America's schools must improve outcomes in special education. Students with disabilities remain 25 percent less likely than their peers to graduate high school despite the belief among researchers that 80 to 85 percent of students with disabilities should be able to meet the same academic standards as their peers. We convened leaders from cities…

State policy plays a critical role in determining whether and how well local education improvement strategies can be implemented. As states rework their education policies under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state and local leaders need a way to assess their current policy environment and identify the changes needed to encourage local…