Background: Children residing in households with very low food sufficiency (VLFS), where there is "often" not enough to eat, are more likely to experience academic, health, and psychological challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary universal free school meals (UFSM) policy was implemented, improving food access for children…

This report illustrates the statewide implementation and effectiveness of school breakfast in Ohio. In the 2024-2025 school year, approximately 94% of Ohio schools with USDA nutrition programs serve breakfast. In the 2023-2024 school year, 27.2% of enrolled children participated in the School Breakfast Program and 54.5% participated in the…

Employment and training services offered through Extension are part of and continue a long tradition of policy-focused employment and job training. This paper chronicles the successes of UT Extension's work as a third-party partner in the delivery of workforce development programming geared toward individuals receiving Supplemental Nutrition…

In this dissertation, I investigated the impact of the involvement of students with disabilities in the ASPIRE intervention program and examined the relationship between student involvement in the ASPIRE program and academic performance and growth. To do so, first, I outlined how I built my perspective for this study in the areas of transition,…

Promise programs are discussed as a policy movement that began with the 2005 launch of the Kalamazoo Promise. Since then, programs bearing the Promise label or sharing similar features have spread across the higher educational landscape, appearing in most states and across postsecondary sectors. Simultaneously, scholarly literature discussing…

In response to urgent student mental health needs across Virginia's college campuses, the 2022 Virginia General Assembly appropriated funds to support a two-year mental health workforce pilot program at public institutions of higher education. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), in consultation with the Virginia Health Care…

The Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC) supported the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) in developing an evidence-based menu of more rigorous interventions (MRI) for the state's Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools identified as CSI, including the bottom 5 percent of Title…

While policymakers have demonstrated considerable enthusiasm for "science of reading" initiatives, the evidence on the impact of related reforms when implemented at scale is limited. In this pre-registered, quasi-experimental study, we examine California's recent initiative to improve early literacy across the state's lowest-performing…

In 2015, Tennessee launched Tennessee Promise (TN Promise), one of the most comprehensive and well-funded statewide free-college scholarship programs in the country. To support TN Promise students, and especially those from the lowest-income households, tnAchieves, a key partner facilitating all non-financial components of TN Promise, implemented…

The Region 1 Comprehensive Center was asked to support the Maine Department of Education in implementing a Rethinking K-12 Education Models Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The R1CC technical assistance activities prioritized supporting the Maine DOE in developing the infrastructure for the innovation grants, including serving as a…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requires each State to develop and implement a single, statewide accountability system to support all public elementary school and secondary school students in meeting the challenging State academic standards. These systems are important tools in achieving the goal of improving outcomes for…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states temporary flexibility…

This appendix volume supplements "Evaluating the Federal Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority: Early Implementation and Progress of State Efforts to Develop New Statewide Academic Assessments. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-004" analyzing the early progress of the first five assessment systems participating in the Innovative…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states flexibility from…

Personalized, competency-based learning efforts often take place in a single classroom or school, but not systematically across districts, let alone states. To address this dynamic and increase the scale of personalized, competency-based learning, KnowledgeWorks, an independent nonprofit organization that partners with education stakeholders to…