For the last decade, educators have been directed to use evidence-based practices in their classrooms. However, despite this direction, the use of these practices is not widespread in many classrooms. Though many resources exist to help educators locate and select these practices educators face barriers which make these practices infeasible or…

Balanced assessment systems provide feedback and support decision-making to improve instruction and learning. "Supporting Continuous Improvement Efforts Through Balanced Assessment Systems: Components, Integration, and High-Leverage Actions" outlines key features and components, integration of various assessment approaches, and guiding…

Poverty cuts across culture, race, gender, age, and geography, so how can educators lessen the effects that poverty can instill in the classroom? Gain a quick overview from this infographic that showcases the Supporting Students in Poverty with High-Impact Instructional Strategies Toolkit and learn how easy-to-implement steps can lift outcomes for…

Vertical transfer from community college to a university offers a promising, although unrealized, pathway to diversify STEM disciplines. Studying how successful transfer-­receiving universities support STEM transfer students can offer insights into the institutional practices that promote transfer student retention and success. Using institutional…

When data is collected, summarized, and analyzed with sufficient frequency, decisions about instructional changes can be based on student progress. Use the suggestions here to begin conducting progress monitoring.

This article explains how teachers can understand, notice, and supportively respond to readers who struggle with self-monitoring during text reading. The unique strategic processing demands for readers who struggle support the argument that teaching children to find and notice errors is different than fixing a word, or getting it right. Three…

What is Goal Attainment Scaling? In this article, Lee Ann Jung defines it as a way to measure a student's progress toward an individualized goal. Instead of measuring a skill at a set time (for instance, on a test or other assignment), Goal Attainment Scaling tracks the steps a student takes over the course of a year in a targeted skill. Together,…

Partnering with Commonwealth schools and districts focused on continuous learning and improving student outcomes has had a profound impact on how the Rennie Center thinks about effective and sustainable change. This knowledge has guided the creation of Rennie's Change Management Framework, a rigorous, structured approach to planning and…

This article describes a language arts teacher's two-tiered way of using assessment data, which uses both standardized assessment data and teacher-created "skills" inventories. Standardized test data may help see where a learner performed in a previous year on items that often do not line up too well with future content. Standardized…

Brad C. Phillips and Jordan E. Horowitz offer a research-based model and actionable approach for using data strategically at community colleges to increase completion rates as well as other metrics linked to student success. They draw from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics to show how leaders and administrators can…

This publication explores how state accountability systems currently address college readiness and academic and technical career readiness and offers recommendations and examples of policies and practices that incentivize and reward districts and schools for preparing more students to earn credentials and degrees in high-demand career fields.

Technology makes it easier than ever for educators to generate meaningful, ongoing data to inform their teaching, track student progress, and personalize learning. When the author began to explore how she could use technology to quickly assess student skills, data became exciting and took on a new role in her teaching practice. Now she uses data…

Signed under the Obama administration, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) grants a working permit to those who entered the U.S. before age 16, allowing students to enroll at institutions of higher education and join the military. In June 2017, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, John Kelly said that the DACA program would…

Since the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (IDEA's forerunner) in 1975, an important requirement has been Child Find activities. According to Shapiro and Derrington (2004), Child Find is broadly defined as the entire range of activities, including public awareness, identification, referral, eligibility determination, and…

It is understandable that misuse of the terms "specially designed instruction" (SDI), "high-leverage practices" (HLPs), "explicit instruction" (EI), and "intensive instruction"(II) has bred confusion among professionals, and this confusion may lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings in the field.…