School choice policies have become a prominent feature of K-12 education in recent decades, reflecting the broader institutionalization of market-based political ideology in education. In this qualitative multiple case study, we draw on framing theory and interviews with 57 state-level education policy actors to explore the nature of the continued…

School choice policies have become a prominent feature of K-12 education in recent decades, reflecting the broader institutionalization of market-based political ideology in education. In this qualitative multiple case study, we draw on framing theory and interviews with 57 state-level education policy actors to explore the nature of the continued…

The Greeley-Evans School District in Colorado began moving toward innovation several years ago as district leaders searched for ways to improve student achievement, leverage technology, and stay within a very limited budget. In 2014, district leaders created a five-year blended learning implementation plan to increase student achievement that…

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…

Since 2009, academic outcomes for students in Denver Public Schools (DPS) have slowly improved. The primary mechanism for increasing academic performance lies within the district's schools, and on an aggregate level Denver has seen a substantial rise in both the number of quality schools and the percentage of students they serve. Every child…

At the first Portfolio School District Network meeting, in 2009, 15 people sat around a table wondering whether the portfolio idea could work only in special circumstances like New York City or New Orleans. Three years later, 27 districts are implementing this continuous improvement strategy and more are eager to learn how they can make it work…

Leaders of urban school systems are faced with a daunting fact: Some individual schools achieve incredible results for students from low-income communities, but no urban "school systems" achieve those results for all--or even most--children in an entire city. For generations, students in urban America have been underserved, with few…

The purpose of this article is to describe lessons learned from studying the leadership in eight award-winning secondary schools and districts that were recognized for successfully leveraging technology as part of their efforts for school improvement. Data were collected through observations, interviews, and document analysis in schools and…

The purpose of the U.S. Department of Education's online newsletter "The Education Innovator" is to promote innovative practices in education; to offer features on promising programs and practices; to provide information on innovative research, schools, policies, and trends; and to keep readers informed of key Department priorities and…

Technological and economic changes throughout the world as well as social and demographic trends at home have overshadowed efforts from schools to deliver on the promise of education. The Creativity Schools Initiative encourages a rethinking of schools' mission, design, schedule, structure, and instructional approaches as a fundamental first step…

Reports on the experiences of a Fort Collins (Colorado) elementary school that uses the Core Knowledge Curriculum (CKC). It explains how CKC promotes educational quality by eliminating curriculum gaps, legitimizing the grading system to reflect achievement, and building on previously learned material. E. D. Hirsch's book "Cultural…

Facing limited financial resources and a need to encourage large-scale school improvements, state legislators are addressing selected educational problems through such policy approaches as funding experimental programs, designing incentives for school improvement, and encouraging parental involvement. Identified within this document are a number…

This booklet describes the results of "Project Education Reform," a partnership involving the U.S. Department of Education, 8 state governors, and 16 school districts--2 in each participating state--representing a cross-section of the nation. It was generally agreed that a good basis for needed educational changes were the 13…

At the 2004 AACC Annual Convention, Sybil Jacobson, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation, announced the two recipients of the 2004 MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award. The award, won by City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and Community College of Denver (CCD), honors two colleges that have made great strides in helping…