Evidence shows that children's early years are a crucial time for their development. Well-designed early childhood education (ECE) experiences can foster meaningful gains in school readiness, as well as long-term benefits such as lower rates of special education placement and higher graduation rates. The quality of early education is highly…

Coaching is an important component in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS), but little is known about which coaching activities are most related to sustained implementation of this school-wide framework. A survey was developed to examine the amount of receipt and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how elementary school principals adjust their leadership practice in response to Washington's new teacher evaluation policy. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a modified content analysis of open-ended survey responses collected from elementary school principals in Washington State.…

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper,…

Summative performance assessments in teacher education, such as the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) and the edTPA, have been heralded through polices intended to enhance the quality of the teaching profession and raise its stature among other professions. However, the development and implementation of the PACT, and…

Washington is building a comprehensive learning system that emphasizes quality from birth to 18 years. With $1 million in funding from the Early Start Act, and matching funds from the Raikes Foundation, the Department of Early Learning (DEL) and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) have completed an Expanded Learning…

The conceptualization and measurement of education finance equity and adequacy has engaged researchers for more than three decades. At the same time, calls for increased academic accountability and higher student achievement in K-12 public education have reached new levels at both the national and state levels. Aligning these represents an…

The edTPA is a teaching performance assessment (TPA) that the states of New York and Washington implemented as a licensure requirement in 2013. While TPAs are not new modes of assessment, New York and Washington are the first states to use the edTPA specifically as a compulsory, high-stakes policy lever in an effort to strengthen the quality and…

Implementation science defines training and coaching as two important competency components to support fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices. The present study explores the perspectives of 21 preschool teachers, located in the United States, about the professional development (PD) they received, which included training and…

Implementation science defines training and coaching as two important competency components to support fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices. The present study explores the perspectives of 21 preschool teachers, located in the United States, about the professional development (PD) they received, which included training and…

Early education has been a growing priority for the Obama administration, and its competitive funding is spurring innovation in this field around the country. In 2013, early education journalist Paul Nyhan, author of this report, conducted case studies of four competitive grant programs that are triggering changes in early education: "Race to…

This study seeks to describe how elementary principals in a large Washington school district perceived the district office administration's implementation of Response to Intervention over a four-year period. RTI is a widely used intervention system that requires schools to assess whether each of their students is learning, adapting instruction for…

In 2009, the federal government committed over $3 billion nationwide to help states and districts turn around their worst-performing schools. The U.S. Department of Education intended for the School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to spur dramatic change.This report looks at the results of a field study of the first-year implementation of those grants…

Educational expectations and demands on the principal have changed markedly over the past few decades, so an updated set of standards or competencies is needed to effectively evaluate school principals today. Increasingly, many states require that administrators qualify for the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) certification.…

In September 2007, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) officially launched the Student Achievement Initiative, a system-wide policy to reward colleges for improvements in student achievement. Developed by a task force comprised of State Board members, college trustees, presidents, and faculty representatives,…