This report is intended to help governors, legislators, department secretaries, and advocates find information on ways to strengthen the structure and function of their existing cabinets, or create a new cabinet. The survey in this report is the nation's only survey of state child and youth policy coordinating bodies. The biennial survey assesses…

Utilizing "assemblage," a notion associated with Actor-Network Theory (ANT), we explore what discourses of transparency can, and cannot, accomplish in a network of education reform that includes schools, government agencies, and community organizations. Drawing on data collected between July 2011 and March 2013 in an…

Career and technical education (CTE) programs of study are subject to rigorous state and federal accountability systems that provide information on key student outcomes. However, while these outcome measures can form a basis for identifying high- and low-performing programs, they are insufficient for answering underlying questions about how or why…

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA), previously named the Veterans Administration, has been providing veterans' educational assistance (GI Bill®) benefits since 1944. Since 1947, State Approving Agencies (SAAs) have been an important component in the administration of GI Bill benefits, along with the VA, educational institutions, and training…

Background: Competitive foods remain prevalent in schools even though the majority of states' laws have addressed this for several years. Whereas updated federal standards take effect during school year 2014-2015, aspects of competitive food regulation will remain relegated to the states and districts and concerns exist about compliance with…

The State Family Outcomes Measurement System Framework (S-FOMS) is a framework originally developed by the Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center that identifies seven key components of a high-quality family outcomes measurement system at the state level. This document contains background information about the framework's seven components, 15…

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) did not wait for Congress to pass the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Beginning months before the passage of the landmark education bill, ADE began an intensive examination of Arkansas's education future and ADE's role relative to districts and communities in shaping that future. The ADE strategic…

Much has been written on the subject of school turnaround, but relatively little about how to "pay for" turnaround-related work. Turning around low-performing schools not only requires changing instructional and related practices, but changing spending patterns as well. Too often education dollars are spent on the same costs from…

Recent research has helped shift the national understanding of the opportunities presented by Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, drawing attention to the large number of STEM jobs that require less than a Bachelor's degree. The data have also highlighted the critical importance of community colleges as a primary provider of…

The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) conducted an on-site technical assistance (TA) visit with the two Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies in Michigan, Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) and the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons (BSBP), from May 7-9, 2013, for the purpose of assessing the implementation of the reorganization…

"Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning 2016" marks the thirteenth consecutive year Evergreen has published its annual research of the K-12 education online learning market. The thirteen years of researching, writing and publishing this report represents a time of remarkable change. There has been a constant presence that has become the…

"Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning 2016" marks the thirteenth consecutive year Evergreen has published its annual research of the K-12 education online learning market. Throughout the past thirteen years there has been a constant presence that has become the backbone, supporting the growth and success of online learning--the array…

"Better Evidence, Better Choices, Better Schools," a recent report from the Center for American Progress and the Knowledge Alliance, focuses on the evidence-based research provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA provisions ask districts and schools to consider various sources of evidence, make judgments about the…

To help state educational agencies (SEAs) learn about and adapt best practices that exist in other SEAs and other organizations, the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center (BSCP Center) working closely with the Regional Comprehensive Centers will create multi-state groups, through a "Collaborative Benchmarking Best Practices Process" that…

The ability to think in terms of a system is critical to achieving common direction, alignment, and commitment in highly distributed health systems. In Canada, provincial and territorial ministries of health provide leadership on the direction of health reform while leadership to align system levels is determined by a far more distributed group of…