In 2013, the Washington Student Achievement Council proposed a statewide goal for educational attainment that called for 70 percent of the state's 25-44 year olds (i.e., early and mid-career residents) to have a postsecondary credential. The goal was adopted by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. In 2019, the…

In 2019, the Washington Student Achievement Council adopted a Strategic Framework to better understand how state higher education policy contributes to campus and student success. The framework organizes the policy work into four areas deemed essential to achieve the 70 percent goal: (1) Affordability; (2) Enrollment; (3) Completion; and (4)…

Most public K-12 schools in the United States enact a school improvement plan each year based upon the state testing results from the previous year. Despite the many frameworks, research, and recommendations, few scholars tackled what the plans contain and the results. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods model, two stages examined school…

Although program evaluations using rigorous quasi-experimental or experimental designs can inform decisions about whether to continue or terminate a given program, they often have limited ability to reveal the mechanisms by which complex interventions achieve their effects. To illuminate these mechanisms, this article analyzes novel text data from…

The Washington State Board of Education (SBE) provides oversight of the Washington K-12 education system to ensure that all students have the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills they need to be become lifelong learners, take advantage of their choice of post-secondary training and education, support themselves and their families, live…

In 2013, the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) proposed as the state goal that 70 percent of the state's 25- to 44-year-olds (i.e., early and mid-career residents) should have a credential beyond high school. WSAC's Strategic Action Plan (SAP) provides a framework to organize the policy and practice innovation needed to achieve this…

Basic needs insecurity -- including housing and food insecurity, as well as lack of access to healthcare, childcare, transportation, and other basic needs -- is a critical barrier that can undermine persistence and completion rates for postsecondary students. The gaps in covering critical costs such as housing and food are pervasive among students…

As community colleges across the country look for ways to promote student success, the need for scaling effective approaches is critical. This guide builds on a framework of four phases of scaling developed in Job For the Future's (JFF's) previous publication, "Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College…

Rubric assessment of information literacy is an important tool for librarians seeking to show evidence of student learning. The authors, who collaborated on the Rubric Assessment of Informational Literacy Skills (RAILS) research project, draw from their shared experience to present practical recommendations for implementing rubric assessment in a…

This brief is the first in a series focusing on Employment First implementation as it relates to one of the seven elements within the High-Performing States in Integrated Employment model. It examines the background of circumstances under which Employment First efforts began in seven states, and introduces each state's values, mission, and goals…

Guided pathways are emerging as a strategy to help students complete a credential in a timely manner by encouraging or requiring them to select a program, and develop a degree plan or map, on a specified timeline. At a minimum, institutions may ask students to identify a meta-major, which is a broad area of academic programs with related courses…

As leaders of many higher education institutions determine online education is an important strategy for longterm success, one challenge this presents is the alignment of this approach with the institutional mission, vision, and core values--especially when these statements contain place-based emphases. The purpose of this descriptive, case study…

The promotion of social, emotional, and academic learning is not a shifting educational fad; it is the substance of education itself. It is not a distraction from the "real work" of math and English instruction; it is how instruction can succeed. And it is not another reason for political polarization. It brings together a traditionally…

The variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives that an ethnically diverse faculty provides a community college give it the capacity to support the complex work that community colleges undertake. The challenges in having a diverse faculty require recruiting diverse applicants and in retaining those applicants once hired. Achieving these…

Educators at North Mason wanted a cohesive assessment plan for their district. With help from NWEA, they aligned assessments to appropriate purposes and began focusing on student growth.