States have recognized the impact of high-quality early childhood education (ECE) on a child's later college and career readiness and success in life. Yet disparities in program access, quality, and resource allocation continue to deprive many young children and their families of adequate support. By investigating and applying state boards'…

Employing an institutional logics framework and critical discourse analysis, this study examines the discourse of participants in a stakeholder-feedback meeting about a proposal by the Denver Public School board to extend collective bargaining rights to teachers in the district's innovation schools. The findings provide insight into the logics…

This report provides six mini-case studies of higher education policy reforms enacted in other states, exploring the important role that state policy leadership played in developing, promoting, and implementing these policies aimed at improving higher education outcomes, and discussing the relevance of each reform effort for California. This…

In the final sprint to polish Race to the Top applications, hundreds of school districts shunned a shot at a share of $4 billion in grants by refusing to sign on to their states' plans for the federal competition. California officials had secured the signatures of 790 local education agencies (leas) late last week, including most of the state's…

A growing number of states and school districts are experimenting with new approaches to paying teachers. These efforts to reform teacher pay can involve a range of state and local actors, including governors, state education officials, superintendents, local school boards, teacher unions, private foundations, community organizations, and local…

A survey of 105 rural school superintendents in Colorado investigated areas significant to success in and satisfaction with the superintendency in rural school districts. These areas included school district background, perceptions of the rural superintendency, future plans of respondents, governance issues, board-superintendent relations,…

Background: There has been much educational verbosity over the past decade related to building capacity for effective schools. However, there seems to be a scarcity of clarification about what is meant by school capacity building or how to accomplish and sustain this process. This article describes the preexisting conditions and ongoing processes…

This report offers an inside look into the world of the nation's best and brightest education leaders, its school superintendents. What makes these superintendents stand apart, however, is their sheer dedication to and success in finding new ways to teach, new approaches to communicate and listen to their communities, and new strategies to ensure…

Summarizes a study that surveyed school board presidents and school superintendents about their perceptions of school reform. Reports their views on desirable restructuring outcomes, important restructuring ingredients, factors influencing restructuring, and the political emphases associated with restructuring. Although school officials generally…

The report was issued as a statutory requirement of the Colorado State Board of Education. The report was directed to include, but not be limited to: (1) Whether student scores have improved since the accountability reports were issued in 2001; (2) Data on safety incidents involving students; (3) Whether the format of the School Accountability…