To assess the impact of a college preparation program, district-wide changes in high-stakes test pass rates are examined, followed by an examination of specific program elements that are associated with students' score changes. Changes in pass rates for districts with and without services are compared for the Latina/o and overall student…

In 2009, the federal government committed over $3 billion nationwide to help states and districts turn around their worst-performing schools. The U.S. Department of Education intended for the School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to spur dramatic change.This report looks at the results of a field study of the first-year implementation of those grants…

Despite the popularity of performance funding among policymakers and policy advocates, only half of all states have ever created a performance funding system for higher education. State performance funding systems have also been surprisingly unstable. Nearly half of those states that established performance funding systems for higher education…

By examining American University's Washington Semester Program (AUWSP), this project analyzes the impact of intensive undergraduate experiential and active learning on subsequent student academic performance. In this article, we discuss the differences between traditional, active, and experiential learning methods to better understand the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of recent educational reform efforts in Washington State and to determine what educators believe to be the most important future areas of focus. In particular, the researchers wanted to determine whether school-wide improvement efforts (i.e. School Improvement Plans (SIPs), School Improvement…

This report takes a global look at the structural changes taking place in the 72 small schools that were created from 17 comprehensive high schools in Washington State. It also discusses the challenges conversion schools face when they operate with a foot in two worlds -- trying to realize the benefits of small while, in many ways, still operating…

The 4th and 7th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores for the past several years have indicated that the percentage of students meeting the new higher standards is not satisfactory, although improvement is being shown every year. There are indications, however, that while some elementary and middle/junior high schools are…

The performance of Alaska's State Training and Employment Program (STEP) in fiscal 2000 was evaluated by matching the records of participants of the following STEP subprograms with Alaska and Washington state unemployment insurance (UI) wage records and federal military and federal civilian payroll records. Data were collected for participants of…