The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) developed this guide to assist in preparing a State plan under the newly authorized Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Act), 20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq. as amended by P.L. 109-270. The framework for the guide is based on the requirements in the Act and a renewed…

States recognize that a workforce skill shortage exists and have started educational initiatives to prepare students for workforce readiness and postsecondary success. There is a growing consensus among states that the goal of our education system is to prepare students for a career, college, or the military by providing all students with…

For decades, policymakers in the U.S. have leveraged accountability policy as a governing tool to lift school performance and close the achievement gap. Accountability become so widespread that it arguably became a "policy paradigm" with the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002. Yet after just 13 years of…

Public university governing boards exist to serve the people of their states. It should, therefore, be easy for the public to know what governing bodies are doing. University governance, however, isn't always as transparent as it should be. Often, the public is given little advance notice of when and where meetings will be held and what issues…

Chapter 9A of the Norwegian Education Act obligates teachers to act upon any suspicion of deficits in the school environment. This cross-sectional study explores teachers' (n = 140) perceptions and motivations in terms of initiating cases according to 9A, considering both accountability and responsibility. Teachers' job satisfaction and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of continuous improvement and improvement science in the Consolidated State Plans required by ESSA. Through an exploratory qualitative content analysis, we examined 52 state plans to determine the extent education policies encourage professional educators to use a continuous improvement and…

School accountability is a powerful force in education. Today, schools are within the early years of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" ("ESSA") which has introduced a new accountability model to states and districts, in a post-pandemic era in which schools' roles and responsibilities within the larger society have continued to…

Outstanding Higher Education Act (HEA) Title IV federal student loan debt exceeds $1.6 trillion and is owed by about 45 million borrowers. In August 2022, the Biden Administration announced it would invoke the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) to cancel, on a one-time basis, up to $20,000 in qualifying…

School and district leaders often face a politically charged environment. The past few years have heightened the unusual community sentiment on social media, newsletters, board meetings, and other public venues, especially around issues such as "Critical Race Theory." Superintendents in Texas have been charged with considering book…

Given that standards-based education has been commonplace since the early 1980's, most practicing education professionals cannot remember a time where standards did not exist. Standards have historically served as a mechanism for accountability and academic achievement. In physical education, while not required in initial educational reforms, the…

Under section 1001 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA), the purpose of the Title I, Part A program (Title I, Part A) is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education as well as to close educational achievement gaps. The…

On July 31, 2018, the "Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act" (Public Law 115-224) (Perkins V, the Act, or statute), was signed into law and thus reauthorized and amended the "Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006." The U.S. Department of Education's (Department) Office of…

Since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, U.S. state IDEA programs have been required to report annually on a set of performance indicators. Indicator 8 of the Part B State Performance Plan is the "percent of parents who report that schools facilitated parent involvement as a means of…

States vary widely in their approaches to charter school regulation. We administered online surveys to charter school leaders in four of the most stringently regulated states and three of the least stringently regulated states to examine how their approach might influence perceived school goals and levels of goal agreement. Generally, survey…

The U.S. law governing special education, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), requires that students with disabilities be provided a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). However, given the interpretive latitude within the law and the wide discrepancy in how this law is applied,…