In order to provide students with demand-driven skills that will set them up for career success, the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) and state businesses collaborated to create the Simulated Workplace--powerful learning environments that transform the traditional classroom into student led companies that replicate real-world work…

This publication highlights how state leaders tackle data interoperability with the emergence of data standards for student information, assessment, digital content, and other educational applications. While states are at various maturity levels for interoperability, each state shares goals for interoperability, the drivers for those goals,…

ORS 327.016 directs the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to prepare an annual report on English learner program funding and student outcomes. The report's intention is to describe the population of English Learners in Oregon and provide a summary of district and state progress towards meeting their needs and objectives. The ODE annually…

California's school accountability and support system, the Statewide System of Support (System of Support), was designed to transform California's approach to school improvement. Rather than focusing on punitive consequences for underperformance, the System of Support is designed to provide education leaders and educators with needed support to…

The purpose of the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) is to help state education agencies (SEAs) create statewide conditions that facilitate and encourage implementation of evidence-based approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools and districts. Because each state is unique, state teams must develop their own customized plans…

This inventory is designed to assist state education agencies and other stakeholders to identify the policies, programs, and initiatives in their states that support students on their pathways to success in college and careers. In other words, it addresses the question: What policies, programs, and initiatives does your state have in place to…

Since the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) to support social and emotional learning (SEL) in 2016, participation has grown dramatically. CASEL initially planned to work with five states. In the past two years, the CSI team and its partners have worked with 25,…

Since the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) to support social and emotional learning (SEL) in 2016, participation has grown dramatically. CASEL initially planned to work with five states. In the past two years, the CSI team and its partners have worked with 25,…

A state department of education (SDE) served by the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at SEDL requested information regarding state use of schoolwide, large-scale professional learning communities (PLCs). Specifically, the SDE staff wanted to know the following with respect to PLC work in other states: (1) Are PLCs state-mandated through…

In 2014, state and national leaders found many aspects of turning around America's low-performing schools even more daunting than in the previous year. These views were revealed in the Center on School Turnaround's (CST's) 2014 February/March survey of school turnaround leaders in State Education Agencies (SEA) and directors of the nation's…

The first eight years of life, beginning before birth and continuing through third grade, are a critical developmental period that sets the stage for future success. Research over the past 15 years has demonstrated the importance of high-quality care and education throughout the prenatal-through-third-grade (P-3) continuum, including prenatal and…

For most of U.S. history, local communities were the primary arbiters of school quality. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, states began assuming more and more control over school standards and outcomes. The question we seek to answer is whether and the extent to which a particular kind of local voice--the voice of education practitioners--is…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the states' new college- and career-readiness standards by providing (or facilitating the development of) aligned instructional resources and materials. These resources and materials are supplementary supports that…

The goal of the Center on School Turnaround (CST) is to provide technical assistance on research-based practices and emerging promising practices that will increase the capacity of states to support their districts in turning around the lowest-performing schools. When the CST opened its doors in October 2012, it began its work by asking the…

This report represents the work of New Jersey's Evaluation Pilot Advisory Committee (EPAC) from 2011-2013. The EPAC Interim Report, published in February 2013, summarized the establishment of the EPAC, key lessons learned from the 2011-12 teacher evaluation pilot, and recommendations for statewide roll-out of a more effective educator evaluation…