Schools and districts in Pennsylvania continue to experience a gap between the demographic diversity of their students and staffs. Culturally responsive practices are an important approach bridging the gap between PA's teachers and increasingly diverse students and communities. This qualitative study was guided by three research questions: What…

Global citizenship is critical to the development of a globally ready 21st century workforce in food, fiber, and natural resources. The global citizenship model utilized in this study includes domains of social responsibility, global competency and global civic engagement. The knowledge, skills, and dispositions of educators are critical factors…

A leadership academy is a formal professional learning opportunity for current school leaders, focused on augmenting knowledge and skills, increasing specialization, and refreshing leadership practices. States interested in supporting leadership academies through federal or other funding sources can look to current models of leadership academies…

This publication highlights how state policies and guidance are supporting the transformation to personalized learning through digital instructional materials. Specifically, the report includes personalized learning approaches and the policies and processes around the selection, curation, procurement, professional learning and funding of digital…

As of the writing of this report, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being implemented in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Approaches to implementing the standards, however, are highly varied. For the past 3 years, Research For Action (RFA) has been tracking how one approach to implementing the literacy standards--the Literacy…

In a 2012 paper for the Center for American Progress, "The State of Evaluation Reform," Patrick McGuinn (Drew University) identified the opportunities and challenges facing education agencies in Race to the Top (RTTT) grant-winning states as they prepared for the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems. The 2012 study undertook…

A group of reading teachers at a Pennsylvania middle school was charged with developing a uniform reading program and selecting reading materials to meet their students' needs. This article describes the committee's work, focusing on the selection and adaption of a whole-language basal-reading program that incorporates writing and other language…

An administrative survey of Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs in Pennsylvania during fiscal 1982-83 indicated that, although the level of funding for adult education programs was reduced from 1981-82 and 1982-83, progress was made in increasing the availability of programs throughout the state. However, the rate of enrollees who dropped out of…