The Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) employs six technical assistance (TA) practices that support an initial transformation process while simultaneously building system capacity to sustain and scale up equity-based inclusion in additional schools and districts over time. This paper explains these individual practices and…

The Race to the Top--Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) discretionary grant program supports states in building statewide systems that raise the quality of Early Learning and Development Programs and increase access to high-quality programs for children with high needs, so that all children enter kindergarten ready to succeed. This document is a…

This Report to Congress is required by Section 658L of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act, as amended. The report provides information about the role of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which is authorized under the CCDBG Act. This report covers fiscal year (FY) 2016 and (FY) 2017. The data and analysis contained in…

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII, or the Center) in 2011. NCII's mission during the first five years of funding was to build the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to support schools, practitioners, and other stakeholders in the…

A variety of stakeholders work to ensure opportunities for students with disabilities to learn in and through the arts. Because they work in various disciplines in the fields of arts education and special education, these stakeholders lack opportunities to share resources and information. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and its…

Delaware's Partnership Zone (PZ) is a multi-year initiative designed to produce dramatic improvement in Delaware's lowest achieving schools. Currently composed of the State's 10 persistently lowest achieving schools, the PZ aims to improve student achievement so schools realize adequate yearly progress by 2014. These schools remain a part of their…

This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…

Policymakers are recognizing that Pennsylvania has fallen behind in providing equitable access to high quality early childhood education. Governor Tom Wolf ran on a campaign promise of universal pre-k access and proposed an unprecedented budget increase for early childhood programs in 2016. In Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney has made pre-k a…

The reasons minority students are subject to exclusionary discipline more often than others are varied, but many experts agree that they often have little to do with the students themselves. Large rates of suspensions and expulsions tend to result from discipline policies in need of revision that are exacerbated by numerous administrators and…

Led by Newark Opportunity Youth Network (Newark OYN) in New Jersey, key public and private organizations in Newark came together to focus efforts on supporting disconnected youth and transforming how they are educated and prepared for life, postsecondary learning, and careers. This report describes how Newark OYN emerged and is charting its path…

The Bradley PDS Partnership, about which we report in this article, was established in 1995 to promote academic and professional development for P-12 students, pre-professionals, practitioners, and professors. For twenty years, the partnership has been generously funded by the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Bank, Trustee. In a grant…

The Department of Education (Education) created Race To the Top (RTT) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. From 2010 through 2011, Education awarded $4 billion in competitive grant funds to 19 states to reform core areas of K-12 education. RTT states also committed to building capacity to implement and sustain reforms. GAO and…

For several years, WestEd's Measure to Learn and Improve (MLI) project team has kept California state policy leaders informed about the statewide implementation of the California Academic Standards in English language arts and mathematics, by summarizing and disseminating results from the RAND Corporation's annual American Educator Panel (AEP)…

In a time of declining federal funding, partnerships that can leverage resources to accomplish complementary goals are vital to creating and maintaining successful communities. HUD's Office of University Partnerships (OUP) has fostered these partnerships by investing funds in institutions of higher education (IHEs), which use these grants to…

Purpose: Malawi's current extension policy supports pluralism and advocates responsiveness to farmer demand. We investigate whether smallholder farmers' experience supports the assumption that access to multiple service providers leads to extension and advisory services that respond to the needs of farmers. Design/methodology/approach: Within a…