The first step to addressing equity gaps is to identify them. How can community colleges determine, with some degree of certainty, whether one or more student groups on a campus is in need of assistance in order to succeed? This paper tackles this question by delving into the three methods typically used to identify equity gaps, comparing and…

Education policies serve as potent tools for advancing equitable outcomes and systematically addressing inequities in schools and districts. But education policies often mirror inequities and bias-based beliefs within the K-12 education system. Increasing educational equity is key to overcoming the status quo and improving educational outcomes for…

In recent years, education data have become both more easily accessible and more important than ever to decisions about K-12 policies and practice. Under the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA), states are required to publish data on how students, including English Learners (ELs), are performing in areas such as reading, math, and…

Social return on investment (SROI) offers a new strategy to measure and communicate the value of outcomes achieved by programs that provide social, health, and education services to children and their families. It can be a powerful tool for demonstrating the monetary value of programs and services and for communicating that value in a way that can…

Social return on investment (SROI) analysis offers a practical new approach for measuring and communicating the value of outcomes achieved by programs that provide social, health, and educational services to children and their families. This guide highlights the key steps in conducting SROI research, issues in data-gathering and analysis, as well…

The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Instruction: Effective Strategies to Support Engagement, Learning, and…

The emergence of longitudinal data systems over the past decade has provided exciting opportunities to better understand students' educational trajectories over time and institutions. The stark reality for today's high school students is that some form of postsecondary education is a necessary ticket of entry to a secure economic future. This…

At a time when more and more of what people learn both in formal courses and in everyday life is mediated by technology, "Learning Online" provides a much-needed guide to different forms and applications of online learning. This book describes how online learning is being used in both K-12 and higher education settings as well as in…

Communities across the country are grappling with different approaches to improving their schools. Introducing or expanding charter schools is one of the approaches that states and school districts have considered or implemented. Charter schools serve more than 5 percent of public school students nationwide and make up close to 7 percent of all…

Background/Context: Many children of immigrants are not enrolled in high schools that sufficiently meet their needs, and subsequently, many are not making a successful transition to, and/or successfully completing, higher education. As immigration grows in the United States, educators and policy makers must understand how the educational processes…

This policy profile on education in Mexico is part of the "Education Policy Outlook" series, which presents comparative analysis of education policies and reforms across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Building on the OECD's substantial comparative and sectoral knowledge base, the series…

A guide to acquiring information needed about postsecondary education outcomes is presented for campus and state-level officials. Attention is directed to: over 200 outcome measures or indicators; standard definitions of each outcome measure; data sources and procedures to acquire data for each outcome measure; and suggestions concerning the…

This report describes the status after 5 years of the diverse groups of students who first entered institutions of postsecondary education during the academic year 1989-90. It describes their economic and demographic characteristics, their educational objectives, the types of institutions they attended, their experiences while enrolled, and their…

This guide is designed to assist state and local consortia with their evaluation of Tech Prep education programs and with their reporting of Tech Prep program and student outcomes data to meet the accountability requirements of the Perkins Act of 1998. Intended for Tech Prep stakeholders in secondary schools and two-year colleges, the guide also…

Designed specifically for higher education administrators, faculty, and student affairs professionals, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the principles, purposes, practices and uses of assessment, with particular emphasis on student learning and development. Nine chapters present and discuss a series of assessment steps: Chapter 1…