Community schools are receiving increased attention in Pennsylvania and across the country as policymakers and practitioners strive to address the effects of poverty on academic performance, and provide more comprehensive supports for traditionally-underserved populations. While many advocates and education leaders tout the promise of community…

As K-12 online learning continues to grow for all student populations, so should knowledge of best practices related to teaching students with diverse learning needs, including students with disabilities. The absence of a strong literature base provides a unique opportunity to explore teacher knowledge in these settings, particularly as they…

"Each Child, Our Future" is Ohio's shared plan for ensuring each student is challenged, prepared and empowered for his or her future by way of an excellent prekindergarten through grade 12 (preK-12) education. The plan's purpose: to lift aspirations, create hope and excitement, guide development of state-level education policies and…

This report was commissioned by Mid-America Regional Council and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to gain an understanding of the current state of Career and Technical Education (CTE) in nine counties of the Kansas City region: Missouri counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, and Ray; and Kansas counties of Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, and…

For decades, classroom instruction was dominated by lectures, textbooks and note-taking. And for decades, students have often been bored and unengaged. They took notes and did what they had to do to memorize lessons just long enough to pass an exam. But short-term memorization does not help much in preparing students for college, advanced training…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) incorporates challenging literacy standards into middle grades and high school content areas within a variety of academic disciplines, not just English/language arts courses. The Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) provides schools with instructional tools needed to help teachers understand and implement…

Superintendents and principals can have a positive and decisive impact on student achievement and higher graduation rates. Their essential leadership can illuminate the path to excellence for faculty and students. In upgrading curriculum and instruction, school leaders need to keep abreast of practices proven effective in other districts and…

Why do some schools in high-poverty communities produce remarkable stories of success while others fail? This study, conducted by Public Agenda and sponsored by the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Ohio Department of Education and The Ohio State University, attempts to shed light on this fundamentally important question by talking directly to…

Leadership is a discipline that has been studied to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Owing to the attention and emphasis that education has been subject to in recent decades, the study of successful school leadership presents an area worth examining (Smith & Piele, 1997). Therefore, the research underpinning this article…

Collaborations popping up across the country between charter and traditional public schools show promise that charter schools could fulfill their original purpose of becoming research-and-development hothouses for public education, champions of charters say. But both supporters and skeptics of charter schools agree that so far the cooperative…

Middle and high school students subjected to harsh school discipline policies and practices such as suspensions and expulsions are more likely to disengage from the classroom and course work, and increases their chances of dropping out, according to this new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report recommends implementing…

This article reports the results of a survey of novice superintendents in California, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. The research provides a profile of novice superintendents and their opinions regarding the adequacy of academic preparation and the problems they encountered after entering this challenging position. Findings indicate that the…