This research-practice partnership (RPP) focused on developing and testing metrics and tools to foster improved evidence-based budgetary decision-making. The expectation was that research findings would directly influence decisions about program expansion, contraction, or elimination. Instead, unexpected findings led to unexpected uses: changes in…

Our research-practice partnership (RPP) focused on developing and testing metrics and tools to foster improved evidence-based budgetary decision-making. We expected our research findings to directly influence decisions about program expansion, contraction, or elimination. Instead, unexpected findings led to unexpected uses: changes in program…

Although varying among and within the states, the percentage of students with 504 plans is steadily and significantly increasing as a national average. Although the professional literature addresses the legal standards for eligibility for 504 plans, it has not provided up-to-date information to practitioners as to the legal standard for the…

This report highlights successes and lessons learned from Austin Independent School District's 2020 virtual learning summer school programs. More than 13,000 AISD students in prekindergarten through grade 12 participated in these programs, which offered academic enrichment or acceleration, course credit recovery, and grade level transition.…

This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2020 that impact its…

In August 2010, the California State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Three years later, the president of the State Board, Dr. Michael Kirst, noted that CCSS "changes almost everything," including what teachers teach, how they teach, and what students are expected to learn (Kirst, 2013). Echoing his…

Over the past 25 years, a small but growing number of school districts have implemented weighted student funding (WSF), a type of school-based budgeting system, as a way to increase school-level autonomy and flexibility and more equitably distribute funding among schools. In these districts, education leaders have implemented policies that…

If district technology leaders had a nickel for every time they heard the phrase "the new normal," they'd have all the money they need to run their IT departments. In an effort to help readers think about their budgets in creative and practical ways, "T.H.E. Journal" and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) recently convened a panel of CTOs…

As called for in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM) released, in May of 2013, the Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education 5- Year Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan). As required by the Act, this report includes…

Teacher retention is of critical concern in rural and high-poverty districts. This case study describes one school’s challenges following the district's budget cuts that eliminated funding for schools' mentor programs. The mentor coordinator at this elementary school faces several dilemmas as she attempts to maintain high-quality support for the…

This paper details how educational policy is developed in an educational authority in a political environment of a hung parliament. The paper begins by looking briefly at the difficulties facing educational policy rollout in Tasmania during the years 2000-2011, and then details how an educational policy dealing with school closures was reshaped in…

As of January 1, 2013, 34 states and the District of Columbia have been granted waivers from certain provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Part of each successful flexibility application was a state accountability system that could identify priority schools (the lowest performing 5% of Title 1 schools) and focus schools…

School superintendents annually need to gain affirmative votes from their governing bodies to approve their district budgets. This paper proposes a framework through which the superintendent can express the district's educational needs and concomitant resource allocations in conceptual terms rather than in multi-columned ledgers. The framework…

How do you stay focused on increasing student learning when budget cuts threaten everything you are striving for? This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. School reform expert Allan R. Odden outlines a school improvement action plan focused sharply on student learning and then shows how to…

Ohio has made tremendous strides in education reform over the past half year. Yet even regarding these accomplishments, the work is not done. Virtually all of the state's recent education policy changes come with implementation challenges and sustainability concerns. This paper presents a list that offers praise for the positive changes Ohio has…