State governments enact hundreds of policies a year intended to improve outcomes for students. If these policies were self-executing, the impact on American education would be swift and dramatic, and the system today would look profoundly different than it did just one year ago. But the reality is that how a policy is implemented often affects…

This report is the second in a series that unpacks the barriers to access that families face, the variety of solutions that navigation organizations have developed, and the challenges that limit the reach and impact of those solutions. This series offers recommendations for how to help navigators address these challenges and support more families…

Adult Education in the Republic of Ireland has experienced exponential change. Since 2013, the Further Education and Training (FET) sector has developed and implemented a range of strategies and policies transforming the landscape. Policy implementation is a complex process and as the 16 Education and Training Boards work to interpret FET policy…

This paper describes the author's personal involvement with issues of policy and implementation that were sparked by the "Lau" decision. Topics included are student assessment, the bilingual education wars, the role of research, the paradigm shift with the advent of standards, and California state policy in the education of English…

Great organizations have a clear sense of what they want to accomplish and how they are going to get there. For state boards of education, this vision and roadmap are typically articulated in a strategic plan. The best plans are living documents that guide state board actions or multiple years; lesser plans gather dust. What separates the two? The…

"Beyond Good Intentions" provides a guide for states to craft equity-driven policies that are specific, actionable, measurable and well funded. It outlines four major steps states should take when considering and creating new policy: (1) Examine the Data to Set the Goal for the Policy: Specific types of data to consider when identifying…

Staff and faculty at every institution could share stories about how they have seen some initiatives spectacularly succeed and others completely fail--leading to feelings of frustration and fatigue. Too often, a "good idea" or new institutional policy is developed in a vacuum or with little thought as to how professionals on campus will…

As part of a standards revision project for the state of Nebraska, the Region 11 Comprehensive Center in partnership with the American Institutes of Research, conducted a scan of publicly available state information and existing research on revision processes. From that, we've created this guide sharing 10 key elements states should consider when…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the primary application that determines access to federal, state, and institutional financial aid. When students fail to complete their FAFSA application, they are less likely to enroll or complete a credential, leaving tens of millions of federal resources for students on the table. Boosting…

Many policies in higher education are intended to improve college access and degree completion, yet often those policies fall short of their aims by making it difficult for prospective or current college students to access benefits for which they are eligible. Barriers that inhibit access to policy benefits, such as cumbersome paperwork, can weigh…

Physical activity (PA) policies have the potential to ensure adequate opportunities for children to develop PA behaviors for a lifetime. Examples include mandating that schools provide recess and physical education for a specified amount of time per week; ensuring that physical education teachers are licensed; providing activity breaks in academic…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 schools are under immense pressure to meet the diverse needs of students. But policies and practices have not evolved quickly enough to meet those needs -- and as a result, the system continues to fail far too many young people. In "Levers of Change: How State Policies Support District…

The National Youth Sports Strategy (NYSS) is the first federal roadmap to unite the U.S. youth sports system around a shared vision: that one day all youth will have the opportunity, motivation, and access to play sports. Six months after the NYSS launched, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, disrupting the youth sports system. While the benefits of…

"Pathways to Implementation" highlights innovative strategies and effective models in career pathways policy, implementation, and programming, as well as challenges states encounter in this work. This seven-part series addresses the key elements of Bellwether's framework for career pathways policy implementation. Each brief defines the…

To establish good maritime governance, the Indonesian government must pay attention to maritime security aspects in every maritime policy and integrate maritime security education into the national education curriculum. However, implementing the World Maritime Axis concept, the Indonesian government still needs to consider the maritime security…