One year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced state and school leaders across the nation and around the world to immediately close school buildings, the lasting impact on students is increasingly evident: Months of online learning and limited in-person interaction with educators, coaches and mentors have led to gaps in learning, and unknown…

Home visiting is an important component of the early childhood (EC) landscape. However, states often fail to prioritize home visiting data when developing their early childhood integrated data systems (ECIDS). Home visiting represents a range of services, models, and programs, each with different data requirements, so integrating the data can be…

Change swept throughout the country with the 2018 elections, bringing 20 new governors into office. Whether returning or starting their first term, governors are taking the opportunity in their State of the State addresses to highlight achievements and outline plans for the future. Every governor who has given an address has mentioned an…

Rhode Island's School Accountability system is in a period of transition to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The accountability data released October 2017 is based on the 2016-17 administration of the PARCC assessment. Results from the Multi-State Alternate Assessment in ELA/literacy and mathematics are also included. The results of this…

A governor's State of the State address is an opportunity to outline policy priorities, highlight past accomplishments and reflect on the condition of the state and country. In 2018, 17 governors are serving their last year in office, having reached the end of their term or deciding not to seek re-election. Many of them used their State of the…

This article examines the current literature and state legislation of statewide "free tuition" promise programs. The purpose of this paper was to analyze state free community college programs, legislation, scholarly literature, and state websites to understand program structures, funding sources, and student-eligibility requirements. The…

How can states help ensure that their systems are providing schools and educators with the essential data for improvement efforts? One powerful strategy is to collaborate with partners using a continuous improvement approach. Six states have been doing just that--working together to investigate and address specific, high-priority, high-impact ways…

This brief provides an overview of the Instructional Improvement System (IIS) models for State education agencies in Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island, along IIS goals in the following areas: (1) Standards and Curriculum; (2) Instructional Practices; (3) Assessment and Growth; (4) Learner Profiles; (5) Data…

Response to intervention (RTI) is an approach to instruction, assessment, and intervention that enables early identification of students who are experiencing academic or behavioral difficulties. The jurisdictions served by the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands expressed interest in a study of whether and how state education…

Nearly one third of U.S. students will fail to graduate from high school this year and another one-third will graduate without the skills needed to be successful after high school. These statistics are even more alarming for minority and low income students, with fewer than 10% of low income minority students going on to earn bachelors' degrees…

The 468 libraries in Rhode Island(public, academic, school, and special) are all seeking to give optimum access to information to their users. The chief new component of the Five-Year Program presented is the development of ways to reach those who are not now library users at the same time that services to the current patrons are improved and…

The Long-Range Planning Committee of the Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) was charged with assessing the needs of all types of libraries and library agencies in the state as well as their client groups, and with making recommendations for future service patterns in the state. The committee's deliberations produced these recommendations: (1)…

A project explored less costly methods by which educational planning and control information could be collected, organized, and disseminated to appropriate planners and policymakers. An existing prototype computer simulation was refined and further developed by incorporating into it additional demographic, manpower, educational, and economic data…

A statewide career education needs assessment was conducted to evaluate career education in Rhode Island. Items in ten areas (self-awareness, career awareness, attitude development, educational awareness, daily living skills, stereotype elimination, career planning and decision-making skills, information, career exploration, and career…

A report on the 3-year regional project, sponsored by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), on the public investment in higher education and its importance to economic development for the six state legislatures of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont is presented. During the years…