States are responsible for evaluating teacher preparation programs (TPPs) through program reviews. We use data from Massachusetts to describe the first analysis of program review ratings and their relationship to in-service outcomes for TPP graduates. When comparisons are made across all schools and districts in the state, a TPP's review scores…

On September 17, 2013 (Constitution Day), the C3 Framework was released under the title "The College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History." The C3 Project Director and lead writer was NCSS member Kathy Swan, who is…

The Obama administration has offered states the chance to waive some requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. States are required, however, to make specific reforms in exchange for increased flexibility. The administration has been clear it wants states to engage in "ambitious but achievable" reforms rather than merely asking for a pass from…

This first of two reports presents early findings from the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Technical Assistance Centers (Comprehensive Centers), a federally funded program that provides technical assistance to states in connection with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The law authorizing the Comprehensive Centers, the…

"Investing in Innovation" provides a snapshot of trends in the states and identifies a wide range of strategies now employed. California's big investments, such as $3 billion for stem cell research, have already grabbed national headlines. But states like Arizona, Indiana and North Dakota, which haven't historically been big research and…

Several years ago, the state of South Carolina turned to experts in early childhood education to address the school readiness issue for its K-2 schools. Rather than asking, "Is this child ready for school?," the state created a program assessment system that reframed the question of school readiness by asking, "Is this school ready…

The federal government has had a long-standing commitment to ensuring access of English Learner (EL) students to a meaningful education. As early as 1968, the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA") contained provisions for supporting the education of EL students and in its 1974 landmark decision, "Lau v.…

The National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP) at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has embarked on an ambitious research agenda to study the people and work of charter schools. The initiative is called "Inside Charter Schools." This initiative has two main parts. The first part, entitled "Studying…

In 2005, an estimated 48 million children aged 0-18 years--12 percent of all children in sub-Saharan Africa--were orphans, and that number is expected to rise to 53 million by 2010. One quarter of all orphans are orphaned because of AIDS, and about 2.6 million children are currently infected with HIV. Untreated, most children born with HIV will…

This report identifies barriers to developing livable communities and sheds light on potential methods for overcoming these barriers. It identifies and highlights multiple strategies that may be applied to the design and support of livable community principles. The identified strategies have been initiated by federal and state government agencies…