This qualitative case study examined school-based administrators' perceptions of the impacts of the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) at the elementary level. Administrators play a vital role in enhancing student learning within education, which is crucial for driving academic achievement in the school environment. The study focused on the…

A well-designed accountability policy has four essential elements: (1) it's grounded in the belief that all students can learn and succeed; (2) it measures the academic progress of all students by campus and district over time; (3) it highlights gaps between different groups of students; and (4) it provides support and assigns consequences to…

School goal setting is often described as a key leadership practice for school improvement. Important for the effectiveness of goal setting is the close monitoring of progress. This article examines goal-monitoring practices in three schools that were seen as being effective and contributing to improvement. The findings highlight the importance of…

Balanced assessment systems provide feedback and support decision-making to improve instruction and learning. "Supporting Continuous Improvement Efforts Through Balanced Assessment Systems: Components, Integration, and High-Leverage Actions" outlines key features and components, integration of various assessment approaches, and guiding…

In rural Mississippi, addressing the issue of reading nonproficiency for third-grade students has posed a significant challenge. To tackle the issue's complexity, the Mississippi legislature implemented the Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA), also known as the 'no social promotion grade-level retention gateway" (Barrett-Tatum et al., 2019).…

"The Instructional Leadership Cycle" introduces a multifaceted model for continuous school and system improvement, founded on an adaptable set of professional practices for K-12 leaders. Daniel Allen draws on a breadth of education system experience, spanning from classroom to top office, to outline a flexible framework--the…

The 2017 Supreme Court decision "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District" highlighted the importance of monitoring students' progress toward appropriately challenging individualized educational program (IEP) annual goals and making changes to students' educational programs when needed. The process for setting an IEP goal should be…

In today's educational landscape, state and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs) often experience challenges connecting large-scale accountability data with actual school improvement initiatives. These challenges tend to be rooted in incoherent design and use of data systems for continuous improvement. As we aim to support SEAs in…

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) with its research partner have developed a system that changes the equation on monitoring. The research-driven approach to monitoring allows DESE, within its existing activities and resources, to use monitoring to improve the state system of support as well as direct…

This study tracks the progress of one Iowa school district over the course of three years through its implementation of a Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) model, designed in response to a statewide TLC system initiative. A survey administered at baseline and at the conclusion of each of three pilot years measured teacher leadership…

This memo, which is the fourth in the series, describes how 11 Virginia school divisions have come together to form Virginia's Student-Led Assessment Networked Improvement Community. This Networked Improvement Community (NIC) is focused on increasing the use of student-led assessment practices, including capstone projects, to increase students'…

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 purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate instructional leadership practices and the degree to which these practices predict the leadership self-efficacy of school leaders while controlling for years of experience as a school leader. With educational reform focused on school accountability, principals must attend to tasks that lead…

There are more than three dozen systemic community schools initiatives currently underway nationwide, with even more communities considering the reform. Yet few tools exist to help school districts, government agencies, and communities at large track their progress. To address this gap, Research for Action (RFA), with generous funding from the…

The purpose of this study was to use an action research approach to improve family-school partnerships within one rural high school. The action research process occurred over three school years and involved multiple cycles of investigation. Each cycle of investigation involved an ongoing, iterative process of reflecting, planning, acting, and…