In March 2022, Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs. The evaluation was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2021 and includes several…

Transformative learning has been widely used in the field of adult education for over twenty years, but until recently has received little attention in the field of world languages. Drawing on best practices and the research of distinguished international world language experts, this volume provides theoretical and classroom-tested models of…

"Pathways to Implementation" highlights innovative strategies and effective models in career pathways policy, implementation, and programming, as well as challenges states encounter in this work. This seven-part series addresses the key elements of Bellwether's framework for career pathways policy implementation. Each brief defines the…

Complaints are an essential tool not only to resolve student problems but also to identify patterns of widespread misconduct and take action to prevent ongoing harm to students and taxpayers. However, the current complaint landscape is complex and not well designed to serve students' needs. "Unheard Voices: The Case for Improving Higher…

The California Teacher Residency Grant Program provided essential, one-time funding to jump-start new and to expand existing teacher residencies, which are pathways into the teaching profession that integrate a residents' coursework with a yearlong placement in the classroom of an expert teacher. In spring of 2021, WestEd collected data through…

This arts-based inquiry explores historical and contemporary configurations of state-sponsored transnational teachers, or those who teach overseas in programs that are financially and/or programmatically supported by their home government. In the U.S., some examples of state-sponsored transnational teaching programs include the Peace Corps, the…

Family engagement has long been recognized as crucial to a child's overall academic achievement. The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) recognizes that evolving from traditional parental involvement to effective partnerships between families and family-facing practitioners improves learning outcomes for students as a critical practice…

For many years schools located within concentrated areas of poverty in an urban school county in south Florida have experienced alarmingly high teacher turnover rates and alarmingly low academic performance scores. In 2015, in a lauded expose printed by the "Tampa Bay Times," five schools, all of which would go on to become part of the…

If community colleges are to remain relevant, they must be future-oriented, and responsive to demographic and labor force shifts. The Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back initiative (G3) was implemented during the 2021-22 academic year to retain economically disadvantaged students, improve community college completion, and help students graduate into…

Local teacher recruitment through "grow-your-own" (GYO) programs is a prominent strategy to address workforce shortages and ensure that incoming teachers resemble, understand, and have strong connections to their communities. Despite the growing popularity of GYO programs, there is little credible evidence of their effectiveness. The…

In 2000, federally funded public adult education programs provided basic skills training and English language instruction to over 2.6 million students, or about 1.5% of the U.S. adult population. By 2021, enrollment had plummeted to under 900,000, or less than 0.4% of adults. What explains these declines? This policy brief describes the evolution…

New York State boasts a rich linguistic and cultural heritage, with students speaking over 200 languages. Understanding the importance of multilingualism and multiliteracy, the New York State Legislature established the New York State Seal of Biliteracy (NYSSB) in 2012, with the first set of graduates earning the NYSSB in the 2015-2016 academic…

This report shows how Kentucky and its campuses are faring on key performance indicators associated with the statewide strategic agenda for postsecondary education. Additionally, the report highlights activities the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) is leading to advance their key priorities: (1) affordability; (2) transitions; (3)…

In 2020 the New Hampshire Bureau of Special Education Services (BSES) decided to change the focus of its State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) and State Identified Measurable Result (SIMR) from preschool social and emotional outcomes to literacy, as data from the previous three years showed that there were many elementary schools in New Hampshire…

Nationally, school-based mental health (SBMH) is seen as an avenue to increase access to children's mental health services and promote mental health awareness. The current article describes the implementation of a statewide SBMH program focusing on partnerships between community-based providers and local school systems, with providers embedded…