The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the states' new college- and career-readiness standards by providing (or facilitating the development of) aligned instructional resources and materials. These resources and materials are supplementary supports that…

Preparing students to be successful in high school AP courses and exams begins at the middle school level. SpringBoard is a program created by the CollegeBoard to bridge content expected in high school with the current middle school curriculum. SpringBoard was introduced and piloted in the Colonial School District during the 2014-2015 school year…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

By 2012, all of the states in this study had started implementing new or revised teacher and leader evaluation systems. There are many and varying updates to these systems, and some of them have been made to meet conditions for a state's federal "Race to the Top" (RTT) grant. Other updates have been made to meet conditions for a state's…

The following profiles address decisions and actions that state education policy-makers--in the state departments of education, unless otherwise noted--are taking to foster successful statewide implementation of their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments. These profiles provide a descriptive overview of each…

By 2012, all of the states in this study had started implementing new or revised teacher and leader evaluation systems. The systems include many and varying updates. In some cases, the updates were designed to meet conditions for a state's "Race to the Top" grant. In others, the updates were made to meet conditions for a state's waiver…

The use of therapy-dog teams in programs for children with disabilities is becoming increasingly popular in school and therapeutic settings and has been shown to provide physical, social, and emotional benefits for the children. This article describes the basic steps for implementing therapy dog-assisted activities in physical activity programs…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

The following profiles address the basic decisions and actions that state education policy-makers--in the state departments of education, unless otherwise noted--are taking to foster successful statewide implementation of the new standards and aligned assessments in 15 states. These profiles provide a descriptive overview of each state's…

Founded in 1821, Widener University is a two-state (Pennsylvania and Delaware), four-campus, eight-college private institution serving approximately 6,700 students. Following arrival of the new senior vice president and provost in 2004 and subsequent reorganization of vice presidential responsibilities, Student Affairs is now led by a dean of…

Teachers deserve objective evaluations that will help them to improve. Delaware uses a four-point rubric ranging from "unsatisfactory" to "needs improvement,""effective," and "exemplary." Teachers' placement depends on frequency of demonstrated behaviors identified in each rubric. For lower ratings, the…

This study examined the effectiveness of the first year of a project designed to support the use of computers to improve the writing skills of middle level students. Subjects, 2,285 students from all of the 16 school districts in Delaware, engaged in daily writing activities on computers using the process approach to writing. One teacher from each…

This paper offers highlights from the final report of Stanford's School Leadership Study, which should be available in January 2007. It discusses various policy and resource factors that enhance or impede the implementation of exemplary programs that develop and support principals. Among the research questions that guided this study were a set…