This study examines implementation of college-and-career-ready (CCR) education standards across five school districts in Ohio, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Drawing on the policy attributes theory, we found that the specificity of districts' approaches to two long-recognized policy levers, curriculum and professional…

Though scholars agree that professional development (PD) is a key mechanism for implementing education policies that call for teacher change, and that PD generally needs to be content-focused, active, collaborative, coherent, and sustained, the application of this framework has yielded mixed results. In this qualitative study, we employed…

One of the core priorities of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), articulated in its most recent strategic plan, focuses on educator capacity. In 2012, BESE passed new program approval standards for educator preparation programs across the state. The standards ushered in new expectations for the 80 sponsoring…

This policy brief outlines the Common Core implementation plans for 15 states, including the professional development and resources/tools--such as instructional materials, toolkits, frameworks, crosswalks, and curriculum guides--that each state is providing. The authors suggest that supplemental resources like McREL's Common Core…

The Common Core is at a critical juncture. While many surveys show that support for the standards themselves remains strong, implementation has not been without major challenges. "State Accountability in the Transition to Common Core," a new policy brief from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, provides cautionary advice about what key…

The purpose of this study was to examine how competency-based learning (CBL) is defined across states in the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands region and gain insight into barriers and facilitators to implementation of this reform. Many states in the region have started to consider and implement competency-based learning as a…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for K-12 English language arts/literacy and mathematics, released in 2010, have been adopted by 49 states and territories; the District of Columbia; and the U.S. Department of Defense schools, which serve the children of U.S. service members around the world. The widespread adoption of the CCSS is a major…

States in the midst of implementing evaluation reforms face a common dilemma: how to ensure that all your districts are implementing quality educator evaluation systems while still providing them with the flexibility to design systems best suited to their own unique needs. One answer is to create an equivalency process (also known as an approval…

The State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Massachusetts' annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 4 report for Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2013 through September 2014. In Year 4,…

In June 2013, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and the Institute for Educational Leadership convened a group of stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners in Washington, DC. The group discussed the role of partnerships in advancing educational opportunities for low-income children and youth in the United States. They examined topics…

Early childhood teachers are rightly concerned with implementing a system that was, at least in the initial stages, designed with a different set of teachers in mind--teachers of older students who have standardized achievement data. In most states, policy, practices, and guidance for early childhood teachers are just now being developed or…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Massachusetts' Year 3 Race to the Top implementation. The Year 3 report for Phase 1 and Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2012 through September 2013. In School…

The State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Massachusetts' Year 2 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2011 through September 2012. In Year 2, Massachusetts continued to implement strong…

A quality improvement system (QIS) is an intentional effort to raise the quality of afterschool programming in an ongoing, organized fashion. There are a number of reasons the QIS is gaining popularity. The main reasons community leaders are drawn to improving quality is that they know that 1) higher quality programs will mean better experiences…

As New England and the nation at large become obsessed with "college completion," there is a leak in the pipeline. Many students leave high school who are not "college ready." These students, upon entering college, are often steered toward "remedial" courses that cost money and time. Remedial courses are also…