This research study evaluated the effects of the Comprehensive Supports and Improvement (CSI) program on the performance of fifty-six participating schools after one year of school improvement technical assistance. Specifically, it investigated whether the geographic locations of schools, the percentage of inexperienced teachers, and school…

Networked improvement communities (NICs) aim to build capacity for school-based educators to work collaboratively as active agents of problem solving and change. Yet, the benefits accrued to educators from participating in improvement networks have been sparsely researched. Using survey responses from the members of 34 improvement networks, we…

The quest to improve teaching on a wide scale is an enduring challenge globally. Yet demonstrable improvement in teaching quality is both elusive and slow. In this essay, I explore some of the complexities that contribute to the slow pace of change, including: the slippage between teachers and teaching as the object of improvement; the poorly…

A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of a teacher education program, or any program, can be the driving force for implementing change. A SWOT analysis is used to assist faculty in initiating meaningful change in a program and to use the data for program improvement. This tool is useful in any undergraduate or degree…

In 2007, Tulsa Community College (TCC) joined the national Achieving the Dream (ATD) network, which is dedicated to developing data-informed interventions to increase persistence and completion among community college students. TCC's participation in the national initiative set it down a path for positive institutional change, but it was the…

In this brief, we discuss embedding and framing the evolving literatures related to improvement and implementation sciences into a general intervention perspective. From that perspective, we sketch out some basic considerations related to improvement and implementation research, practice, and policy.

To remain internationally competitive, states needed clearer, higher, and comparable K-12 learning standards aligned with college and career expectations, and as ambitious as those of the countries that lead the world in education. Idaho's old academic standards were not preparing students for postsecondary education, which contributed to the…

Schools are learning organisations. They continuously strive to do better for the children and young people in their charge. In doing so, they try new things, seek to learn from those experiences, and work to adopt and embed the practices that work best. Implementation is a key aspect of what schools do to improve, and yet it is a domain of school…

This memo, which is the fourth in the series, describes how 11 Virginia school divisions have come together to form Virginia's Student-Led Assessment Networked Improvement Community. This Networked Improvement Community (NIC) is focused on increasing the use of student-led assessment practices, including capstone projects, to increase students'…

How can faculty, staff, and administrators design a high-quality academic experience for their institution's undergraduates by adopting an established set of nationally recognized, evidence-based teaching and learning practices that promote engaged learning? How can they ensure that all students, regardless of major, achieve the essential learning…

A fundamental principle of Education Diplomacy is that education is a human right central to the attainment of all other human rights. Monitoring and advocacy tools such as the Right to Education Index serve to mobilize national partnerships to hold governments to account for all children's enrollment in school and enjoyment of the right to…

In this article, the author describes how his district develops clearly focused professional learning communities (PLCs) and raises its student achievement rating from "one of the worst" to one of the best. Sanger Unified School District in California's Central Valley had been named one of the worst school districts in California. It…

To reform a special education teacher preparation program can be gratifying, difficult, complex, political, and urgently needed. The Monarch Center, a federally funded technical assistance center, was established to guide and support minority-serving institutions in their efforts to improve their teacher preparation programs. Four guidelines…

Education Development Center's (EDC) systemic equity review framework helps education leaders take a deeper look at inequities in order to understand the complex systems that affect student performance. While equity audits have historically played a role in curriculum assessments and state accountability systems, achievement gaps by race and class…

This document synthesizes the findings from the evaluations of four statewide programs designed to provide support for underperforming schools and districts in California as part of the state accountability system: (1) Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP); (2) High Priority Schools Grant (HPSG) Program; (3) School…