School principals are critical to students' academic achievement, second only to teachers. They are the primary agents of change in their schools, fostering supportive learning environments that enhance student learning and teacher effectiveness. Moreover, they often design and oversee the initiatives and hiring to sustain the positive changes…

Developing schedules is one of the most challenging undertakings that school and district leaders do every year. It's also one of the most important. School schedules often have significant inefficiencies that impact student experiences and outcomes, like course offerings that don't align with student needs; mismatches in resources across schools;…

In 2003, the Texas State Legislature enacted the Texas Success Initiative (TSI). Upon entering a postsecondary institution, non-exempt students are tested using the TSI Assessment. A student's scores are used to assist Texas public institutions of higher education in determining if students are prepared for introductory college coursework in the…

Preparation and professional development can help principals be more effective leaders, but little research has examined what specific approaches are most useful. A study of 462 California principals and the teachers and students in their schools shows that high-quality preservice preparation for principals is associated with stronger teacher…

Helping principals improve their leadership practices is a common use of federal funds and one way to improve instruction and student achievement. The study highlighted in this one page report sought to better understand the effectiveness of an intensive principal professional development program focused primarily on helping principals conduct…

The current focus of education is on preparing diverse student populations for college and career readiness. One critical aspect of this preparation is the development of 21st century learning skills that integrate technology to support students in becoming active members of a globalized society. According to the National Assessment of Educational…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) was created in 2009 to support schools' implementation of rigorous college and career ready standards for English language arts (ELA). Combining evidence-based principles of professional development with a systematic design process, LDC helps teachers to embed literacy skill development throughout their…

The four appendices in this report accompany the full report "The Effects of a Principal Professional Development Program Focused on Instructional Leadership. NCEE 2020-0002," (ED599489). They include: (1) The Study's Principal Professional Development Program; (2) Study Design, Data Collection, and Analytic Methods; (3) Supplemental…

One district, South Bay Union School District, devises and executes a comprehensive strategy that includes training for district staff, teachers and coaches, including using PLCs and professional development in the implementation of Common Core English language arts standards.

In September and October of 2017, the Center on Education Policy conducted a survey of state deputy superintendents of education or their designees to learn about states' early efforts in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Most of those survey findings are described in the CEP publication "Planning for Progress: States…

In many cases, teachers shy away from including much writing because of the many hours it requires to read and provide substantial feedback on such papers. Yet writing is widely understood as critically important to learning (Applebee & Langer, 2013; Mayher, 1983; Zinsser, 1989). This article describes a program from the Northwest Arkansas…

And so a middle school language arts teacher begins her Saturday. Before coffee, Facebook. In this themed issue on professional development in an era of nick.com, the authors propose that teachers' new literacy learning is as close as their own screens. Teachers, too, live literate lives online in this new age of composition, with impulses to…

This policy report provides an overview of the Common Core State Standards, how they were developed, the sources that were referenced in their development, the need for educational standards generally, what they entail, and what it will mean for educators to implement them. The report draws from research and reference material to outline the…

The Conference on English Education (CEE) Executive Board authorizes the creation of commissions that focus on a particular area of interest of discussion and action for the field. Commissions meet at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention to plan and promote their activities aligned with English language arts teacher…

Meeting the unique and diverse needs of students challenges educators daily. And, the demand for improvement increases at the same pace. Enormous efforts are underway in school systems and state agencies across the country to design and implement multiple, high-stakes changes in educator effectiveness systems, college- and career-ready standards,…