Moving schools up the performance slope takes energy, leverage, and the right research-based approaches. In 2010, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction launched an initiative to "Turn Around the Lowest Achieving Schools" (TALAS). The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) partnered with the state education agency (SEA) to…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA), designed to make students college and career ready, were released in June 2010, and have since been adopted by 45 states seeking to be eligible for Race to the Top funds offered by the US Department of Education. The states that signed on with the CCSS agreed to fully…

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare key elements of the actions that states in the USA and Australia took to implement the Common Core State Standards or Phase One of the Australian Curriculum, and what processes and products they used to facilitate implementation of these innovations. A rubric adapted from a diagnostic tool,…