This article is a follow-up to a recent ROPS [Research & Occasional Paper Series] article on strategic budgeting at colleges and universities. In recent years, several colleges and universities have explored alternative strategies for developing operating budgets. In part, this exploration was driven by the desire for transparency among…

When then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) into law in 2013, California's leaders were hopeful that this legislation would set high expectations for flexibility, transparency, and equity within school districts. A key component of the legislation was to allow districts more flexibility to make spending decisions…

The Innovation Schools Act of 2008, § 22-32.5-102, et seq. C.R.S., was designed to provide a pathway for schools and districts to develop and implement innovative practices in a wide variety of areas and contexts to improve student outcomes. Innovation schools are required to articulate a vision around the autonomies they are seeking, as well as…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the reform initiatives that began with a focus towards change in the teaching and learning in Singapore classrooms with technology integration. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology used in this study is review and descriptive narrative of educational technology polices, initiatives and…

Making college accessible to all includes making it affordable to lower-income families. A growing policy strategy at the state level is to provide individual students with need-based financial aid to offset tuition and living expenses. This strategy inherently presents challenges in choosing which income levels are eligible to receive aid,…

A variety of assessment options that incorporate high-impact educational practices (HIPS) have emerged to assist higher education faculty in meeting student learning outcomes. HIPS are teaching and learning tools which have been demonstrated to increase student engagement and persistence. Practices such as first-year seminars, tech-rich learning…

Over the past 25 years, a small but growing number of school districts have implemented weighted student funding (WSF), a type of school-based budgeting system, as a way to increase school-level autonomy and flexibility and more equitably distribute funding among schools. In these districts, education leaders have implemented policies that…

As called for in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM) released, in May of 2013, the Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education 5- Year Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan). As required by the Act, this report includes…

Teacher retention is of critical concern in rural and high-poverty districts. This case study describes one school’s challenges following the district's budget cuts that eliminated funding for schools' mentor programs. The mentor coordinator at this elementary school faces several dilemmas as she attempts to maintain high-quality support for the…

This brief estimates the impact of a statewide implementation of Opportunity Culture models, using North Carolina as an example. Impacts estimated include student learning outcomes, gross state product, teacher pay, and other career characteristics, and state income tax revenue. Estimates indicate the potential for a statewide transition to…

Ohio has made tremendous strides in education reform over the past half year. Yet even regarding these accomplishments, the work is not done. Virtually all of the state's recent education policy changes come with implementation challenges and sustainability concerns. This paper presents a list that offers praise for the positive changes Ohio has…

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act or ARRA) into law on February 17, 2009. This federal stimulus package provided an unprecedented infusion of new education aid for the nation's schools--more than $100 billion. To determine how the unprecedented federal infusion of education funding was…

When it became clear that existing literacy efforts would not be enough to enable some countries to reach Education for All (EFA) Goal 4 (a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy), UNESCO launched the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE, 2006-2015). 35 countries with literacy rates below 50 percent and/or a population of more…

Thirty years ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court forced our state to take stock of its system for funding schools. Our poorest towns had thousands of dollars less per child to spend. Today, our poorest districts spend roughly the same as our richest, but Connecticut's poor children still score far below their wealthy peers. Our school finance…

Britain's new inspection system requires that schools be assessed for efficiency and value for money. Drawing on a content analysis of 66 secondary school inspection reports, this paper considers implementation problems and whether schools have adopted the rational approach to resource management. Few schools had successfully adopted all elements…