This guidance is intended to assist State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools in understanding, implementing, and expanding preschool programs supported with funds under Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). This non-regulatory guidance has been revised to…

This study was an exploration of how the Katy Independent School District (ISD) Purchasing Department can effectively communicate its processes to district staff to improve efficiency. In recent years, the number of requisition rejections and order cancellations indicated a breakdown in communication-related to communication of procurement…

Providing and using technical assistance for capacity building within educational agencies is a complex endeavor. The U.S. Department of Education funds technical assistance centers to support state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) in the capacity-building process. Established in 2018, the Center to Improve Social and…

A conflict exists because all South Carolinian students are held to the same college- and career-readiness expectations, yet upstate school districts have opted to implement different grading policies. While the three Research Districts featured in this study employed varied forms of 50 as a minimum grade, other districts have no such mathematical…

This paper presents the findings from the second case in a multiple-case study examining the implementation of federal and state policies by State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to provide Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) to disabled students in two Southern states, referred to as State 1 and State 2. The first…

State and local report cards help ensure local educational agencies (LEAs), parents, families, educators, and communities have critical data and a common framework for gauging educational progress and success. Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requires States to annually share this important…

A key responsibility of state education agencies (SEAs) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is to monitor local education agency (LEA) implementation of the law (34 C.F.R. § 300.600-604). This Fast Five details five principles (plus one!) that we recommend SEAs incorporate as part of their LEA monitoring.

This secondary research study used quantitative research methods to gather and analyze statistical data on specific factors that have been demonstrated to impact teacher retention and assessed their relative importance in impacting teacher turnover. The data utilized for this study were peer-reviewed, publicly available, government data collected…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), establishes requirements for State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to prepare and disseminate report cards that provide information on State, LEA, and school performance and progress in an understandable…

This study explores the prevalence and implementation of four key school counseling policies at the state level and to what extent they are monitored for positive impact on the school counseling profession. Drawing on an analysis of state school counseling policy documents and interviews with school counseling leaders from 30 state education…

We outline a multidimensional ecological systems policy framework to better understand how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and patterns of racial disproportionality in special education relate. The framework engages with ideology, power, privilege, and context across the multiple layers of the policy-implementation process…

Over the past several years, states across the nation have seen a decline in the number of classroom teachers remaining in the profession. In November 2022, the Tennessee Department of Education launched work to begin a statewide Tennessee Teacher Retention Listening Tour to engage with Tennessee teachers across the state, hear their lived…

According to the "2016-2017 Rural Schools Spotlight Report," Texas is home to more than 1,240 school districts with almost 665 serving less than 1,000 students. One focus for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has been serving the needs of small and rural sites as they comprise more than 50% of the state's districts. In South Texas, a…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requires each State to develop and implement a single, statewide accountability system to support all public elementary school and secondary school students in meeting the challenging State academic standards. These systems are important tools in achieving the goal of improving outcomes for…

There continues to be confusion among some educators and staff in State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) about what is an accommodation and what is a modification. This confusion about accommodations and modifications happens in how these words are used in both instruction and assessment. The confusion is further…