English learners are entitled to participate meaningfully and equally in educational programs. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes provisions to ensure success for all students, including English learners. However, the federal government does not prescribe specifically how states should meet these provisions; instead, it is the…

In March and April 2021, conservative education leaders representing state education agencies, charter networks, foundations, think tanks, research organizations, testing companies, universities and teachers convened in a private, three-part working group to discuss the future of state assessment and accountability systems. This brief highlights…

This manuscript explores how the changing policy context of common standards may have influenced the provision of curriculum materials in the United States. Many educational reforms do little to change the nature of classroom instruction, and prior research has argued that this constancy is, at least in part, due to the common use of instructional…

This paper reports the innovative organization's components in basic education institutions in Thailand and the results of confirmatory factor analysis to validate those components. The data for analysis were collected from the samples of 84 school directors, 332 deputy school directors, and 84 heads of ICT department in schools of the Basic…

Addressing teacher shortages has been a persistent concern among leaders in schools, districts, state education agencies, and the federal government. This report describes an approach to identifying patterns of teacher shortages that was collaboratively developed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Regional…

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has solicited public comment on pandemic-related revisions to its important "Learning Time" regulation, 603 CMR 27.00. The revisions establish baseline procedural and substantive requirements for in-person, hybrid, and remote learning. Appreciating that the…

Strategic Performance Management (SPM) is a multistep process that guides an organization's leadership in designing and revising a system of strategic performance management. Communication is key to the success of any change initiative. SPM provides a logically coherent process for linking strategic planning with performance management, ultimately…

Many state funding programs are intended to reach directly to students, but in reality funds must go through school districts, which have considerable freedom in how they allocate resources. As such, states have a strong interest in ensuring that districts invest in strategies that are backed by evidence and create opportunity for all students.…

Through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), states received an amount of federal funds to address the educational needs of students during and after the pandemic. The stimulus funds created both opportunities and challenges for state educational agencies (SEAs). This brief highlights how the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has used several…

Using a national database of state education policies related to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), as well as data from surveys, interviews, and site visits, Adam Edgerton describes how ESSA has shifted relationships among state education agencies (SEAs) and school districts. Some states have not changed their policies much despite the…

In the 2018-19 school year, 5,664 U.S. schools were identified as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), meaning that thousands of students attended schools that performed in the bottom 5% of their state's accountability framework and/or had a graduation rate below 67%. Across the nation, states, parents, educators, principals and…

Housing instability and homelessness are highly detrimental to children and youth, and the effects often linger long after the experience itself. Students who have experienced homelessness are more likely to drop out of school and, in turn, adults without a high school degree or GED are more likely to experience homelessness themselves. Under the…

This paper explores what some have described as a 'crisis in meaning' in religious education (RE). One region, Northern Ireland, is chosen as a focus for exploring the question of meaning-making as it provides an example of 'agreed ambiguity' -- where a common syllabus for RE is believed to be ascribed different meanings by different schools. The…

This Brief contains a scan of the interim assessment landscape, and is focused on the availability of documentation supporting the appropriateness of these assessments for students with disabilities. The purpose of this Brief is to advise the development of guidance that facilitates improved practices related to the use of interim assessments for…

The 2020-21 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report provides insight into our sponsorship work during the last school year, one of the most challenging imaginable for schools, students, and families. As expected, student outcomes on 2020-21 state assessments were lower across all schools last year, but other traditional academic outcome data were once…