The Institute for Multi-Sensory Education's (IMSE) mission of "empowering districts, schools, teachers, and parents to be agents of change toward equitable literacy instruction for all learners that is driven by research" is reflected in the organization's structured literacy approach to the Orton-Gillingham (OG) curriculum and their…

Early literacy skills are critical to the educational outcomes of young students. Accordingly, 19 states have early literacy policies that require grade retention for underperforming readers at the end of third grade. However, there is mixed evidence about retention's effectiveness and concerns that retention may disproportionately impact…

Almost 7 million children aged 3 to 21 received special education services under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in school year 2016-17. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review parents' use of the Individuals with IDEA dispute resolution options. This report examines (1) how often IDEA…

Each school year, approximately 6.8 million students miss at least 15 days of school, putting their academic success at risk and making them chronically absent as defined by the federal government. This report provides case studies that detail specific ways cities are leading efforts to get students to school each day. Case studies for the…

This report provides a summary of the 17 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans submitted by May 31, 2017 to the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of this report is to provide an at-a-glance look at how states articulated decisions related to standards, assessment, accountability, and instruction of English learners in their submitted…

A full year of progress in advancing education reform across America is documented in each of the Foundation for Excellence in Education's Annual Reports. This report presents the broad range of initiatives that the Foundation for Excellence in Education is working on--policies that personalize the learning experience for students, that challenge…

Seven decades after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case "Brown vs. Board of Education," Michigan students of color continue to face devastating educational inequities in deeply under-resourced public schools. Today, they are far more likely to be enrolled in Michigan public schools with the highest concentrations of poverty, where they…

Michigan is at a critical moment in time -- a historic moment where citizens and leaders must choose whether the state will take advantage of new opportunities to become a top ten education state -- or face a continued and dramatic educational decline. Today, national data reveal that Michigan's public education system is among the poorest…

This report is the first in a series of annual reports the Michigan legislature mandated in December 2020. The purpose of this report is to summarize available state administrative data to begin to quantify the teacher shortage, provide a baseline from which future comprehensive data analysis can begin, and most critically, to provide…

During the 2015-2016 school year, 1.3 million students nationwide experienced homelessness. Yet hardships like homelessness represent dynamic rather than static states, and so annual figures understate the cumulative risk that students face over time. Moreover, despite recent efforts to understand eviction and foreclosure as exploitative and…

The Education Commission of the States reviewed all 36 Race to the Top (RttT) round II applications. Each of the 36 states that applied for round II funding referenced pay for performance under the heading of "Improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance." The majority of states outlined pay for performance…

Like other states across the country, the seven states in the Midwest Region (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) have been striving to meet the performance targets established under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The…

This report presents the deliberations of the Midwest Regional Advisory Committee (MW RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The committee's report outlines the educational needs across the seven states of Illinois,…

This report presents data on job opportunities and skill requirements through 2018 arranged by the 16 career clusters in the Carl D. Perkins Act of 2006. The data are arranged state-by-state and the District of Columbia, from 2008 through 2018. Skill requirements are reflected in the length and extent of educational preparation and training…

Educational achievement of students can be negatively affected by their changing schools often. The recent economic downturn, with foreclosures and homelessness, may be increasing student mobility. To inform Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) reauthorization, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked: (1) What are…