Despite the myriad of challenges that families, students, teachers and policymakers faced in 2021, the momentum to transform education did not waver. New opportunities for students unfolded in more than a dozen states through expanded private and public school choice. An additional 1.7 million students gained eligibility for private choice alone,…

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education announced the "Raise the Bar: Lead the World" initiative to use decades of research and professional experience to transform public education and advance education equity. There are three focus areas: (1) Achieve Academic Excellence; (2) Boldly Improve Learning Conditions; and (3) Create Pathways…

For many students, developmental education is the largest obstacle to college success, hindering progress before they ever enroll in a college-level course. Postsecondary practitioners and researchers have been re-examining and challenging many traditional elements of developmental education from placement strategies to the sequence of courses…

The purpose of this slide deck is to shine a spotlight on education in the American South with a focus on equity and to provide an understanding of the historical, social, political, and economic context in which the education sector operates. Any movement serious about improving education and life outcomes for underserved student groups --…

Growth of voucher and education savings account (ESA) programs has drawn attention to how states ensure accountability and transparency to parents and the public. With over half of voucher and ESA programs designed for students with disabilities, there is interest in the information parents receive about special education services and rights when…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on the Promise of Public Schooling and includes: (1) America Does Not Have to Stay Stuck at Losing One in Four High Schoolers (María…

The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) provided states with newfound flexibility on accountability measures and school improvement strategies. Many policy experts have analyzed states' ESSA plans, which explain how states use their federal funds under various provisions of the new law, as well as the approaches states take to identify and rate…

As states adopt and implement bold education reforms intended to dramatically increase a student's likelihood of graduating from high school prepared for college and career, there is a strong sense among many states that reporting the right data to the right people at the right time, and reporting it well, is an essential path toward meeting their…

This report, the first in the series, points out that, while urban families increasingly have access to a variety of school options--including charter schools--many rural families have just a single school option. There are numerous examples of rural charter schools that have done great things for students while also benefiting the larger…

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…

As states adopt and implement bold education reforms intended to dramatically increase a student's likelihood of graduating from high school prepared for college and career, there is a strong sense among many states that reporting the right data to the right people at the right time, and reporting it well, is an essential path toward meeting their…

The state's Race to the Top (RTT) application requires changes to the state's evaluation/accountability system. It requires a teacher effectiveness measure, district effectiveness measure, leader effectiveness measure. Regarding the teacher effectiveness measure, RTT requires linking the data of individual students to individual teachers as part…

A full year of progress in advancing education reform across America is documented in each of the Foundation for Excellence in Education's Annual Reports. The illustrated pages of the 2014 report, provide data-rich updates on Excellence in Education's work to advance student-centered policies in more than 40 states, all aimed at improving learning…

Nearly 7,000 students drop out of the nation's public high schools each school day, and 3,000 of them are in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states. Altogether, an estimated 1.3 million teenagers in the United States abandon high school each year without earning a diploma. In 1,700 of the nation's high schools, less than 60 percent of…

In March 2008, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched a competition for states to submit proposals to participate in a Differentiated Accountability Pilot program. The stated aim of the pilots was to allow participating states "to vary the intensity and type of interventions to match the academic reasons that led to a school's…