The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides greater flexibility in state accountability systems than did previous federal legislation. In response, many states continue to refine their accountability systems to include college readiness tests, including college admissions and placement exams. This paper summarizes perspectives of K-12…

State accountability systems have been a primary school reform initiative in the US for the past 20 years, but often produce unintended negative consequences. In 2004, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) implemented the Performance Based Monitoring and Analysis System (PBMAS), which included an accountability indicator focused on the percentage of…

The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and the Lau v. Nichols Supreme court case (1974) have changed the way school districts prioritize education for English Learners. With the same intention to prioritize education for English Learners alongside foster youth and low income, former Governor Jerry Brown and the California legislature followed suit by…

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…

The central purpose of this article is to explore research, issues, and perspectives on the implementation of service learning programs to improve student achievement in at-risk student populations. The implementation of service learning programs takes place within multiple contexts and across several terrains. The complexities of implementing…

This document records testimony from a hearing held to learn what actions the Department of Education intends to take to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act and to help ensure the department acts in a manner that strictly adheres to the letter and intent of the law. Under the new law, authority over accountability, teacher quality, and school…

The "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) replaced the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB) in December 2015, substantially changing the federal role in education and how schools across the country will be held accountable. For state policymakers, designing new ESSA-compliant accountability systems is a significant…

As states continue to evolve and implement their accountability and public reporting systems in 2016 and beyond, they have an opportunity to select indicators that inform continuous improvement, guide decisions about resource allocation, inform policies, capture progress, and factor into accountability determinations. Achieve and Advance CTE have…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 required states to set cutoffs to determine which schools were subject to accountability for their racial/ethnic subgroups. Using a regression discontinuity design and data from North Carolina, this study examines the effects of this policy on teacher turnover and attrition. Subgroup-specific accountability had…

The Higher Education Act (HEA) can promote connections to work by supporting linkages to career pathways that help youth and adults with barriers to employment obtain postsecondary credentials that lead to family-sustaining jobs with the potential for career advancement. HEA also has the potential to support partnerships between higher education,…

Purpose: Most community college students do not graduate let alone transfer to university. Hence, the purpose of this qualitative study was to (a) examine the learned experiences of California community colleges and California State University (CSU) administrators and staff in implementing the California Student Transfer Achievement Reform (STAR)…

Each school year, approximately 6.8 million students miss at least 15 days of school, putting their academic success at risk and making them chronically absent as defined by the federal government. This report provides case studies that detail specific ways cities are leading efforts to get students to school each day. Case studies for the…

In almost any conversation about accountability for private schools, accountability for public schools is assumed. This is a dangerous myth. By assuming that the edifice that states and the federal government have created over the past several decades actually holds schools accountable, school choice advocates immediately find themselves in an…

The purpose of this Policy Impact Snapshot is to identify the major categories of career and technical education (CTE) currently available within our nation's secondary and postsecondary education systems and describe the existing research on whether these programs are achieving desired outcomes for students. This Policy Impact Snapshot describes…

With the promulgation of the South African Schools Act of 1996, public education in South Africa was decentralised and communities were made responsible for school governance. This placed the responsibility on school governing bodies (SGBs) to take all measures within their means to supplement state funding for the acquisition of adequate human…