Created by the U.S. Congress in 2006, the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) represents the first federal initiative targeted directly at state and district efforts to introduce performance measures into educator compensation. TIF responds to a growing body of evidence that existing pay structures do not respond to labor force realities or adequately…

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…

K-12 school reform movements over the past twenty-five years have grown in urgency as numerous schools in South Carolina and across the nation have failed to meet student needs. The urgency for reform was spurred by, "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform," a report released by the National Commission on Excellence in…

On August 5, 2006, more than 300 South Carolina National Board Certified Teachers[R] (NBCTs) assembled in Columbia at a policy summit to address the vexing problem of recruiting and retaining accomplished teachers in high-needs schools. Before this summit, the NBCTs read a number of background papers and research summaries. During the summit, they…

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project…