School principals are critical to students' academic achievement, second only to teachers. They are the primary agents of change in their schools, fostering supportive learning environments that enhance student learning and teacher effectiveness. Moreover, they often design and oversee the initiatives and hiring to sustain the positive changes…

This qualitative dissertation aimed to understand if an after-school kinesiology service-learning program changed the relationship between a large Research I institution and a local public school. Eight 7th- and 8th-grade students, three classroom teachers, and one administrator participated. Data collection methods included semistructured…

A case study on how one Colorado school district navigated crisis response, mental health support, and community rebuilding during devastating natural disasters, with specific attention to the 2021 Colorado Marshall Fires, the largest wildfire in Colorado history.

Student persistence to graduation remains a critical measure of institutional success. Degree attainment is not only essential to the personal achievement of students arriving on campus each fall but has become a high-stakes measure for performance-based funding. It is telling, that even now, the pursuit of a college degree is characterized as…

State leaders are grappling with generation-defining challenges as they work to fully understand and address the impact of the pandemic on students and communities. As leaders turn their attention to the upcoming school year, data continues to be a critical tool for informing recovery efforts. Data Quality Campaign's (DQC) 2021 public opinion…

AASA has always seen healthy eating in schools as a leadership issue. Meals are served in the cafeteria, vending machines dotted the hallways of schools, and sales of cookies, chips, candies, and other fundraisers took place all over the district. While many different people are "in charge" of these various forms of food…

The Responses to Educational Disruption Survey (REDS), conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), studied how teaching and learning were affected by the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and aimed to paint a picture of national responses to the global pandemic. REDS was based on the premise that…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the U.S. education system in both immediate and long-term ways, calling into question how K-12 accountability will function in the 2020-21 school year and well into the future. States face considerable uncertainty about how to meet federal and state accountability requirements for this school year and beyond. It…

There is enormous urgency to actively develop sound plans that address equity, social and emotional well-being, and academic excellence in schools. This blueprint is founded on the belief that all students can succeed when learning is supported by equitable systems. To achieve equity, individuals and systems must truly value all students and their…

Between 2015 and 2019, Holyoke Public Schools in Massachusetts cut its dropout rate nearly in half and increased its graduation rate by 10 percentage points, with notable gains among historically marginalized student groups. The district cites Opportunity Academy (OA), an alternative education program within the district's high school, as a key…

The Texas Education Agency offers grants for districts to implement school turnaround strategies at low-performing schools. Districts that receive these grants can implement a school turnaround strategy (referred to as a district-managed restart strategy) that includes replacing principals and teachers at schools that the district identifies as…

The technological capacity that now exists to gather and store large amounts of data has improved access to information regarding young people in schools. Improvements in data management techniques and statistical data software packages have made retrieving and analysing systems data a more accessible and manageable process. On a smaller scale,…

This brief draws on interviews with school principals, community school managers (CSMs), and district leaders in two community schools and focused on school improvement efforts based on Oakland Unified School District's (OUSD) full-service community schools model (FSCS). New Highland RISE Community Elementary School (RISE Community) and Elmhurst…

The four appendices in this report accompany the full report "The Effects of a Principal Professional Development Program Focused on Instructional Leadership. NCEE 2020-0002," (ED599489). They include: (1) The Study's Principal Professional Development Program; (2) Study Design, Data Collection, and Analytic Methods; (3) Supplemental…

At least half of states administer or are developing kindergarten entry assessments. In fall 2017 the Illinois State Board of Education began requiring teachers to report data on every child's skills at kindergarten entry using the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey, which was adapted from a California kindergarten assessment. This study…