The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments, through professional learning. SREB researchers examined each state's major professional development efforts around its new standards in order to…

The purpose of this literature and field review is to understand previous efforts at scaling up performance assessments for use across districts and states. Performance assessments benefit students and teachers by providing more opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and complex skills, by providing teachers with better…

Nationwide, close to 40 million adults lack a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) credential. About a quarter of high school freshmen do not graduate in four years, and while many high school dropouts eventually do attend GED preparation classes, too few ever pass the GED exam or go on to college. Students with only a…

These "Stories From the Field" describe five Wallace-funded programs working to expand learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children, so they can benefit from the types of opportunities their wealthier counterparts have access to, from homework help to swimming classes. The report details each program's approach, successes and…

The challenge of producing the systemic changes that are needed to boost educational attainment and economic competitiveness across the country falls heavily on entities that coordinate public postsecondary institutions. Coordination of postsecondary education, whether of a single system of institutions or across an entire state, requires…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

This brief introduces "Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning," the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC's) fifth national Learn and Serve America grant project and describes its grantee college programs. The goals of this grant project are to build on established foundations to integrate service…

Like never before, today's classroom teachers routinely are being asked to collaboratively analyze student data, develop or implement new mandated curricula, and assess the effectiveness of these innovations. Ironically, few preservice preparatory or in-service professional development programs actively train classroom instructors in the use of…

The Teen Outreach Reproductive CHallenge (TORCH) is a peer education program that provides information on various topics relevant to adolescent sexual health to a diverse audience, ranging from teens to health care providers. This information is disseminated through various projects by a group of New York City high-school students who are…

Elementary charter schools increasingly serve students who are at-risk for reading challenges, giving them a critical role in establishing literacy for young children. This article examines the complexities of starting early childhood literacy programs in charter schools. Specifically, the first year of K-3 literacy programs in a new and a…

By 2012, all of the states in this study had started implementing new or revised teacher and leader evaluation systems. There are many and varying updates to these systems, and some of them have been made to meet conditions for a state's federal "Race to the Top" (RTT) grant. Other updates have been made to meet conditions for a state's…

Describes the scheduling changes that allowed for program improvement at the New Platz, New York, Middle School. (DS)

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

Describes the evolution of the physical education program at Herricks Senior High School, New Hyde Park, New York. (DS)

Back in 2000, Charles Best was teaching at Wings Academy, an alternative high school in the Bronx, when he got the idea for a Web site where teachers could solicit donations for class projects. With help from his students, DonorsChoose.org soon was born. Last year, the site won Amazon.com's Nonprofit Innovation Award. So far, DonorsChoose has…