This guide presents some of the best thinking about the difficult and puzzling work of improving student achievement. Taken as whole, it gives a complete picture of what it will take to close the achievement gap. It contains background, findings, and key policy recommendations from a 22-month study conducted by the Washington State School…

Background: The overall goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is to close, by the end of the 2013-2014 academic year, "the achievement gap between high- and low- performing students, especially the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students and, between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers"…

Over the last decade, virtually every state has launched a school accountability program in response to public concern over failing schools. Proponents of school accountability argue that standards can energize school systems, by putting pressure on schools to help all students. After almost a decade of accountability reforms, content standards…

The African American-white achievement gap exists even among the youngest children; African American students arrive at kindergarten considerably behind their white peers in measurable cognitive skills. Although the gap has narrowed somewhat over the past several decades, the average African American still scores below 75 percent of white students…

In 1993, the Governor's Commission on Black Males, chaired by then Delegate Elijah E. Cummings, issued a report that studied the conditions of African-American males in Maryland as they related to employment, health conditions, criminal justice, and education. The Commission provided a "snapshot of the plight of the black males in…

This report summarizes evaluation results for AISD's state-funded State Compensatory Education program activities during the 2002-2003 school year.

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is pleased to release its fourth annual National Trends Report on the use of federal funds to support educational technology. This report documents findings from Round 4 (FY 05) of the No Child Left Behind, Title II Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology (NCLB II D) program.…

This volume presents the 54th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). The 2004 NRC conference, set in San Antonio, took place against a political backdrop in which the nature and substance of literacy research has become suspect. Given the current state of politically-driven research agendas, the focus of the 54th annual NRC…

This study finds that nearly every school in the Great Lakes states is threatened to fail the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements mandated by the federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act. NCLB holds schools and districts accountable for student achievement on state standardized tests and schools that do not make AYP face…

This appendix describes the analytical procedures used to project the status of schools in the Great Lakes state toward meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) requirements from 2005 to 2014. To "make AYP," the school as a whole and each numerically significant subgroup must meet "Annual Measurable Objectives" (annual…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association is pleased to release its third annual Trends Report on educational technology. In addition to reporting trends on the third round (FY 04) of the No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, the 2006 report also includes general state policy…

This paper is a collection of ten policy briefs examining various key elements of the state's public education system. The authors, contributors, and reviewers of the briefs are, for the most part, on the faculty of Arizona's three public universities: Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. Michael…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is pleased to present the findings of the second annual National Trends Report. SETDA commissioned the Metiri Group for a second consecutive year to conduct a national survey in the fall of 2004 on the second year implementation of the No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D, Enhancing…

The 4th and 7th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores for the past several years have indicated that the percentage of students meeting the new higher standards is not satisfactory, although improvement is being shown every year. There are indications, however, that while some elementary and middle/junior high schools are…

What are the factors affecting the achievement of Hispanic high school youth? Hispanic Americans are the largest growing population in the United States. Currently, Hispanic students make up more than 20% of the U.S. school population and, in 23 of the 50 states, Hispanic students outnumber African American and Asian students. During the 1970s and…