Early education has been a growing priority for the Obama administration, and its competitive funding is spurring innovation in this field around the country. In 2013, early education journalist Paul Nyhan, author of this report, conducted case studies of four competitive grant programs that are triggering changes in early education: "Race to…

At the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ASSDHH) was informed that they had met Alaska's Annual Yearly Progress as required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for the first time ever. This was incredibly exciting and worth celebrating since teachers had invested so much "blood,…

During the past decade, New York City undertook a district-wide high school reform that is perhaps unprecedented in its scope, scale, and pace. Between fall 2002 and fall 2008, the school district closed 23 large failing high schools (with graduation rates below 45 percent), opened 216 new small high schools (with different missions, structures,…

Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") initiative works with more than 1,100 schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia to improve school and classroom practices and prepare more students for success in postsecondary studies, training and careers. This brief report analyzes student…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe one Connecticut middle school's voluntary implementation of a data-driven decision making process in order to improve student academic performance. Data-driven decision making is a component of Connecticut's accountability system to assist schools in meeting the requirements of the No…

This study was conducted to examine instructional strategies and resource allocation in successful schools. The study was based on analysis of six effective Southern California elementary schools. All the analyzed schools were Title I, non-charter public schools that had demonstrated consistent student achievement, had narrowed the achievement gap…

This guidebook is designed to help the individual school faculty, staff, and administration create a school plan. Five features critical to a successful school-improvement plan include: support by research findings; a focus on student achievement; attention to issues of quality and equity; collaboration; and an ongoing and self-renewing process.…

This guidebook offers strategies for creating a district context that is conducive to initiating and sustaining school improvement. Designed to provide resources for those working at school district level, the five stages of the school-improvement process are based on effective-schools research--organize, focus, analyze, develop, and…

The New Century High Schools (NCHS) initiative so far has launched three rounds of new small high schools in New York City, working in collaboration with the Department of Education of the City of New York (DOE), the teachers' and principals' professional associations, and a consortium of funders led by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. New…

A study examined the performance of the High Schools That Work (HSTW) initiative in 1996 and 1998, based on data from the HSTW Assessments. Analyses found support for the hypothesis that HSTW is the cause of school improvement, although other non-measured factors may also influence these schools, and showed that between 1996-98 HSTW schools…