According to an American Association of School Administrators survey, 6 percent of school districts closed or consolidated schools during the 2008-2009 school year, double the rate of the previous year. Another 11 percent are considering school closings or consolidations in 2010-2011. In the 1980's, declining enrollments were the main reason for…

The purpose of the research is to establish an understanding of relationships with students in public schools and the community. The research was done with looking at the geographic location of students in an urban school district, resources available and the amount of funding. The results concluded that schools, communities and parents have a…

Current state and federal reform initiatives rely heavily on the ability of multiple stakeholders to access and use information from statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) to improve student achievement. Policymakers believe that states are best positioned to achieve this by developing and implementing various policies impacting the educator…

Most educational entities confront any number of facility issues. Upgrading the physical infrastructure to meet current and future demands can be intimidating. The quantity and magnitude of capital issues in a changing environment can be overwhelming. How can all this complexity be made coherent to assure that decisions are sound and limited…

This report summarizes findings from one component of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education's (CPRE) evaluation of the General Electric Foundation's (GEF) "Developing Futures"™ in Education program in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS). As described in the CPRE proposal and research design, the purpose was to closely…

The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality asked Public Impact to conduct a study exploring the change processes in the creation and implementation of teacher evaluation systems. This TQ Research & Policy Brief provides an overview of Public Impact's preliminary findings as they relate to the impetus for change and the political and…

This "Stated Briefly" report is a companion piece that summarizes the results of another report of the same name. REL Northeast and Islands, in collaboration with the Northeast Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance and the New Hampshire Department of Education conducted a study of the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems…

REL Northeast and Islands, in collaboration with the Northeast Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance and the New Hampshire Department of Education, conducted a study of the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems in New Hampshire's School Improvement Grant (SIG) schools. While the basic system features are similar across district…

This article describes the development and evaluation of a classroom-based, low-cost intervention to increase parents' involvement in their children's education. In Phase 1 of the study, 17 parents of 8th grade students in a low-income, high immigrant and minority school district were interviewed to conduct a qualitative assessment of factors…

Data are only useful if people are able to access, understand and use them. Without access to the right information, stakeholders are forced to make decisions based on anecdote, experience or instinct. For information to be useful, it must be timely, readily available, and easy to understand. Different stakeholders need and are entitled to access…

In the past five years, the number of school librarians has greatly diminished despite valiant advocacy efforts by librarians, parents, and state and national library associations. This descriptive case study investigated the factors that led governing board members in a mid-sized urban high school district to retain certified school librarian…

The Colorado Graduates Initiative demonstrates seven factors that must be present to build an effective statewide collaborative effort to increase high school graduation rates. These include: 1) Leadership to unite diverse stakeholders on specific, common goals and catalyze them into action; 2) A focus on data, particularly on actionable, early…

In this article, the authors present findings from a case study of alignment that occurred between a Pre-K program and the larger K-12 system in which it was housed, to consider what this change process means for early childhood education. Specifically, they discuss and analyze the work of a collection of Pre-K stakeholders who proactively…

This case study describes how Porterville Unified School District (PUSD), a rural school district in California's Central Valley, began to fulfill its vision to transform high school and career education through the implementation of Linked Learning. Linked Learning is a state-wide initiative for redesigning large comprehensive high schools into…

The grade-span configuration of a school district determines the number of school-to-school transitions students experience; a review of the literature concludes that these factors may have an impact on students' sense of belonging, the continuity of curriculum and instruction, and student academic achievement. This study derived input from…