This issue represents one of the first objective, collaborative pieces addressing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) across all arts content areas in diverse areas of policy. The results justify further investigation into the congruence of the arts and SEL, exploring examples of SEL instruction in the arts, and the development of consistent messages…

This brief identifies important elements of high-quality early childhood education programs as indicated by research and professional standards. These include: (1) Early learning standards and curricula that address the whole child, are developmentally appropriate, and are effectively implemented; (2) Assessments that consider children's academic,…

The 2016 Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI) is the fifth release of an annual compilation of data on the condition of K-12 school choice in the geographical areas served by the nation's 100 largest school districts. The ECCI captures information on: (1) the extent of choice; (2) the characteristics of the process by which parents and…

This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2016 describes New Jersey's accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies New Jersey will implement to address those challenges. The cross agency RTT-ELC team has continued to implement the eleven projects that the federal partners have…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger (2014) addressed the need for states to align their accountability systems with new college- and career-ready learning standards. The authors recommended a new accountability paradigm that focuses on 1) meaningful learning, enabled by 2) professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by 3)…

This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2015 describes New Jersey's accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies New Jersey will implement to address those challenges. New Jersey's remarkable progress in increasing participation in their tiered quality rating and improvement…

This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2014 describes New Jersey's accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies New Jersey will implement to address those challenges. In December 2013, New Jersey was awarded $44.3 million to implement the Race to the Top-Early Learning…

Improving teacher preparation is critical to long-term improvement in teacher quality. More than 200,000 new teachers enter classrooms each year. Increasing student enrollment, the retirement of baby boom generation teachers, and high attrition in their first five years (between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession) have…

At open-access two-year public colleges, the goal of the traditional assessment and placement process is to match incoming students to the developmental or college-level courses for which they have adequate preparation; the process presumably increases underprepared students' chances of short- and long-term success in college while maintaining the…

It's fairly well known that high-quality preschool programs can have life-altering impacts on disadvantaged children, including reductions in school dropout and crime, and increased earnings. Not as well known is that terrific preschool programs have important academic and social benefits for middle-class children too. Decades of research indicate…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

In fall 2003 New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey and Commissioner of Education William L. Librera asked Achieve to review the new academic standards the state had developed in social studies to learn how New Jersey's new standards compared with those of other states. This summary report outlines the main findings from Achieve's review of the…

College assessment systems, suggest New Jersey's governor, must be built from two sides to have integrity: a common core of statewide information about college performance defined by public bodies and boards, and institutional mission-related information defined by college presidents, faculty, and trustees. (MLW)

This paper seeks to help state policymakers understand their relatively new role in improving the academic performance of local schools and districts. The first section, "Intervention Decision-Making Framework," focuses on the intervention decision making framework model, performance criteria, strategic criteria, diagnostic…