Since March 2021, school district leaders have been developing and implementing plans to spend their "ARP dollars," that is, the historic $122 billion allocated from the American Rescue Plan to help districts recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic. The money, also referred to as ESSER funds (Elementary and Secondary School…

In recent years and especially over the past 12 months, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest after the death of George Floyd, community colleges have been making efforts to view and rethink their missions through an equity lens. These efforts have included turning this prism toward institutional operations like student services, human…

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: Recognizing longstanding educational inequities, what research-backed practices can…

To address lingering pressures in the aftermath of the pandemic, California public schools received record funding, largely bolstered by nearly $60 billion in federal and state one-time stimulus funds. This report takes a comprehensive look at the allocation and uses of these federal and state educational recovery funds in California.

Competitive integrated employment is defined within the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA, 2014) as full-time or part-time work at minimum wage or higher, with wages and benefits similar to those without disabilities performing the same work, and fully integrated with coworkers without disabilities. The Act requires that states ensure…

In 1965, Congress established Title I, Part A (herein referred to as Title I) as a part of the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Congress noted two issues that it hoped to address through Title I funding: schools needed additional financial assistance to provide services to children in low-income families, and school…

College opportunity is key to ensuring that California can meet its economic goals, maintain its global standing, and keep up with technological advances. As California's economy becomes increasingly reliant on a better-educated workforce and further connected to a global marketplace for its services and products, immigrant students are poised to…

Organizational leaders from nearly every sector have been using continuous improvement models and improvement science for years to improve products, services, and processes. Though continuous improvement processes are not new in education, they are relatively new in the state policy arena. In a continuous improvement system, educators use data,…

Of all the rules that the U.S. Department of Education will have to formulate for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the proposed regulations to monitor that states and districts spend comparable amounts for schools eligible and not eligible to use Title I funds are attracting the most attention. Currently, districts can show comparability based on…

The U.S. Department of Education required each state to submit a reopening plan outlining how they were using and planned on using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) conducted an analysis of 37 state plans to better understand if and how schools were prioritizing Tier 1…

The U.S. Department of Education required each state to submit a reopening plan outlining how they were using and planned on using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) conducted an analysis of 37 state plans to better understand if and how schools were prioritizing their…

The COVID-19 pandemic created a major upheaval to an already fragile early care and education (ECE) system. As a result of the pandemic, families face additional challenges accessing care and child care providers are experiencing greater financial difficulties and struggling to keep their programs open. The pandemic has also exacerbated the…

In this brief article, John Wertman describes the evolution of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, the role the American Association of Geographers (AAG) played over the last decade in getting it passed, and the impact the Act has on funding for K-12 geography education. The legislation, while not perfect, includes promising new…

Educators are on the front line of the national response to COVID-19. Although school buildings are closed nationwide, schools remain central to the national strategy for meeting families' basic needs while educators strive to continue teaching students remotely. Long-standing gaps in educational opportunity and access have been further exposed…

In 2017, the Center on School Turnaround at WestEd published the "Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: A Systems Framework" [see ED584107] a framework to assist states, districts, and schools to improve student achievement in the lowest-performing schools. The framework immediately garnered national attention by outlining four…