Innovation in education is vital for responding to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and for building progress on longstanding challenges in schools. The infusion of substantial, highly flexible pots of federal relief dollars created an opportunity to pilot new programs and initiatives. Many states and districts opted to invest…

The five states in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northwest Region have many rural schools that have been designated as in need of improvement. And all five states had rural schools in the first cohort of federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) recipients. To address school improvement, the majority of those schools implemented the…

This brief summarizes the findings from a study that surveyed principals of rural schools nationwide that were designated as in need of improvement and that used the transformation model under the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. It provides information about the use of SIG funds in rural areas and is designed to help state leaders…

One objective of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) School Improvement Grants (SIG) and Race to the Top (RTT) program is to help states enhance their capacity to support the turnaround of low-performing schools. This capacity may be important, given how difficult it is to produce substantial and sustained achievement gains in low-performing…

This article describes the application of an interagency model to provide integrated services for children with disabilities in the Republic of Palau, a former United States Pacific island trust territory. Emphasis is on complying with Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act through indigenous people working together with…

Based on a 1978 State Implementation Grant Conference in Denver, Colorado, the report presents 10 papers on the implementation of statewide early childhood special education programs for handicapped children. Titles and authors include "An Introduction to Technical Assistance" (P. Trohanis, L. Gilkerson); "Statewide Technical…

THIS PAPER REVIEWS SOME OF THE PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTING TITLE IV OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. THERE WAS CONFUSION ABOUT THE INTENT OF THE DIRECTIVES FOR INSTITUTES TO IMPROVE THE ABILITY OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL "TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS" STEMMING FROM DESEGREGATION. THE TRAINING INSTITUTES ON TEACHING THE…

Passage of the Education Amendments of 1974 added a new section to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which required the U.S. Commissioner of Education to undertake specific activities regarding evaluation of the program. Efforts made by the Office of Education to implement this law are described, including the…

This report focuses on the areas of difficulty encountered by states in developing their three-year Adult Education State Plan required by the Adult Education legislation of 1978. It highlights those areas when technical assistance from the United States Office of Education is warranted. Findings and recommendations are based on the Division of…