The "Forum Guide to Data Governance" highlights how data governance programs benefit education agencies and provide timely and useful best practices, examples, and resources for agencies implementing or updating their data governance programs. This resource is intended to address the needs of federal, state, and local agencies related…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed in 2015, signaled a major shift in the roles of states and districts in supporting school improvement. Under ESSA, state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) have more responsibility and flexibility in developing and implementing plans, informed by local context, to support the…

In 2010, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for K-12 English language arts/literacy and mathematics. CCSS are a state-led effort to define the knowledge and skills students need to graduate from high school…

Kentucky's educators are creating systemic change to produce noticeable improvements in learning for all students. Systemic change has vexed education systems for decades (Tyack & Cuban, 1999). In recent years, it has become clear that implementation science is the missing ingredient in efforts to purposefully improve student outcomes in state…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

This resource is part of a series of reports about challenges facing statewide science assessments and innovative solutions states are enacting to meet those challenges. Deciding to implement a system of assessments is a critical step toward ensuring that all students are getting the high-quality science education they need--but it is also…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the states' new college- and career-readiness standards by providing (or facilitating the development of) aligned instructional resources and materials. These resources and materials are supplementary supports that…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the Common Core by providing and/or facilitating the development of instructional resources and materials aligned to the new standards. In order for instructional resources and materials to be aligned to the Common…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

The following profiles address decisions and actions that state education policy-makers--in the state departments of education, unless otherwise noted--are taking to foster successful statewide implementation of their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments. These profiles provide a descriptive overview of each…

The following profiles address the basic decisions and actions that state education policy-makers--in the state departments of education, unless otherwise noted--are taking to foster successful statewide implementation of the new standards and aligned assessments in 15 states. These profiles provide a descriptive overview of each state's…

Purpose, scope, and method of study: Considered a significant strategy to foster school readiness and close the achievement gap, efforts to increase the education level of preschool teachers have garnered widespread support. Research pointing to the inadequate and outdated preparation of preschool teachers as well as a shortage of baccalaureate…

This report describes what schools and educators across Kentucky are doing to implement school reform in school-based decision-making based on the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). The School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) component of KERA is a decentralized governance structure that vests great authority in SBDM councils operating at…

This report describes the attitudes of district school board members about the implementation of school reforms based on the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). Information on attitudes toward KERA was gathered by a mail-out, 11-page questionnaire sent to a random sample of 600 local school board members. The questionnaire asked for the…

This report describes two studies on the extent of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS), part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). Study 1 was an external evaluation using 8 university field observers (names are given); study 2 was a self-assessment study using 47 anonymous district technology…