Accumulating evidence indicates that student attendance is closely tied to a range of educational outcomes, and yet millions of students are chronically absent each year. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools are now held accountable for their students' attendance at a scale this country has never before seen. As such, this is a…

The purpose of this paper is to open the methods, construction and assumptions of a new performance benchmark to examination, critique, and improvement by technical experts. The paper begins with known technical questions about this new benchmark. In includes suggestions made by technical advisors. It then details the construction of the…

The Communities In Schools (CIS) Model of Integrated Student Supports aims to reduce dropout rates by providing students with integrated and tiered support services based on their levels of need. The model includes preventive services that are available to all students (Level 1 services) as well as intensive, targeted, and sustained services…

In this webinar, Dr. Joyce Epstein, Director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools, discussed what the research says about effective family engagement. The webinar and PowerPoint presentation are also available. A brief list of resources is included.

The "No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001" requires all schools, districts/local education agencies (LEAs) and states to show that students are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). NCLB requires states to establish targets in the following ways: (1) Annual Proficiency Target; (2) Attendance/Graduation Rates; and (3) Participation…

Education Resource Strategies (ERS) works with school and district leaders to help them more strategically use resources--people, time, and money--to improve student performance. They have found that many school districts begin creating small high schools without a clear sense of how much they will spend or how to ensure that small schools…

A linear program model designed to aid in site selection and the development of pupil assignment plans is illustrated in terms of a hypothetical school system. The model is designed to provide the best possible realization of any single stated objective (for example, "Minimize the distance that pupils must travel") given any number of specified…

Estimates suggest that there are more than 20,000 alternative schools in operation in the United States. The number of alternative schools as well as the number of students educated in these schools has increased significantly over recent years. Oftentimes these schools serve students who are not successful in the traditional school setting, and…

Murray State University has established financial self-sustaining programs to provide high-quality academic experiences for non-college-age students in the rural environment surrounding the university. The programs are designed to promote the long-term goal of increasing college attendance rates in an area where they are among the lowest in the…

The working paper for a project on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) education examines research and policy as they relate to the ability of adult students to access ESL programs, fully participate in and benefit from them, and make the transition to other "mainstream" academic programs or meaningful employment. Studies suggest that adult…