The Trump administration's push to scale back the federal role in education could mean more autonomy for states. But this increased decision-making power will also make state K-12 accountability more important than ever. States must ensure education funding is used effectively, especially for those students furthest from opportunity. While some…

Questions that challenge the curriculum can put educators on the defensive. Lauren Porosoff discusses helpful ways that educators can be proactive about creating productive and meaningful conversations with parents and community members about curriculum choices and the reasons behind them.

Following a set of state meetings held throughout fall 2020, the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) decided to offer a mini-conference in November 2020 to round out offerings and to buttress conversation around topics of high need and interest to Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). Leveraging the familiar process of the…

Language and learning norms constitute the biggest constraint for refugee learners attempting to access education in Uganda because they struggle to demonstrate competencies in English despite acquiring them in their local language (Arabic, French, or Swahili). Learners are assigned to lower levels, contributing to misalignment between their…

Each year, state legislators introduce hundreds of bills that generate new data collections, analyses, and resources, playing a crucial role in how people access and use data. Notably, in 2023 legislators introduced and enacted bills governing cross-agency data systems--the most important step that states must take to make robust access to data…

Arguably, K-12 schools are caught in the crossfire of a political divide in this country. This division is evidenced through examples of parent frustration toward school leaders' attempts (or lack thereof) to address important topics like racism in schools. Although the democratic ideal promotes student exposure to differing viewpoints in order to…

This report explains how the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act came to be and offers promising practices and lessons other states may adapt to their political and economic contexts. Through in-depth interviews with advocates and state leaders, the authors uncovered five factors that contributed to TISA's passage that have…

This paper presents a practical training framework for collaboration for pre-service and in-service school counselors and principal training programs, which can serve as a model for other programs to best meet the social, emotional, academic, and career and college readiness needs of P-12 students. The framework includes six elements: 1) effective…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), establishes requirements for State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to prepare and disseminate report cards that provide information on State, LEA, and school performance and progress in an understandable…

In a dedicated effort to build high-quality, equitable career pathways Advance CTE, in partnership with Education Strategy Group through JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s "New Skills ready network," released "Braiding Funding To Support Equitable Career Pathways." This policy brief is the fourth in a series designed to help build…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) annual plan identifies the audits, inspections, and other activities that the OIG intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's citizens and students. The FY 2024 Annual Plan details the assignment areas they plan to…

This article asks three questions: (1) Why do the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries matter to school administrators; (2) How is an administrator's knowledge of the role of the school librarian as articulated in these standards; and (3) Is it known what matters to school administrators and how…

Those tasked with leading large school districts direct incredibly complex organizations in what are often contentious political and social contexts, with powerful stakeholder groups espousing conflicting policy priorities. Because of their high-profile positions, superintendents often face uniquely persistent and powerful resistance and must…

This edition of Equity Dispatch speaks to educational leaders within systems who, through policy and practice, pigeonhole K-12 educators into inauthentic social justice roles--which push educators to continually reproduce practices that historically marginalize. Provided within is a socio-cultural history of social justice education theories and…

Accountability mechanisms and processes have evolved with changes in statute. State Education Agency (SEA) accountability systems may exhibit characteristics of compliance- and/or improvement-focused systems in light of requirements under the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" (ESEA) and its reauthorizations under the…