Recent United States (U.S.) educational policies--especially the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015--have challenged state education agencies (SEAs) to take greater responsibility for and leadership over improving underperforming schools. SEA capacity to accomplish this charge varies, so many SEAs contract with third-party, external…

High-quality professional learning can build principals' capacity to lead successful schools. This brief summarizes a study about principals' professional learning based on a national survey of elementary school principals. Many surveyed principals reported that they had access to professional development that has been identified as important for…

School principals are essential for ensuring that students have access to strong educational opportunities. They shape a vision of academic success for all students; create a climate hospitable to education; cultivate leadership in others so that teachers and other adults feel empowered to realize their schools' visions; guide instructional…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has ushered in a new era of flexibility for state policies and practices related to low-performing schools. Will the states make changes? What aspects of change will need additional support? This descriptive, mixed methods study uses survey data from turnaround leaders in all 50 states and an extant document…

This brief summarizes lessons from "positive outlier" districts in California that have excelled at helping African American, Latino/a, and White students achieve at high levels on new assessments of academic standards in English language arts and mathematics, after accounting for students' socioeconomic status. Drawing on case studies…

Signed into law in December 2015, the Every Student Suceeds Act (ESSA) offers state education agencies significant opportunities to use evidence to support the improvement of schools and ensure better outcomes for all students. ESSA replaces the law, regulations, and guidance established through the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), but two…

This article summarizes findings and lessons learned about implementing school improvement grant (SIG) initiatives in rural areas of the United States. The study examines state-level survey data based on the proportion of rural schools receiving SIG funds in the fall of 2010 in each state. In addition, the authors summarize related findings from…

The five states in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northwest Region have many rural schools that have been designated as in need of improvement. And all five states had rural schools in the first cohort of federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) recipients. To address school improvement, the majority of those schools implemented the…

This brief summarizes the findings from a study that surveyed principals of rural schools nationwide that were designated as in need of improvement and that used the transformation model under the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. It provides information about the use of SIG funds in rural areas and is designed to help state leaders…

U.S. education has experienced many waves of reform in responding to rapid changes in knowledge, technologies, and the economy. It is now widely accepted that, to succeed in the future, all young people must have the opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication competencies--often referred to as…

A recent massive infusion of federal funding marked a dramatic shift in the federal approach to helping low-performing schools. As part of the broad array of economic stimulus efforts included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Congress appropriated an extra $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to…

The information in this report is drawn from the responses of a nationally representative sample of school districts to a broader Center on Education Policy (CEP) survey on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) administered in the spring of 2010. Survey responses were weighted to draw conclusions for all districts in the 50 states…

During the past year, the state of Michigan has made noteworthy changes in the accountability system used for NCLB. Partly as a result of these changes, the number of schools identified for restructuring has changed since the previous year. In addition, the state has continued providing various types of assistance to schools in restructuring. This…

This report synthesizes findings from five years of state-level research and local case studies of school restructuring by the Center on Education Policy (CEP). The research reported here began in Michigan in the summer and fall of 2004 and gradually expanded to include five additional states--California, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Ohio--as…

In March 2008, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched a competition for states to submit proposals to participate in a Differentiated Accountability Pilot program. The stated aim of the pilots was to allow participating states "to vary the intensity and type of interventions to match the academic reasons that led to a school's…