The assessment of general education is often approached through broad surveys or standardized instruments that fail to capture the learning goals most faculty members desire for this portion of the curriculum. The challenge in remedying this situation lies, first, in defining general education in meaningful ways that can be both articulated and…

In this article, I first take on the issue of standards and the degree to which they do or do not contribute to the improvement of language and literacy outcomes for children in multilingual societies. Then I consider the relation of standards to language and, finally, raise the vexed issue of content knowledge and its relation to standards, on…

This "Performance Management: Description and Key Elements" document provides a general framework for State education agencies, local educational agencies and partners in the Reform Support Network (RSN) to understand and plan for the important work of performance management.

The Education Resource Strategies (ERS) School System 20/20 is a framework to guide district transformation so that every school succeeds for every student because of the system--not in spite of it. This summary presents highlights from a case study that uses the framework School System 20/20 to examine how Denver Public Schools is transforming…

This report illustrates how four high-performing systems--British Columbia (Canada), Hong Kong, Shanghai (China) and Singapore--developed their teacher professional learning. The report and accompanying materials are designed as a resource for teachers, school leaders and policymakers wanting to improve teacher professional learning in their…

The impetus for this report is new evidence that state department of education work to align instruction with standards may make a difference for teachers' practices and understanding about their state standards. Using data from the RAND American Teacher Panel, the authors found that Louisiana teachers were more likely than other teachers to…

Twenty years ago, a report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) changed the national discussion about what must be done to improve America's schools so that all students experience success. The Commission drew attention to the overlooked fact that the most important school variable affecting student achievement is…

As of the 2012-2013 school year, over 20 states have formally moved to the Common Core State Standards being used as the learning expectations for all students across the state, and the remainder will be doing so in the 2014-2015 school year. This document highlights state initiatives that are supporting Common Core implementation in the following…

This paper provides information about noncredit instruction in the California Community Colleges and updates the 2009 paper "Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge" to incorporate subsequent changes from the last decade. Since the passage of SB 361 (Scott, 2006), noncredit instruction has seen significant changes, including the…

Prepared for a Strategic Education Governance learning seminar, this working paper analyses the ways in which the Dutch government tried to reach overarching goals in education, in a system characterised by a high degree of distributed autonomy of education institutions and the participation of multiple actors, and consequently a government highly…

Michigan is at a critical moment in time -- a historic moment where citizens and leaders must choose whether the state will take advantage of new opportunities to become a top ten education state -- or face a continued and dramatic educational decline. Today, national data reveal that Michigan's public education system is among the poorest…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

The Common Core is at a critical juncture. While many surveys show that support for the standards themselves remains strong, implementation has not been without major challenges. "State Accountability in the Transition to Common Core," a new policy brief from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, provides cautionary advice about what key…

For more than one hundred and fifty years, until 2008, California was an undisputed national leader in its commitment to adult education. The state's investment in adult learners topped $750 million, a sum greater than the combined total of every other state in the nation. However, for the past several years recession and fiscal crisis have left…

For the last decade, much of the work of California school administrators has been shaped by the accountability of the No Child Left Behind Act. Now as they stand at the precipice of Common Core Standards and next generation assessments, it is important to reflect on the proficiency educators have attained in using data to improve instruction and…