Background: Research shows that educators can identify half of future high school dropouts as early as Grade 6--and three quarters or more of future dropouts by Grade 9--by monitoring readily available data on attendance, behavior, and course performance. These data have come to be known as the ABCs of dropout prevention, and the measures are some…

Background/Context: Amidst the complex and fast-paced demands in schools and classrooms, identifying what most deserves educators' attention can pose a challenge. Indicators help focus attention by highlighting key features that signal important outcomes or opportunities to take action or learn. Purpose: Informed by multiple literatures, we offer…

Background: The federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to develop accountability measures in five indicator areas, including the new "school quality or student success" category. States also provide relative weights for each indicator. Research Questions: This new indicator is an opportunity to further develop multiple…

Background/Context: The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 spurred changes in the way educators use data. On the one hand, the policies inspired educators' awareness of large gaps in achievement between subgroups based on gender, race, and socioeconomic status. On the other hand, the policies…

Background/Context: The introduction of a racial equity policy provided an opportunity for one school district to examine its systems. The policy addressed structural inequity, as well as cultural literacy issues, internal personal biases, and other power dynamic differences in a historically impacted city. Researchers from a local…

Background/Context: There is a body of evolving research on how educators use data for improvement, with many examples in the literature about how educators learn to use a routine of data-driven cycles of inquiry to make smart improvements to their practice. This article is not an alternative structure for engaging in cycles of inquiry, but rather…

Background/Context: A primary argument that supports charter school policy assumes students favor schools with high academic performance ratings, leading to systemic school improvement. Previous research challenges this assumption but has limited generalizability because geographic and enrollment constraints limit student choice sets.…

Background/Context: Researchers have amassed considerable evidence on the use of student performance data (e.g., benchmark and standardized state tests) to inform educational improvement, but few have examined the use of nonacademic indicators (e.g., indicators of social and emotional well-being) available to educators, and whether the factors…

This chapter examines how the three most common types of engagement found among adolescents attending high-performing high schools relate to indicators of mental and physical health. [This article originally appeared as NSSE Yearbook Vol. 113, No. 1.]

Trying to understand PISA is analogous to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. There are many facets of the PISA program, and thus many ways to both applaud and critique this ambitious international program of assessment that has gained enormous importance in the crafting of contemporary educational policy. One of the facets discussed in…

Background/Context: Much research has investigated the complex interplay between education and migration. Education has been alternatively conceptualized as playing an important role as motivator or deterrent of future migration. This relationship, however, is often investigated in terms of coarse indicators of educational attainment. Purpose: In…

Background/Context: There is little question that education is changing, seemingly quickly and in some cases dramatically. The mechanisms through which individuals learn are shifting from paper-based ones to electronic media. Simultaneously, the nature of what individuals must learn is evolving, in good part due to an exponential accumulation of…

Background/Context: Under supplemental educational services ("supplemental services"), a parental choice provision of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), schools that have not made adequate yearly progress in increasing student achievement are required to offer low-income families free, afterschool tutoring. Existing research shows low…

Background/Context: Two key uses of international assessments of achievement have been (a) comparing country performances for identifying the countries with the best education systems and (2) generating insights about effective policy and practice strategies that are associated with higher learning outcomes. Do country rankings really reflect the…

Background/Context: American higher education witnessed rapid expansion during the period between 1960 and 1980, as colleges and universities welcomed millions of new students. During the period, the proportion of 19- and 20-year-old students living in dormitories, rooming houses, or other group quarters fell from more than 40% to slightly less…