With constantly changing needs in a global economy, more flexibility in educational accountability for states and districts, and a focus on high standards for all students, state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) are increasingly defining what skills, competencies, and knowledge graduates should have by developing a…

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and the Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC) of the State Board of Education are working on a new teacher licensure pathways proposal, Pathways to Excellence for Teaching Professionals (Model). This proposal, if enacted, would restructure the state's system…

A growing body of research shows that having access to teachers of color benefits all students--and can be particularly transformative for students of color. Yet, only 20% of teachers in the U.S. are teachers of color. Moreover, the lack of diversity of the teacher workforce relative to the student population is one of the key drivers of inequity…

Scientific thinking and understanding are essential for all people navigating the world, not just for scientists and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals. Knowledge of science and the practice of scientific thinking are essential components of a fully functioning democracy. Science is also crucial for the…

The goal of the Common Core State Standards, college and career readiness, is dependent of teaching for transfer--the ability to apply the knowledge, skills and disposition learned in one context to another or future context. In this article we discuss the types of transfer, automatic application or deliberate conscious application. We then…

During the past decade, education leaders and policymakers have made significant investments to better align California's K-12 and postsecondary education systems and to address persistent disparities in educational attainment by race and socioeconomic status. This report distills important lessons emerging from these efforts, integrating the…

New York City is facing a youth employment crisis, with unprecedented numbers of young people reaching adulthood without the skills or experiences to secure career-track jobs that pay a living wage. Since 2000, the percentage of 16 to 24 year olds across the five boroughs participating in the labor market has fallen from 45 percent to 29 percent,…

Many policymakers, curriculum specialists, teachers and administrators, bloggers and other commentators have raised serious questions about the Common Core State Standards. One set of questions asks whether states and districts have the money for professional development, curriculum materials, planning time, and other logistics that would be…

This issue brief was written to assist state policymakers in better understanding how social and emotional learning (SEL) can help students to be college and career ready. The brief provides a short description of what SEL is, why it is needed, and what it looks like in practice. In addition, examples of standards that support SEL at the federal…

From a higher education perspective, new "Common Core" standards could improve student college-readiness levels, reduce institutional remediation rates, and close education gaps in and between states. As a national initiative to create common educational standards for students across multiple states, the Common Core State Standards…

The executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, who also is a former superintendent of education in Kentucky and Arkansas argues that successful implementation of the Common Core depends on adhering to two concepts: having an effect at scale and understanding that the effort ahead is a systems issue. This work depends on…

The Common Core State Standards, released in June 2010, offer an opportunity to shift education away from shallow, test-prep instruction and toward a focus on key cognitive skills, writes Conley. Two consortia of states are now developing common assessments to measure these standards--assessments that will be designed to capture deeper, more…

Managed and supported by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement was introduced in 1999 to attract, motivate, and retain talent in teaching by providing opportunities for career advancement, professional development, evaluation, and performance-based compensation. Each of TAP's…

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and the Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC) of the State Board of Education are working on a new teacher licensure pathways proposal, Pathways to Excellence for Teaching Professionals (Model). This proposal, if enacted, would restructure the state's system…

In an effort to inform preschool policy in California, an interdisciplinary team of RAND researchers conducted a multiyear study of preschool education known as the California Preschool Study. One of the recommendations from that study was the need for a more in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of the early care and education (ECE) workforce…