School performance frameworks (SPFs) are action-oriented information tools that provide information on school performance and quality across a variety of measures. SPFs have evolved as a solution for local communities to make sense of an array of student, school, and system performance data, and to support transparent and equitable decisions. SPFs…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Statewide Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward…

In the current educational climate of testing and accountability, many elementary teachers find they lack adequate time and confidence to enact reform-based science teaching due to pressure to perform in reading and mathematics. With this tension in mind, we explore the phenomenon of elementary teacher specialisation in comparison to the…

Too many students spend their days in buildings with unhealthy air, have limited opportunities for physical activity, and have inadequate access to fresh water, nutritious food or a school nurse. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) recognizes the need for schools to support the whole child and specifically acknowledges the importance of health…

Looking at the evolution of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) over the last 50 years, this paper argues that many of the racial, social, and economic inequities of 1965 that President Johnson was hoping to address have only been accelerated. It's not only time for a modern rethink on educational equity, but also a much broader set…

The Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey (TEACHNJ) Act was adopted by the New Jersey legislature in August 2012 with the intent to raise student achievement by improving the overall quality of instruction. As a result of this act, new teacher evaluation systems, known as ACHIEVE NJ, have been introduced in school…

In conjunction with the White House Next Gen High School Summit on November 10, a new report finds that the number of high school dropouts decreased from 1 million in 2008 to approximately 750,000 in 2012. The report, released by the Alliance for Excellent Education, America's Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, and Everyone Graduates Center,…

The Issue: Washington is taking a close look at Title II, Part A (Title IIA) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as Congress debates reauthorization. The program sends roughly $2.5 billion a year to all states and nearly all districts to "(1) increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher…

Approximately one in four women experience sexual violence in college. Public institutions of higher education identify professionals specifically responsible for Title IX compliance, campus grievance processes, and survivor advocacy. Success in these roles depends upon a variety of institutional, legal, and procedural factors, and the ability to…

Since 2002 the federal government has required states to have accountability systems that measure the quality of schools. When the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act ushered in the accountability era nationwide, it did so with the ambitious goal of ensuring that by 2014 "all children . . . reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state…

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), federal education mandates will be decreasing, which means states will have more flexibility and authority than they've had in decades. State education agency (SEA) leaders are confronting great change and great opportunity as many agencies move away from a focus on compliance with federal regulations,…

Educational policies such as Race to the Top in the USA affirm a central role for testing systems in government-driven reform efforts. Such reform policies are often referred to as the global education reform movement (GERM). Changes observed with the GERM style of testing demand socially engaged validity theories that include consequential…

Over the past two decades, the percentage of American students with disabilities educated in general classrooms with their nondisabled peers has risen by approximately 50%. This gradual but steady policy shift has been driven by two distinct narratives of organisational change. The social justice narrative espouses principles of equality and…

Over the past few years, students by the thousands have refused to take their state's standardized tests. This "opt-out" phenomenon has prompted debate in state legislatures and in Washington, putting states at risk of losing Title I funds. Advocates describe opt-out as a grassroots movement of parents concerned about overtesting,…

When congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized testing in public schools became the law of the land. The ambitious legislation identified test-based accountability as the key to improving schools and, by extension, the long-term prospects of American schoolchildren. Thirteen years later, the debate over the federal…