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…

Since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015, state education agencies (SEAs) have invested much time, effort, and resources into designing their accountability systems so that they reflect the state's vision and priorities and are in compliance with federal statute. Over the course of the past year, each state has…

Effective collaboration among schools and agencies is critical to the success of pre-employment transition services (pre-ETS). We examined the views of 596 middle and high school educators regarding pre-ETS and the employment prospects of their students with disabilities. Educators overwhelmingly affirmed that youth with disabilities needed better…

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) requires states to reserve at least 15 percent of their total State Vocational Rehabilitation Services program funds to provide pre-employment transition services to help students with disabilities transition from school to work. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review…

This publication highlights how state leaders tackle data interoperability with the emergence of data standards for student information, assessment, digital content, and other educational applications. While states are at various maturity levels for interoperability, each state shares goals for interoperability, the drivers for those goals,…

School-based mental health services are those delivered by school-employed and community-employed providers in school buildings. With the implementation of provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) that funds school-based health centers, school-based mental health services could become more broadly available in…

The purpose of this exploratory study is to determine Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) level of implementation, expectations and effects from voluntarily implementing National Association of College and University Business Officers' (NACUBO)-recommended Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002 whistleblowing Best Practices (BP) provisions…

State report cards should help families, educators, policymakers, and other critical stakeholders in various states understand and act on education information for schools, school districts, and states as a whole. While each state finds itself in a different place regarding its own progress in building state report cards with such an impact,…

Fostering Opportunities is an innovative student engagement program for middle school and high school students who have experienced foster care. The goal of the program is to help youth who have experienced foster care be successful in school and ultimately earn a high school credential. Fostering Opportunities was developed because of the clear…

It is no question that preparing teachers to work with the many facets involved in special education is a daunting task. Upon entering the classroom on the first day, special education teachers are expected to be prepared (Sayeski, 2015) when presented with numerous responsibilities (Collins, Sweigart, Landrum, & Cook, (2017), including parent…

Efforts to improve school climate, safety, and learning are not separate endeavors. They must be designed, funded, and implemented as a comprehensive school-wide approach that facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration and builds on a multitiered system of supports. The author organizations and cosigners of this joint statement believe that,…

Moving schools up the performance slope takes energy, leverage, and the right research-based approaches. In 2010, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction launched an initiative to "Turn Around the Lowest Achieving Schools" (TALAS). The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) partnered with the state education agency (SEA) to…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the Common Core by providing and/or facilitating the development of instructional resources and materials aligned to the new standards. In order for instructional resources and materials to be aligned to the Common…

Using a case study design, with a phenomenological perspective, this research focused on a sample of primary classroom teachers (grades K-3rd grade) in south central Pennsylvania who are currently using and have been using Responsive Classroom® (RC) strategies for an extended period of time. Their perspectives provide insight into their use of…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate transformative learning strategies implemented by 10 Title I elementary principals that influence novice teacher retention. Data were gathered by individual interviews. Data were analyzed using Creswell's (2013) description of qualitative research as a collection of data…