This is the latest in a series of case studies highlighting best practices High Schools That Work (HSTW) network schools and districts are implementing to prepare students better for further studies and careers. Fort Mill High School is in Fort Mill, South Carolina, an outlying suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. Fort Mill links high quality…

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…

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education invited states to apply for the Race to the Top--Early Learning Challenge (RTTT-ELC) to help states' efforts in supporting young children and their families through the development of more unified early learning systems, better information sharing among educators, and an increase in access to quality early…

The mission of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to ensure all students have access to a world-class education and quality online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success. "The Online Learning Definitions Project" is designed to provide states, districts, online programs, and…

The upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides an opportunity to reconsider what factors school performance-reporting systems should include. Critics of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have pointed to the narrowing effects of the law's focus on mathematics and reading achievement, and they have called for efforts…

The "Value-Added School Review (VSR)" is an analytical model designed to assist schools in identifying and addressing opportunities for school improvement. The model works best when it is focused purposefully on students and the student learning outcomes as defined in the "Guide to Education". It complements the processes…

This report provides a plan that teachers and school supervisors can use to implement seven tips for improving instructional skills. Designed to be referred to regularly, it includes three levels of implementation, as well as recommendations for utilizing technology to support each tip. The seven recommendations include: (1) Use technology to help…

This article presents major alterations afoot for Leaders Council. The Education Leaders Council (ELC), which has been grappling with financial and leadership problems for months, is merging with another Washington-based nonprofit organization. The new organization, which will likely keep the ELC name, now will manage the Following the Leaders…

This report extends previous Center explorations of the status of organized efforts to provide student supports. In 2005 we did a policy and practice analysis of school improvement planning guides to determine how student supports were formally integrated into school improvement planning. We followed this, in 2006, with analyses of a sample of…

As a strategic effort to advance the way schools address barriers to learning and psychosocial concerns, a consistent resource request has been for an example of a formal proposal for new directions (e.g., to present to a Superintendent, Student Support Director, Principal, Board, etc.). This report provides a draft of a design proposal that…

As with so many guides for school improvement, the U.S. Department of Education's March 2006 Non-regulatory Guidance document entitled, "Designing Schoolwide Programs," continues to marginalize the essential role of student/learning supports. This brief report analyzes the guidance document with a specific focus on how to ensure Title I schoolwide…

This tool was created in order to help young people and adults develop a common language for talking about how to improve schools. The tool provides educators, young people, administrators, policy makers, parents, community members and other stake holders with a common lens for reflecting on their schools and for planning change. It can also be…

In March 2003, the Education Commission of the States, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education established a collaborative project to help states improve higher education performance by assisting with examination of state higher education policies and with…

Eighteen projects funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title III, and providing funds to public school districts to demonstrate the feasibility of educational innovations, are described in this booklet developed as a dissemination project by Title III in Oklahoma. Programs described are said to have the common theme of increased…