This document is written primarily for policy makers and state department of education staff who are considering through-year assessments, as well as consultants and contractors state departments rely on. The document identifies essential things to consider when designing or evaluating a through-year assessment program. The paper is organized into…

This guide describes key steps for developing a well-thought-out plan for evaluating a State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). The guide provides considerations for how to incorporate each step into an evaluation plan, as well as a series of worksheets that correspond to each step and can be used to facilitate the planning process. The guide,…

The purpose of the 2018-2019 CARES evaluation was to (a) help program staff conceptualize the CARES implementation work and goals; (b) define measurable indicators of implementation, outputs, and outcomes; and (c) provide summative data on the first year of program implementation. Results of the 2018-2019 CARES program evaluation activities were…

This white paper offers an approach for using a theory of action as an outline to develop the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) Phase II evaluation questions and plan that will guide the SSIP work in Phase III and beyond. Key areas of focus include generating evaluation questions at each level of outcomes, identifying essential steps and…

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Education's (Department) overall information technology (IT) security programs and practices were effective as they relate to Federal information security requirements. To answer this objective, the Department's performance was rated in accordance with Fiscal Year (FY)…

Solid, well-grounded teachers can be instrumental in solving the problems facing our schools and students because it is successful teachers who are the most valuable, in-school contributors to our students' success. The importance of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) in developing quality teachers has been reinforced by researchers who have…

Most states have developed or revised school accountability systems in response to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). While these systems include multiple indicators, to many stakeholders the outcome of central interest is the overall rating or classification produced for each school. These ratings are often used to identify schools that merit…

This policy brief summarizes and critiques the findings of the US Department of Education's Section 5005 Report on Rural Education. In September of 2018, the Department of Education released the "Section 5005 Report on Rural Education: Final Report." The report was written in response to a provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act of…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2018 through 2022 describes the focus and direction of OIG's operations over the next five years, establishes their organizational goals, and outlines the strategies they will employ to reach those goals and the measures they will use to…

In Australia, a review of the higher education sector is usually triggered by a change in government leadership, followed by the development and implementation of the government's response in the form of a reform package to enact change. The aim of this study was to conduct an independent evaluation of a large-scale national government policy…

On Dec. 10, 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (P.L. 114-95) became law. ESSA primarily reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), but includes other provisions as well. Among these, Section 5005 requires the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) to "review the organization, structure, and process…

This literature review begins with a description of the process used to conduct the literature review, parameters for the review, and the characterization of the literature. The body of this review consists of four sections: (1) Development and/or Adoption of State English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards, (2) Design and Development of the ELP…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

States, programs, and schools have long focused on the inputs of teacher preparation--the rules for candidates and the preparation programs they attend--because inputs were thought to predict teacher effectiveness, and because they were often the best option available. But in the early 2000s, policymakers began trying to evaluate preparation…

Part I summarizes key topics of federal education policy articulating accountability requirements for state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs, or school districts). In that section we describe major goals of the legislation and which components are the same or changed in the federal law. The findings are grouped into…