In 2015, the City University of New York (CUNY) launched a new program-- Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE)--aimed at improving college graduation rates. A prior randomized-control evaluation of the program found a nearly 12 percentage point increase in graduation five years after college entry. Using this impact estimate and national data on…

This report presents the findings of the process evaluation of the Stronger Practice Hubs (SPH) programme. The SPH programme was launched in November 2022 to run as a two year programme, though was subsequently extended to the end of March 2025. The aim of the programme was to support settings to address the impact of the pandemic on young…

Wise Ways School District (pseudonym) is a public school district in northern New Jersey which consists of grades K-12. The high school is a four-year comprehensive institution that serves 583 students in 9th-12th grade. Wise Ways High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school whose goal is to address the needs of all of its students.…

This study proposes an empirically grounded theory of how school reform implementation relates to effectiveness, useful for developing and studying many approaches to school reform both in the U.S. and abroad, and also for assessing how policymakers and implementers might leverage various aspects of implementation to create effective school…

The CORE Districts, a nonprofit formed by large urban districts in California, received a Networks for School Improvement grant from the Gates Foundation to launch a network focused on improving ninth-grade on-track rates. CORE based its approach on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Breakthrough Collaborative model, where a hub identifies…

This research study evaluated the effects of the Comprehensive Supports and Improvement (CSI) program on the performance of fifty-six participating schools after one year of school improvement technical assistance. Specifically, it investigated whether the geographic locations of schools, the percentage of inexperienced teachers, and school…

In recent years, arts education has become a focus of some school improvement efforts, with consistent evidence emerging that vibrant arts programs can improve factors commonly listed as goals in school improvement plans, including engagement, attendance, and school climate. Such models mainly make use of arts integration, an approach that marries…

This report presents the interim findings from an evaluation of a number of the Department for Education's (DfE) Language Programmes which support Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) provision in schools in England: the Language Hub programme; the Language Assistants programme run by the British Council; the UK German Connection (UKGC); and the German…

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at the University of Louisiana at Monroe aimed to improve academic performance in two gateway science courses that are required for all STEM and pre-health sciences majors and are known to be barriers to student success. The project sought to achieve this primarily by a course redesign that incorporated an extra…

Student achievement in California has not rebounded after the precipitous declines of the COVID-19 pandemic, with English language arts (ELA) and math scores remaining well below prepandemic levels. Student attendance has declined dramatically, and trauma and time away from school have led to mental health challenges, delays in social development,…

Instructional materials, such as printed textbooks and digital resources, are a cornerstone of education in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) education and represent a powerful lever for improving classroom instruction. Historically, the selection of instructional materials in the United States has been predominantly led by local school…

Since the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (EHA), Public Law (P.L.) 94-142 and its successor statute, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, or the Act), the Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Education and their predecessors, the Commissioners of Education at the U.S. Department of Health,…

School improvement ultimately rests in the hands of teachers, and the balance of teaching and evaluation of learning is the method for sustained success. In his 2009 book, "Visible Learning (VL)," John Hattie acknowledges this statement and contends that the majority of teachers know what works due to reflexive teaching praxis. Many…

School improvement ultimately rests in the hands of teachers, and the balance of teaching and evaluation of learning is the method for sustained success. In his 2009 book, "Visible Learning (VL)," John Hattie acknowledges this statement and contends that the majority of teachers know what works due to reflexive teaching praxis. Many…

Purpose: School improvement planning has been a central part of school improvement initiatives for decades. Evidence suggests, however, that traditional planning processes are regularly superficial. In the USA, some principals have begun developing short-cycle planning designed to encourage school leadership teams and staff to develop, monitor and…