This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This edition of "The ABCs of School Choice" defines each of the four types of school choice: education savings accounts, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and individual tax credits and…

Little is known about how the expansion of state pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs affects low-income children with disabilities in Head Start. Using almost 30 years of administrative data of all Head Start programs and a differences-in-differences design, this study tests the possibility that, as state pre-k differentially draws relatively more…

As a way to increase student engagement and encourage students to connect to their learning, some states have begun efforts to incorporate ethnic studies into state content standards. Ethnic studies standards focus on the "knowledge and perspectives of an ethnic or racial group, reflecting narratives and points of view rooted in that group's…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requires states to have statewide accountability systems to help provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps. These systems must meet certain federal requirements, but states have some discretion in…

Boosting literacy among school-age children remains a national priority. Nearly one third of students in the United States have not developed the foundational reading skills needed to succeed academically, with students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English learners especially at risk. Starting in 2010, Congress invested more…

The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) loosened the federal policy grip over states' teacher accountability systems. We present information, collected via surveys sent to state department of education personnel, about all states' teacher evaluation systems post-ESSA, while also highlighting differences before and after ESSA. We found that states…

The annual National Deaf-Blind Child Count is the world's first and longest-running count of children who are deaf-blind. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a collaborative effort between the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) and state deaf-blind projects throughout the country, including those in the…

Assistant teachers are an integral component of the preschool classroom, planning and implementing educational activities and supporting individual children and small groups, and often bring linguistic, cultural, and racial/ethnic diversity to the teaching field. However, there is limited research on the impact of assistant teacher qualifications…

A leadership academy is a formal professional learning opportunity for current school leaders, focused on augmenting knowledge and skills, increasing specialization, and refreshing leadership practices. States interested in supporting leadership academies through federal or other funding sources can look to current models of leadership academies…

The statement "The only thing that is constant is change" is an apt description of state accountability systems over the past few years. With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), many states have significantly refined their existing school accountability systems or completely redesigned new systems in recent years. The…

This is a technical report of agency actions and legislative recommendations for programs regulated by the state or government-to-government responsibilities that must be met for children aged 3-5. As changes in PreK services affect enrollment in birth-3 and school-age care, impacts on these other programs are vital to alignment work. Partnering…

Large-scale performance assessment programs are a longstanding reform tool. However, standard setting can be a challenge for assessment programs that use primarily non-standardized assessments. The purpose of this paper is to extend this field of research by explaining the standard setting methodology applied to one more recent instantiation of a…

In 2014, the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) thrust adult educators into a dramatically new landscape of service expectations and partnership requirements to increase the ability of providers to meet the employment needs of students and employers. The coronavirus pandemic created an accelerating demand for adult education…

This guide describes key steps for developing a well-thought-out plan for evaluating a State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). The guide provides considerations for how to incorporate each step into an evaluation plan, as well as a series of worksheets that correspond to each step and can be used to facilitate the planning process. The guide,…

With the introduction of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, physical education is now considered a part of a "well-rounded education." One of the critical features of ESSA is the growing expectation for states to establish accountability systems that monitor student learning. In 2018, a group of researchers conducted a study…