The field of gifted education in the United States faces an existential crisis due to well-founded charges that many school programs fail to identify students who reflect the diversity of the overall student population. In this study, we used a mixed methods light approach to explore gifted education coordinators' perceptions of equity and…

School reform efforts, though the subject of a great deal of scrutiny and research since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, have resulted in negligible positive net results for student achievement on any of our current scales of measurement. Additionally, our current school system has yet to fully or successfully pivot to a twenty-first…

The Partnership for Pre-K Improvement (PPI) was launched in 2016 as a project with a vision to develop and sustain high-quality, equitable Pre-K programs that produce improved and more-equitable kindergarten readiness and greater academic success for children through the early elementary grades. The multiyear, multistate (Oregon, Tennessee, and…

Evidence shows that children's early years are a crucial time for their development. Well-designed early childhood education (ECE) experiences can foster meaningful gains in school readiness, as well as long-term benefits such as lower rates of special education placement and higher graduation rates. The quality of early education is highly…

The Washington State Board of Education (SBE) issues an annual report to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public, in accordance with the Charter School Act, RCW 28A.710.250. The statute requires the annual charter school report to include the following: (1) The performance of the state's charter schools during the prior school year,…

The second of three "bright spot" briefs examines how states are leveraging ARP funds to improve SEL for all students through collaboration among schools, families, and communities. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) provided a $122 billion historic federal investment in K-12 education to help states and districts safely reopen…

The problem addressed by this study was that educators struggle with knowing which authentic literacy instructional practices and strategies were effective for improving student engagement and achievement levels in the middle grades. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to examine the instructional strategies related…

This report contains three parts: the "Graduation Pathway Options Report" with Foreword by the State Board, "Washington Graduation Pathway Options: Stakeholder Feedback Project Year 3, Volume I," and "Washington Graduation Pathway Options: Stakeholder Feedback Project Year 3, Volume II." The graduation pathway is one…

States must adopt an equity-focused approach to transfer policies to address racial equity gaps and make progress toward attainment goals in postsecondary education. State higher education agencies should assess transfer performance based on race and income and establish standards for creating equitable transfer policies. To support state and…

This research consists of a non-experimental, descriptive and correlation research design to analyze the relationship between principals' leadership style as well as principal cultural competency and their impact on student achievement and stake-holders perception. The study took place in the South Puget Sound region of Washington state in one of…

In 2022, the Transfer Equity Project (TEP) examined key aspects of Washington's transfer ecosystem for students, specifically towards achieving equitable student outcomes. This project took the form of a self-study and engaged a task force that included a wide range of participants from various organizations in Washington. From this exploration…

Discipline-specific instructional improvement policies require teachers to implement new teaching and collaborative practices. What kinds of leadership moves do principals make to support enactment of new practices? Drawing on leadership theories to examine principals' leadership actions, data come from a qualitative study of three elementary…

Most public K-12 schools in the United States enact a school improvement plan each year based upon the state testing results from the previous year. Despite the many frameworks, research, and recommendations, few scholars tackled what the plans contain and the results. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods model, two stages examined school…

In response to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the changing health care needs of the 21st century, the Institute of Medicine recommended that 80% of the registered nursing (RN) workforce should have their baccalaureate degree or higher by the year 2020. The College of Nursing at Washington State University (WSU) offers an accredited, online…

Effective instructional coaching has long demonstrated positive impacts on teacher practices and early learning outcomes. Providing effective instructional coaching at scale is a challenge that many state and local systems tackle. This case study report highlights four systems (Alabama, AppleTree, Maine, and Washington) that are uniquely…