This Educational Leadership Portfolio (ELP) investigates how university staff can contribute to high-quality professional learning in K-12 public schools. The current shortcomings of most professional learning are well documented in research and policy, and in the lived experiences of teachers and administrators. There is an urgent need to…

To support state education agency (SEA) leaders in establishing a statewide vision for serving the whole person, WestEd drafted and piloted the guide, "Serving the Whole Person: An Alignment and Coherence Guide for State Education Agencies," in collaboration with several SEAs. This case story describes Delaware Department of Education…

In this policy brief, TransformEd provides policy recommendations for local and state leaders seeking to take a data-informed approach to SEL. We specifically crafted recommendations that incorporate the use of data because gathering data on SEL allows educators to make meaningful connections between student experiences, school culture, and…

School leadership is a critical factor in school improvement. The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) and Region 4 Comprehensive Center (R4CC) have strengthened school leadership through implementation of the Delaware Leadership Network and the Delaware Principal Supervisor Leadership Program. These two major efforts, collaboratively designed…

This report from the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Research Network Lead team provides final results from an evaluability assessment of CTE programs that feasibly could be evaluated using a rigorous experimental design. Evaluability assessments (also called feasibility studies) are used in education and other fields, such as international…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

It is notoriously difficult to change a core curriculum. As credit hours and course requirements are revised, politics quickly come into play and turf battles arise to create obstacles. The author writes that, in her experience, there are two default approaches to curricular change. The first is simply to "tweak" an existing…

Teacher professional development (PD) programs ideally evaluate how professional learning experiences empower teachers to be effective change agents in their disciplines and communities. The Khbrat ["experiences" in Arabic] program is a year-long, global teacher PD initiative launched by the Saudi Ministry of Education. The goal is to…

High-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs represent an effective way to provide young adults with an educational experience that prepares them for both college and career success. But not all CTE programs provide accessible pathways to a bounty of educational options without dead ends. To address the false dichotomy--college…

This document is the latest Grantmakers for Education's (EdFunders) study of what's now and what's next for education philanthropy. It aims to give insight into the priorities of the education funding community, and to help funders understand their role in supporting education innovation that benefits the nation's learners. The findings in this…

This Executive Position Paper examines the experiential learning component of the business capstone course at Delaware Technical Community College's George campus in Wilmington, Delaware. As a statewide institution of higher education, Delaware Tech offers associate of applied science degrees in practical, skills-based majors, including a number…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

Reforms of the scope and scale of those being undertaken by States today require the development of strong leaders at all levels of organizations to manage the change required by these and other initiatives. State education agencies (SEAs) can use this competency framework and accompanying exercise guide to build the skills, knowledge and…

Through its engagement with grantees on initiatives to improve school leadership, The Wallace Foundation came to recognize the important role that state organizations play in advancing effective leadership in districts and schools as well as the importance of coordination among state- and district-level policies. The authors have recently…

The goal of this publication is to provide a snapshot of some of the publicly available resources describing efforts across Race to the Top States to ensure that turnaround schools have effective leaders. It is based on a review of Race to the Top State Annual Performance Reports, including State reports of Year 1 accomplishments and second year…