Much research has noted the misalignment between kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) academic standards and curriculum materials used in classrooms. Many states and education organizations have been pushing for greater use of standards-aligned curriculum, especially during the past several years. In this report, the authors share results…

If a "curriculum" -- a set of instructional materials intended as a comprehensive course of study for a particular subject and grade level -- is well-aligned with state standards, it can help teachers deliver instruction that leads to students' mastery of those standards. However, most research suggests that curricula, in themselves, are…

Guided pathways reforms can take several years to implement at scale because they require a thoroughgoing redesign of a college's major functions, including: (1) organizing programs into career-focused meta-majors to enhance student recruitment and exploration and program improvement; (2) mapping clear paths to degrees, employment, and further…

Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013. The new standards set off a chain reaction of standards adoption and…

These appendices accompany the report "Final Report of the i3 Impact Study of Making Sense of SCIENCE, 2016-17 through 2017-18." Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the…

These two qualitative descriptive case studies investigated supports and barriers to integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as an instructional methodology in language arts and social studies departments at an urban and a suburban high school in Wisconsin. Integrated Comprehensive Systems (ICS) implementation was determined through the…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

Established in 2006 by New Leaders for New Schools[TM], the Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) initiative rewards high-need urban schools showing significant gains in student achievement. In exchange, schools agree to share the practices helping to drive those gains, which they do through an in-depth study of practice, aided by the EPIC…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

This report summarizes preliminary and exploratory research conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools and the American Institutes for Research on urban school systems participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study is one of the first large-scale analyses…