This memorandum describes the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams participation and performance of 2013 to 2015 public school graduates in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and the state of Maryland. The results are disaggregated by demographics and high schools. Students in the MCPS Class of 2015 continued to…

How might policymakers and educators utilize the work already being done as states redesign their accountability systems? The 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), brought much needed attention to the performance of traditionally underserved subgroups of students. Supported by greater flexibility under ESEA…

College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) set the expectation that students will be able to navigate multiple texts, evaluate the claims that authors make, notice and account for any conflicting points of view, and synthesize information as they develop an understanding of a concept or event. CCRS establish these learning expectations, but they do…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the concept of the ninth grade academy structure in Texas high schools affects a variety of variables indicative of student achievement. Data representative of performance by students served in 30 schools with a separately structured ninth grade academy were compared to data representative of…

Leaders and educators in a select number of states have begun to recognize that the traditional educational system -- in which students move ahead, year after year, as long as they attain minimal proficiency on basic academic standards -- can perpetuate learning gaps for students that grow over time. There is increasing understanding of how the…

As states consider how their accountability systems will change under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), they face important decisions about which high school assessments to incorporate, what content their assessments will measure, which tests all students will take, and how rigorous those assessments will be. The purpose of this brief is to…

Today's learners need 21st century skills. The current digital era has nuanced the skills required for post-compulsory education, the workplace, and active citizenship. Twenty-first century skills, however, are perceived differently in these contexts. Moreover, they are not always understood by the general public. This mini-study summarises the…

This is the final of a two-part article that provides the results of a qualitative study designed to document ideas and beliefs that professionals have regarding an appropriate research agenda on which the field of developmental education should focus in the near future. The participants of the study were members of the National Association for…

This article builds on Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger's (2014) new paradigm on "Accountability for College and Career Readiness" by focusing on one of its three pillars--professional accountability. The article begins by offering a conceptual framework for professional accountability for improvement. Next, it highlights slices…

The Office for Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) founded in 1989 focuses on P-20 education and the role of community colleges in facilitating educational access and equity. This article highlights the work of OCCRL as a research center that bridges inquiry, policy, and practice in contributing to the national dialogue on relevant…

Background: Differences exist between high schools in their commitment to and efforts toward guiding and aiding students in their postsecondary pathways; however, little is known about how the curricular experiences of high school students, and the related messages they receive, shape their sense of university readiness and postenrollment…

Although about 40% of high school graduates who take the ACT® test express interest in pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field, the percentage of first-year students in college who declare a STEM major is substantially lower. The pool of prospective STEM workers shrinks further as the majority of STEM…

Due to the increasingly competitive environment in which liberal arts colleges operate and the constantly changing needs of students, colleges must continuously adapt and change in order to survive. Due to the high probability of failure when implementing change, it would serve an institution well to increase its readiness to change. This study…

In Senate Bill (SB) 2 (83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2013), the Texas Legislature added Texas Education Code (TEC) § 12.1013 (a)-(d). This legislation required that charter school performance to be compared to comparable traditional public schools. This report responds to that mandate, using Texas' P-20/Workforce Repository data for the…

Education Commission of the States has researched how states use college-readiness assessments to make the most of the 12th-grade year in all states. This interactive resource provides links to the 50-state comparisons showing how all states approach specific 12th-grade transitions policies: (1) Determinations; (2) Intervention; (3) Acceleration;…