As Congress recognized in passing the "Every Student Succeeds Act", it is time for school improvement to encompass policy and planning that enables every school to replace the outdated patchwork of programs and services used in addressing barriers to learning and teaching. The way to do this involves transforming student and learning…

The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands conducted this study using data on public high schools in Puerto Rico from national and territory databases to compare methods for identifying beating-the-odds schools. Schools were identified by two methods, a status method that ranked high-poverty schools based on their current observed…

This policy brief discusses the United State's bias toward college-going as the gold standard and how to counteract that singular mode of thinking. The Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) outlines why definitions of K-12 success should balance an emphasis on each C (college and career). EPIC also shows the related pitfalls of districts…

School suspension rates have been rising since the early 1970s, especially for children of color. One body of research has demonstrated that suspension from school is harmful to students, as it increases the risk of retention and school dropout. Another has demonstrated that school dropouts impose huge social costs on their states and localities,…

Family Rewards was an innovative approach to poverty reduction in the United States that was modelled on the conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs common in lower- and middle-income countries. The program offered cash assistance to poor families to reduce immediate hardship, provided they met certain criteria related to family health care,…

Boys and men of color (BMOC) are at significant risks for poor outcomes across multiple domains including education, health, and financial well-being with little promise of improvement in the near future. Out of concern for this situation, President Obama instituted the My Brother's Keeper Initiative (MBKI) to enlist the combined resources of…

Since the publication of the "College Scorecard" by The U.S. Department of Education in 2015, comparisons between college attendance costs and institutional outcomes (i.e., graduation rates, post-graduation earnings) have come into sharp focus. This increased scrutiny requires institutions of higher learning to be more transparent about…

The mission of the Houston Independent School District's (HISD) Career and Technical Education (CTE) program is to empower students with the academic and technical skills needed to strengthen the economic and social foundation of the city of Houston and beyond. The program's goals and objectives focus on preparing students for success in their…

"Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education: Refreshed 2016" offers six critical goals. They were designed to help SREB state leaders connect measures of student achievement to essential state policies. Each goal includes background information and the steps states need to take to meet each goal in the years ahead.

If states are to achieve their postsecondary education attainment goals they must take direct and immediate action to address the equity gaps between underserved populations and white and Asian students who are succeeding at higher rates. Not only is earning a postsecondary credential essential for individual economic vitality, but it is necessary…

The purpose of this report is to summarize the key elements of school and district level Performance Index scores (PI scores) for the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) across the United States. PI scores are partial or overall summative ratings of schools or districts currently used across US state accountability systems to assess…

This rubric can help schools or districts address success gaps that exist between groups of their students, such as gaps in test scores or graduation rates between students with disabilities and other students. The rubric allows a team of users from a school or district to systematically examine the root causes of a success gap by focusing on…

It has been over 60 years since the U.S. Supreme Court declared education "a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." In ruling that separate was in fact not equal, "Brown v Board of Education" forced federal, state and local governments to open public schools to all children in the community. The decision…

If the U.S. is to increase the number of college graduates and boost our national competitiveness, we must redouble our efforts to ensure all students graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary learning and careers. This means creating comprehensive education systems that provide learning options that enable a range of pathways to…

A college's graduation rate is such a basic consumer fact for would-be students these days that it's difficult to imagine that the federal government didn't even collect the information as recently as the early 1990s. If not for two former Olympic basketball players who made their way to Congress and wanted college athletes to know about their…