This study examined why schools and districts transitioned from traditional education systems to competency-based, the challenges and benefits school experienced, and characteristics needed in a leader for the shift in education. The study used a quantitative approach informed by survey and correlational research. The participants in this study…

Teaching and learning are changing drastically in the wake of COVID-19, and once-skeptical K-12 system and school leaders are increasingly responding to students' academic needs with competency-based learning models. State boards of education and other state leaders should examine the rationale and structures that underpin these student-centered…

In 2015, I was contacted by a federally recognized tribe in Alaska (referred to by the pseudonym Springfield Corporation, abbreviated as SC) regarding conducting a needs assessment for the tribe. The study was approved and its scope expanded to encompass the general community. Principal stakeholders approved the research questions listed below: 1.…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced K-12 school closures in spring 2020 to protect the well-being of society. The unplanned and unprecedented disruption to education changed the work of many teachers suddenly, and in many aspects. This case study examines the COVID-19 school closure-related changes to the professional life of a secondary school teacher…

This study sought to understand the opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of state designed Race to the Top (RttT) funded reform networks. Drawing on a conceptual framework developed from the networked governance literature, we analyzed the 12 state RttT grantees' applications. Our analysis revealed that states designed…

At state and institutional levels, leaders are discussing and enacting policy changes that could shape the future of higher education for decades-especially public higher education. But when citizens talk about the mission of higher education today, their conversations are different from those of policymakers. How do their values and concerns…

This monograph offers an in-depth look at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) efforts, an investment of more than $140 million to reform mathematics and science programs in rural K-12 public education and tribal education. The authors seek to promote a foundation of contextual understanding for improving public…

Founded in 1966 as the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Education Northwest works alongside educators, administrators, policymakers, and community members to transform teaching and learning. In the Northwest, educational priorities remain focused on closing the achievement gap. Through analysis of client requests, student assessment…

As a follow-up to a 2007 Edvantia, Inc. report entitled "A Legacy of Leadership and Lessons Learned: Results of the Rural Systemic Initiatives for Improving Mathematics and Science Education," (ED531892) Edvantia, Inc. sought and received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hold a forum in the nation's capital that…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

"Quality Counts 2008" reintroduces state grades in six key areas, from the Chance-for-Success Index to the teaching profession. This special issue of "Education Week" includes the following articles: (1) Human Resources a Weak Spot (Lynn Olson); (2) Teacher Salaries, Looking at Comparable Jobs (Christopher B. Swanson); (3) Data…

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory asked state department of education staff members of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to recommend Title I schools that had made significant improvement in student achievement. The Title I schools have schoolwide or targeted assistance and vary in size, grade configuration, diversity, and…

Opponents depict outcome-based education as an unproven one-size-fits-all experiment. Uncompromising attacks, principally from conservative Christian groups and tradition-minded parents and educators, are obstructing meaningful reform and costing some superintendents their jobs. Sidebars show how certain districts responded to the backlash, decode…

No Child Left Behind requires that all teachers have a degree in every subject they teach or pass an exam that proves they are "highly qualified" to teach that subject. A story from one Montana town demonstrates how the law is unrealistic for rural and small schools where one teacher may teach many subjects and where teachers are already…