This article highlights the State-Wide Read Aloud Days of the picturebook "My Shadow is Purple" (Stuart, 2022) held across and beyond the state of Georgia in response to the firing of elementary school teacher Katie Rinderle under Georgia's trio of censorship laws. The goals for this article are to: (1) document and analyze the emergence…

It is essential that HPERD professionals work together to be spokespeople for their areas at the local, state, and national levels. But what does it look like and how does it happen? The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of advocacy across these three levels, and to provide health and physical educators with some concrete…

The Virginia Board of Education is committed to the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) program and opposed to adoption of the newly developed Common Core State Standards as a prerequisite for participation in federal competitive grant and entitlement programs. The Standards of Learning are clear and rigorous and have won the acceptance and trust…

The number of students attending afterschool programs has skyrocketed in recent years, currently serving an estimated 8.4 million children (Afterschool Alliance, 2009). Consequently, the demand for high quality afterschool programs, and to learn from successful ones, has never been greater. This "Making Afterschool Programs Better"…

For nearly a decade, states have had flexibility in collecting and reporting graduation rate data for state and federal accountability purposes. But in 2008, the U.S. Department of Education issued new guidelines that require all states to report a new rate--the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate--beginning in the 2011-2012 school year.…

With the growing demand for improving college completion rates has come a need for more thorough information about just how well or poorly colleges and their students are performing on a variety of measures. In a growing number of states, that data is being used to improve the number of students who finish their degrees. Some states and…

To learn more about states' experiences with implementing school improvement grants (SIGs) funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Center on Education Policy (CEP) administered a survey to state Title I directors. (Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides federal funds to schools in low-income…

In early 2000, Florida's workforce wasn't keeping pace with demand. The state decided that a then-novel credential, a bachelor's degree from a community college, was the solution. The plan is working. The new bachelor's degrees initially focused on education, health care, and information technology. Even as the job market has shrunk, demand has…

"California in a Time of Excellence" follows the Golden State's efforts to reform its public school system from 1983 to the present. Beginning with progressive curriculum reform initiatives that were launched even before the National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) issued "A Nation at Risk" in 1983, James Andrew…

Expanding economic opportunity in Texas depends on our state's ability to increase the college graduation rate for the thousands of college freshmen arriving on campuses each year. The pending budget bills would hamper college access for thousands of Texans through severe cuts to successful financial aid programs, including TEXAS Grants (Towards…

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that are leading the way in ensuring children receive a continuum of care starting at birth and extending throughout childhood so that they can move seamlessly from home to child care to preschool to school, and then from grade to grade. That means children have to be ready for school. It also means that…

Describes a statewide initiative in Missouri to develop and promote the Advanced Placement program, including establishing AP Teacher Development sites, and statewide encouragement and coordination of the program. Notes that this has resulted in a major turnaround in the AP program in Missouri. (SR)

The California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) was developed in 1991 to align the state's testing system to curriculum content and improve measurement of student, school, and district performance. CLAS was discontinued because of tension between political and technical factors, key stakeholders' divergent priorities and goals, and virulent…

Rhododendron Girls' State, a 5-day West Virginia citizenship and leadership program, offers female high school students the opportunity to directly experience the campaign and electoral process. Katie McGee White discusses her experiences as the first Girls' State governor in 1941, her love of politics, and how she encouraged her students to be…

Describes developments in the state of South Carolina regarding school assessment and accountability. Outlines the mandates of South Carolina's Accountability Act of 1998 which focuses directly on "school accountability." (SR)