In "Measuring to Improve," Paul G. LeMahieu, Paul Cobb, and contributors introduce educational practitioners, administrators, and policymakers to the foundational elements of practical measurement to support continuous improvement efforts in K-12 schools. They begin by defining practical measurement as data collection and analysis that…

Students in foster care are a resilient group of individuals who often face many obstacles and changes in environment (e.g., home, school, community) from a young age. While the foster care system's goal is to provide a safe and stable environment for children, adolescents, and transitional age youth, there are many challenges students in foster…

The colleges, universities, and postsecondary career-preparation institutions of Indiana, and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE) value the diversity of our students, their identities, their backgrounds, and their learning experiences. They are committed to helping them succeed and recognize that their success supports educational…

Youth and young adults experiencing homelessness face many challenges while pursuing postsecondary credentials. Low education attainment is occurring in higher education institutions across the county, with more than a quarter of first-year college students not returning for their second year in community college. This National Center for Homeless…

Planning the intended use of data and identification of bottlenecks are two best practices that faculty and administrators can use when they conduct assessments for the combined purposes of accountability and improvement. Prior to data collection, they need to have a clear plan of how the results should offer worthwhile insights. Upon…

Building on previous research showing how well ninth-grade student behaviors predict on-time high school graduation, this experimental study investigates the impact of a ninth-grade intervention on student attendance and course passing. The study, conducted in 41 geographically and demographically diverse high schools within a single state,…

Completing the A-G course sequence is the standard pathway to college for California high school graduates; however, findings indicate that there is substantial variation in A-G enrollment and completion rates across student subgroups and schools. This brief describes the distribution in access to and success in A-G courses as well as strategies…

It is widely understood in the higher education community that students from the lowest socioeconomic (SES) status achieve lower college graduation rates than those from other SES, even when controlling for other variables. Certain programs and services have been shown to positively affect student persistence, even when compared by student SES and…

Building Bridges is charged with creating a statewide program for comprehensive dropout prevention, intervention, and retrieval (DPIR) programming, and to make annual recommendations to the legislature and the governor on DPIR best practices and system needs. Washington's graduation rate has steadily been increasing since 2021 with 83% of the…

Many state and institution leaders have focused a considerable amount of energy on the development of data-driven student support tools that can be used for a variety of purposes. But tools aren't enough to drive progress -- policymakers must also consider the human component of the equation and explore best practices of how such tools, and the…

Top-performing countries across the globe set clear academic gateways that students must pass through during their primary and secondary school years. These gateways mark levels of achievement that, cumulatively, prepare students for gainful careers and/or postsecondary education. This fact sheet suggests ways that state and district leaders can…

School districts in the state of Missouri are required to provide an education to all students, including those on suspension, and many other states have similar requirements. The number of alternative programs has grown over the last 50 years, and most districts provide some type of alternative program for at-risk students. With few state…

California's public schools boast the nation's largest population of English learners--approximately 1.15 million in the 2019-20 school year. The potential civic, intellectual, economic, and cultural contributions of this group of multilingual students are enormous. Yet too often, their assets remain undervalued and untapped because traditional…

Albuquerque Sign Language Academy (ASLA), a charter school in New Mexico, is a dual language English-American Sign Language (ASL) school, and half of the students at ASLA are deaf or hard of hearing, while the other half are hearing. Many students at the school also have disabilities other than or in addition to being deaf or hard of hearing, with…

To complement the existing literature on expanding access to high-quality college education, we investigate the understudied topic of university outreach. Using a field experiment at West Point, we estimate the effectiveness of four university admissions outreach efforts (Admissions Office phone call, application encouragement from a role model,…