As part of a standards revision project for the state of Nebraska, the Region 11 Comprehensive Center in partnership with the American Institutes of Research, conducted a scan of publicly available state information and existing research on revision processes. From that, we've created this guide sharing 10 key elements states should consider when…

Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

Academic institutions modified their financial conflict of interest policies (FCOI) in response to the Public Health Service's (PHS) 2011 revised regulations (42 CFR 50 Subpart F) on "Responsibility of Applicants for Promoting Objectivity in Research and Responsible Prospective Contractors" (45 CFR 94), which were to go into effect on…

Around 30 percent of families across New York State now speak a language other than English at home, resulting in 240,000 English language learners (ELLs) in the state's primary and secondary schools who speak nearly 200 different languages. This report looks at New York State's redesign of policies and practices to better support the education of…

Little is known about the supply side of voucher programs, despite schools' central role in program effectiveness. Using survey and interview data on the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP), I analyze schools' participation decisions and early implementation experiences to understand better how schools respond to program regulations. I find…

As part of the "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009," the U.S. Department of Education sponsored the "Race to the Top" competition to encourage education reforms anchored in improving teacher effectiveness as a driver for improving student-achievement outcomes and closing achievement gaps. The New York State…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus bill, channeled an unprecedented $100 billion into the nation's public education system. These funds were intended not only to avert teacher layoffs and stabilize state and local education budgets in the short term, but also to encourage reforms that…

This paper is one of a collection of papers written by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) to support the use of content review as the basis for establishing communication and computation prerequisites. "Student Success: The Case for Establishing Prerequisites Through Content Review" was adopted at the Fall 2010…

The extent to which funds under the Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) should be expended on training services has been a topic of discussion by Congress, which is considering reauthorization of WIA. This paper describes a policy initiative by Illinois that requires Local Workforce Investment Areas (LWIAs) under Title I of WIA to expend…

This study examines principal mentoring practices in Wisconsin. Particular attention is paid to practices deemed promising in the literature on mentoring for improving principals' capacity for instructional leadership. The implementation of Wisconsin's policy for teacher and administrator mentoring (PI 34) is also examined. Wisconsin's…

Despite many worldwide physical education (PE) and physical activity policies targeting children in schools, there is considerable variation between policy and implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate Victorian state secondary PE teachers' knowledge and implementation of the mandated policy of 100 minutes of PE and 100 minutes…

This is a case study of the implementation of 8 VAC 20-542-530(2), a state policy governing the internship component of Virginia principal preparation programs. The purpose of the study was to examine the implementation of the policy and its effectiveness for changing professional practice in Virginia. States hold the responsibility for…

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a school-wide, integrative approach to instruction and intervention that provides a continuum of services to all students, both within general and special education. Further, RTI focuses on the frequent monitoring of student progress using formative and summative assessments, and providing students with…

To address key policy and programmatic questions and help improve student and system performance, states must work to link data across the early childhood, postsecondary and workforce (P-20/workforce) spectrum and share this information with appropriate stakeholders. This issue brief highlights current efforts in California, Florida, Indiana, and…