Signed into law in December 2015, the Every Student Suceeds Act (ESSA) offers state education agencies significant opportunities to use evidence to support the improvement of schools and ensure better outcomes for all students. ESSA replaces the law, regulations, and guidance established through the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), but two…

With the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards, public education in the United States is poised to take a major step forward in readying the next generation of Americans for success in higher education and the workforce. Gaining a realistic understanding of students' performance levels, meeting students where they currently are,…

Public-school students in the world's largest city, Shanghai, China, are academically outperforming their counterparts across the globe and becoming the talk and envy of education experts worldwide. Using an innovative partnering approach that matches successful schools with low-performing schools, Shanghai has valuable lessons to teach on turning…

In 2009 the Obama administration announced a focused commitment to turn around 5,000 of the United States' chronically lowest-performing public schools as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This commitment came with $3 billion in funding for the School Improvement Grant program, or SIG, along with new guidelines to ensure…