Based on a belief that providing all students with the best opportunities for academic success requires a constant focus on improvement, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI), in partnership with the Region 11 Comprehensive Center, released the latest version of its School Renewal Guide for North Dakota Public Schools. Using…

In "System Wise," Adam Parrott-Sheffer, Carmen Williams, David Rease, Jr., and Kathryn Parker Boudett provide a blueprint to scale up the Data Wise process for continuous improvement, extending it from classrooms and schools to broader educational contexts. The System Wise approach highlights the adaptability of the Data Wise protocols,…

Much has been written about requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) related to school classification, particularly with respect to approaches for determining if a school should be identified for support. However, less attention has been given to methods for determining when a school's performance is sufficient to exit such…

Charter school authorizing is a powerful strategy for making excellent public schools and educational opportunities available to all students and communities, especially those who are historically under-resourced. Done well, authorizing increases student achievement by expanding the supply of quality public schools. Because authorizing is a…

This toolkit informs school leaders about the authorizing challenges they may confront, illustrates opportunities and options for school leaders to navigate the authorizing process, and shares useful frameworks for considering the benefits and trade-offs of these options. The toolkit contains the following sections: (1) Strategies &…

Last fall, researchers at Bellwether Education Partners began research on how standard authorizing practices could discourage or disadvantage charter schools with nontraditional models, such as dual language immersion, Montessori, and competency-based education models. Throughout the course of their research, the authors spoke to dozens of school…

While the number of teachers in mainstream schools in England has remained relatively steady over the last decade or so, the number of full-time equivalent TAs has more than trebled since 2000: from 79,000 to 243,700. Teaching assistants comprise over a quarter of the workforce in mainstream schools in England: 35% of the primary workforce, and…

The statutory guidance is for local authorities given by the Department for Education, on behalf of the Secretary of State. Section 72 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places a statutory duty on all local authorities in England, in exercising their functions in respect of maintained schools causing concern, to have regard to any guidance…

This guide provides experienced education researchers with suggestions for conducting high-quality effectiveness studies to overcome research challenges common to rural settings. The guide addresses four factors that researchers must consider when conducting educational effectiveness research in rural settings: (1) study design, (2) recruitment of…

Since Congress has passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) states are revamping their federally required systems to measure school quality and hold schools accountable for performance. However, most are doing so using outdated assumptions, holdovers from the Industrial Era, when cookie-cutter public schools followed orders from central…

Over the last eight years, the University of Virginia Partnership for Leaders in Education (UVA/PLE) has partnered with over 50 districts and state education agencies across the country to embark on high-level change at the state, district, and school levels through the use of leader competencies. This guide calls upon practice-based experience,…

In Phillip Schlechty's best-selling book "Working on the Work", he outlined a motivational framework for improving student performance by improving the quality of schools designed for students. "Engaging Students" offers a next-step resource in which Schlechty incorporates what he's learned from the field and from the hundreds of workshops he and…

Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify "the variety of ways available…

Organized around a series of "Critical Questions" and "Leadership Challenges", this book offers knowledge and expertise about the elementary principal's leadership role in effective instructional strategies, student assessment, school climate, parent involvement, and other ways to improve the academic achievement of English Language learners.…

Educators can improve children's thinking skills through the following five steps: (1) identifying and defining the desirable thinking skills, (2) identifying the components of these skills, (3) providing systematic skills instruction, (4) integrating the teaching of thinking skills with various content areas, and (5) improving skills testing.…