Milner (2012) defines opportunity gaps as the uncontrollable factors such as race, language, or economic status that can impact students' success in schools. Rather than placing focus on students' achievement, examinations of opportunity gaps emphasize the systems and structures that may contribute to disparities in student outcomes. The…

This study investigated the process of instructional change required to translate data on student progress along learning trajectories (LTs) into relevant instructional modifications. Researchers conducted a professional development session on ratio LTs, which included analyzing 3 years of district-level data from Math-Mapper 6-8, a digital…

This guide is designed to help district and school site leaders assess the professional learning needs of elementary school teachers to implement research-based recommendations for the instruction of English learner students. It comprises two tools--the Teacher Self-Reflection Tool and the Classroom Observation Tool--and outlines a 10-step process…

This study analyzes the ways in which school boards assess and utilize evaluation data and their attitudes toward testing. Interviews with 27 school board members from 10 districts indicate that board members tend to rely on informal working knowledge over formal information, and on district administrators' judgments. Findings suggest that simple…

This report presents findings from a national examination of the organizations that sponsor, oversee and hold accountable U.S. charter schools. Its primary aim is to describe and characterize these crucial but little known organizations: What do they look like? How big are they? How do they go about their work? The results of this inquiry is a new…