This report examines how First 5 Alameda can lead efforts to strengthen alignment and coherence across Alameda County's early childhood mixed delivery system. As the agency administering Measure C and partnering on the Oakland Children's Initiative, First 5 Alameda is well positioned to help build a more integrated early care and education system.…

While evaluation capacity building (ECB) may hold promise for fostering evaluation, little is known about how it is operationalized within a network. This article presents initial findings from a National Science Foundation-funded research project (Complex Adaptive Systems as a Model for Network Evaluations) that used concepts from complex…

There have been countless efforts to improve academic achievement in public schools across the United States, especially in urban school districts. Few efforts, however, use rigorous analytic modeling tools to anticipate and prevent the potential side effects of change. This chapter proposes the application of system dynamics on educational reform…

States and school districts endeavoring to improve learning outcomes for young children typically focus on literacy, not math. Math is often overlooked in improvement initiatives, and it gets far less instructional time than literacy in preschool and the early grades. While literacy skills are unquestionably critical, so are math skills. Math…

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. To maintain the pace of development, local government institutions (LGIs) in many countries have started adapting innovative good practices. These practices are being generated as an…

The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) endeavors to promote both challenging academic instruction and more holistic aims--namely, intercultural understanding and respect. Throughout its history, the IB system has managed at least three ongoing tensions, which stem from its multifaceted aims and which the system has evolved to manage.…

This article presents how character development practitioners, researchers, and funders might think about evaluation, how evaluation fits into their work, and what needs to happen in order to sustain evaluative practices. A broader view of evaluation is presented whereby evaluation is not just seen as something that is applied at a program level,…

Schools implementing innovative learning environments (ILEs) face many challenges, including the need to discard previously cherished practices and behaviours, adjust mindsets, and invent successful new ways of operating. Leaders can support these processes by implementing structures that: i) support ongoing, distributed, participatory innovation;…

All youth need the support of parents, family members, and other caring adults. Parents and families are children's first teachers and, in many respects, their most influential role models and motivators. Among the varied efforts to ensure that children succeed and thrive, there is growing acknowledgement of how critically important it is to…

Leaders and educators in a select number of states have begun to recognize that the traditional educational system -- in which students move ahead, year after year, as long as they attain minimal proficiency on basic academic standards -- can perpetuate learning gaps for students that grow over time. There is increasing understanding of how the…

States are making progress in supporting effective data use, but the hardest work remains. Although states collect quality data and have enacted policy changes, they have not yet focused on meeting people's needs. This report includes the following: (1) Changing the Culture of Education Data Takes Systems, Policies, and People; (2) Data for Action…