment came with $3 billion in funding for the School Improvement Grant program, or SIG, along with new guidelines to ensure…

This report is the third of a three-phase research study of teacher professional learning opportunities in the United States. In this third phase of the research, the authors conducted case studies of four professionally active states to get a deeper look at the policy frameworks that support professional development in those states. These…

Vermont's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education was appointed in the summer of 1973 to consider major issues involving Vermont's postsecondary education programs. This report addresses the major problems in statewide coordination. Internally, fragmented planning and policy implementation are considered, and externally, multiple voices and…