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…

The Massachusetts Early Childhood Support Organization (ECSO) initiative seeks to improve the quality of early education programs (EEPs) by supporting leaders to strengthen their organizational climate, provide job-embedded professional learning opportunities for educators, support the use of instructional curriculum and child assessments in their…

Grow Your Own (GYO) is a teacher recruitment and preparation strategy focused on developing and retaining teachers from the local community. GYO is often used to address teacher shortages and strengthen the teacher workforce; it relies on local community pathways and reciprocal relationships between institutions of higher education, community…

Continuous improvement has a prominent place in California's approach to educational accountability. But while there are proof points that show the potential of continuous improvement, currently there is not evidence that continuous improvement efforts are consistently leading to sustainable improvement in student outcomes and system functioning.…

Micro-credentials are increasingly being adopted across a variety of industries and countries, including the kindergarten through grade 12 education system in the United States, as a way to identify workers with specific skills, knowledge, and competencies. This report presents the results of a study conducted by RAND researchers who investigated…

NFER conducted an independent evaluation of the Inspect and Improve (I&I) pilot project in Eastern Uganda. I&I is a school inspections and improvement programme implemented by Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS) in partnership with Uganda's Directorate of Education Standards (DES), under the Ministry of Education and Sports…

The main purpose of this study was to determine the degree of achievement of CAEP standards in the master's program of curriculum and instruction at Imam Abdul Rahman bin Faisal University from the perspective of faculty members and candidates. The research utilized an analytical descriptive method to describe the reality of the master's program…

Across the social sectors, a growing number of organizations are embracing continuous improvement approaches and organizing themselves as networks in order to attack complex problems. To succeed, networks must learn quickly by studying their own practices, continuously adapting to changing circumstances within their organizations and in the…

This tool is designed for individuals who want to formatively assess a research-practice partnership (RPP) in collaboration with its members. It provides guidance on how to set and monitor progress on quarterly RPP goals aligned to five critical dimensions that researchers and practitioners must address to build and sustain an effective RPP. This…

An innovative system-building initiative known as the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP) is transforming U.S. STEM education through cross-sector partnerships between schools, afterschool and summer programs, libraries, museums, and businesses, among others. Although logic models exist to describe how SLEs can make positive…

In her April 2010 NILOA paper, "Opening Doors to Faculty Involvement in Assessment," Pat Hutchings called for institutions to involve students in assessment, citing the potential to increase faculty engagement. In Curtis and Anderson (2020), the first author interviewed numerous partnership experts in both the United Kingdom and the…

In the United States, higher education institutions assess the impact of program- level educational experiences through the process of program-level student learning outcomes assessment. The final step of the assessment cycle is to use assessment interpretations to make changes to educational programming. Nevertheless, few programs can demonstrate…

This article explores the All-Day Neighborhood Schools (ADNS) program, operated as a partnership between the New York City Board of Education and local philanthropists from 1936 to 1971. Designed to expand the resources available to children and parents, the program included after-school activities, additional teachers, professional development,…

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines key action steps that district leaders--including superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of student support services, or others--can take to support school climate improvements. Key action steps are provided for…

The authors of this report offer an in-depth analysis of the Teacher Effectiveness and Certification (TEACh) program, an alternative teacher preparation program intended to train diverse cohorts of high-quality teaching candidates to fill hard-to-staff positions. They follow three TEACh programs in different regions of the United States, which…