Throughout the research conducted for WestEd's recent brief, "Schools Can't Do It Alone: Developing Sustainable Systems of Care for School-Based Behavioral Health in California," local educational agencies (LEAs) expressed a need for technical assistance (TA) in a variety of areas to improve student behavioral health outcomes. Needed…

With the passage of the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states were required to add a fifth indicator on "School Quality or Student Success" (SQSS) to their school accountability systems. An analysis of submitted ESSA state plans found that 13 states included measures of school climate as their SQSS indicator or incorporated…

Inclusion rates for students with disabilities in general education settings have increased nationwide. To further extend this progress, schools, districts, and educational service agencies in rural areas have sought ways to improve their own inclusion metrics. This article describes a technical assistance arrangement that was initiated between a…

In this brief we summarize findings from three surveys that sought to learn how county offices of education (COEs) are changing in response to the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and the Statewide System of Support (SSS). COEs have been assigned critically important responsibilities in the implementation of these…

The administration of college admissions examinations by SEAs [state education agencies] and LEAs [local education agencies] raises potential legal issues under FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974], IDEA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act], PPRA [Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment], and state privacy laws, and…

The passage of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in 2013 gave California school districts flexibility in allocating resources and significantly boosted state support for the education of disadvantaged students. LCFF also includes a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), which requires districts to enlist the help of parents and the…

About 13 percent of children aged 3 through 21 enrolled in public schools received special education services in school year 2015-16, and about 3 percent of children from birth through age 2 received special education services. Concerns about the difficulties identifying and evaluating children for special education have been raised by the media,…

The Division of Adult and Technical Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), sponsors individualized technical assistance to support states in improving the quality of their "Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006" ("Perkins IV") accountability systems. In response to OCTAE's…

The Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) flexibility program initiated in September 2011 holds several implications for special education accountability and, by extension, state education agencies and the technical assistance providers who support them. The U.S. Department of Education has approved ESEA waiver applications for a majority of…

California is in the midst of a major K-12 reform effort. In 2010, the state adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which outline what students should know in mathematics and English. In 2013, it adopted tests of the new standards developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Collaborative (SBAC). These tests will be administered beginning…

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) research and technical assistance activities that were completed between 2007 and 2013. The purpose of these activities was to investigate whether ILPs should be considered a promising practice for youth with and without disabilities and to identify…

The federal School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, to which $3 billion were allocated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), supports schools attempting to turn around a history of low performance. School turnaround also is a focus of Race to the Top (RTT), another ARRA-supported initiative, which involved a roughly $4…

The Building State Capacity and Productivity (BSCP) Center released a report outlining a process for state education agencies (SEAs) to evaluate and improve their System of Recognition, Accountability, and Support (SRAS). The federal government now sets high expectations for state and local use of federal dollars while allowing greater state…

This Quick Reference Document has been prepared by the Regional Resource Center Program ARRA/Fiscal Priority Team to aid RRCP State Liaisons and other (Technical Assistance) TA providers in understanding the general context of state questions surrounding excess cost. As a "first-stop" for TA providers in investigating excess cost…

This article features Strategic School Funding for Results (SSFR) project, a new joint initiative of the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Pivot Learning Partners (PLP) aimed at improving school finance, human resources, and management systems in large urban school districts. The goal of the project is to develop and implement more…