This report summarizes the results of a project by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) that explored how education leaders, practitioners, and the research community might work together more effectively to advance the use of evidence in school improvement. In particular, the project focused on how to support states and school districts as they…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives states more power than they had under previous federal law to determine which schools are low-performing and gives school districts greater latitude to decide on strategies to improve these schools. This report describes findings from the first phase of a project by the Center on Education Policy (CEP)…

In the spring of 2019, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) at the George Washington University conducted interviews with leaders from five school districts that differed in key characteristics. The aim was to learn about districts' efforts to implement the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for using evidence-based approaches…

In the spring of 2015, many states began administering new state assessments designed to measure students' mastery of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English language arts (ELA). This was the first wide-scale assessment of student mastery of the Common Core. For some states, it was also the first time that state math and…

This paper presents the study methods used for the "Opportunities and Obstacles: Implementing Stimulus-Funded School Improvement Grants in Maryland, Michigan, and Idaho" report. The purpose of this study was to describe how Title I 1003(g) School Improvement Grants awarded through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) in the…

In the fall of 2011, the Center on Education Policy conducted a survey of state education officials to learn more about the fiscal condition of the states, their efforts to meet the assurances under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the progress of states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards in transitioning to the new…

Based on a fall 2017 survey of officials from 45 state education agencies, this report highlights early state efforts to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The report highlights states' views on ESSA's shift in control from the federal government to states and school districts regarding accountability and school improvement…

Many low-performing schools across the nation have increased learning time in response to federal requirements for the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. The conditions governing federal waivers of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) also require certain schools to redesign the school day, week, or year to include additional…

This report updates the December, 2011 report "AYP Results for 2010-11" to include AYP data from school year 2010-11 for New York State. Several numbers throughout the report have changed as a result of the new data from New York. Most notably, the estimated percentage of all public schools in the nation that did not make AYP for 2011 has been…

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…

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, provided an extra $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) under section 1003(g) of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Along with this funding increase, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance…

On February 9, 2012, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan granted 10 states waivers of key accountability requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. One year later, applications for this ESEA flexibility, also known as NCLB waivers, had been approved for an additional 24…

The Center on Education Policy, an independent nonprofit organization, collected and analyzed data from state Web sites and other sources to determine how many schools in the nation and in each state did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Findings of the study include: (1) About one-third of U.S.…

As Congress considers legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, one topic of debate is the program of school improvement grants (SIGs) authorized by section 1003(g) of Title I. SIGs are intended to help to turn around low-performing schools and are part of the larger ESEA Title I program to improve…