In this policy brief Title II of ESSA is examined. Title II of ESSA includes provisions for developing high quality principals. This brief elaborates two strategies the federal government can employ under Title II to support principal quality: (1) competitive grants; and (2) monitoring return on investment.

Module A of the OECD Higher Education Policy Survey (HEPS) 2022 elicited information on policies to promote digitalisation of higher education in OECD member and accession countries. In total, 30 jurisdictions responded, providing comparative information on various areas of digitalisation policy, from regulation and governance to financial and…

The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins Act) is the primary federal law aimed at developing and supporting career and technical education (CTE) programs for secondary and postsecondary students. In the 109th Congress, the Perkins Act was reauthorized by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of…

COVID-19 has provided the impetus for Congress to implement reforms, many of which are long overdue. Policymakers should take the necessary steps to restore educational autonomy to states and reduce federal regulations and compliance. This "Backgrounder" outlines six reforms that federal policymakers can undertake to free school leaders…

State policy leaders have an opportunity to take leadership in protecting students--and especially student veterans--from being targeted by predatory colleges. Given failings by the federal government to police for-profit colleges and to ensure basic rights for students to attend college without being defrauded, it now falls to the states to step…

The proposed College Affordability Act calls for a massive uptick in federal spending on higher education and increased access to federal student aid (which has been shown to inflate tuition), while easing the criteria for federal loan forgiveness, leaving the bill to American taxpayers. Americans need solutions that will drive down the price of…

This report identifies and describes federal student loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs that are currently authorized by federal law. It provides brief, summary descriptions of identified programs. These program descriptions are intended to provide policymakers with general information about the purpose of existing programs and how they…

Today's challenges for special education funding are rooted in a complex regulatory and policy environment that reflects little forethought about who can and will pay special education costs. Despite the fact that states and school districts are legally required to ensure a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities, the…

The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 defines major management challenges as programs or management functions that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, and where a failure to perform well could seriously affect the ability of the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to achieve its mission or…

This report is part of a five-report series on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that identifies the challenges facing English learners with disabilities and their families, as well as the unique needs facing students with disabilities from low-income families, and it examines how they fare in the public education system. The…

For the most part, American colleges and universities have squandered the opportunity to respond to COVID-19 innovatively. Online education has accelerated, but the quality of colleges' new online courses is low. Rather than innovate, colleges simply hope to stay solvent until they can get back to normal. Many in-person colleges will fail to stay…

How can local education agencies (LEAs), elementary schools, and teachers make sure the kindergarten year deepens and builds on children's previous learning? What are the best ways to keep children and families connected to school and engaged in learning? And how can LEAs, schools, and classroom teachers provide the smoothest transition possible…

This Issue Brief reviews general state practices to maintain safe schools and federal education programs that fund and shape some local school practices. Re-examining how school safety initiatives are implemented in states suggests the need for increased collaboration among states and new flexibility for states when it comes to the use of existing…

All states value their distinct approaches to policy and to life and the U.S. Constitution embeds the idea of state rights and responsibilities as a core principle in the federal system. California arguably takes this further than most. This paper provides a new way to think about how national policies might complicate or augment the next state…

Public discussion leading up to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015 focused on the controversial testing, standards, and teacher evaluation provisions of the previous reauthorization, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; 2002), and its…