This is the executive summary for the guidance document, "Maximizing the Use of New State Professional Learning Investments to Support Student, Educator, and School System Growth: State Guidance for Key District Stakeholders." It has been created to help districts determine the most effective uses of new state professional learning money…

This evaluation study examined a state-wide professional development program composed of two institutes, one for mathematics teachers and one for science teachers, each spanning two weeks. The program was designed to help teachers transform their practice to align with Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and Next Generation Science…

In California adult schools, standardized language assessments are typically administered to adult English as a second language (ESL) students upon enrollment; students then take these same state-approved tests throughout the academic year to demonstrate progress. As these tests assess only listening and reading skills, schools may use their own…

Online learning is increasingly being used in K-12 learning environments. A concomitant trend is found towards learning becoming "authentic" as students learn with tasks that are connected to real world occupations. In this study, 48 pre-service teachers use an online environment to engage in authentic practice as they developed online…

Distributed leadership has been explored internationally as a leadership model that will promote and advance excellence in learning and teaching in higher education. This paper presents an assessment of how effectively distributed leadership was enabled at five Australian institutions implementing a collaborative teaching quality development…

The result of a three year state-led collaborative effort, the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed to serve two audiences: for states to upgrade their state social studies standards and for practitioners--local school districts, schools, teachers and curriculum writers--to strengthen…

Most young people face challenges on the road to a college degree. They must make important decisions about career preparation, financing a college education, and how college and work fit together to ensure income security while in school. These challenges often seem particularly daunting for two groups of students: opportunity youth (OY)--the 5…

Until recently, most colleges required students to pass a college-level algebra course in order to earn a degree. As many as 50 percent to 70 percent of community college students enter college unprepared to take these courses, and fewer than 20 percent of such students ever successfully complete a college-level math course; the rest are…

A gap in research exists that demonstrates how principals use their authority to make decisions and how that intersects with change management models. The purpose of the study is to examine how one elementary school principal has led change and how teachers perceive the effectiveness of the change. The study seeks to explore principal's and…

As requested by the Maine Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) has conducted a study with the purpose of examining current research and evidence-based policies related to teacher credentialing systems. The goal is to inform revisions to Maine's current…

Document review and interviews were conducted with college admissions' personnel to gather data regarding alignment of proficiency-based diploma systems and college eligibility and entry requirements. In addition, leaders and representative personnel from and Maine businesses and the U.S. military were interviewed to identify postsecondary career…

This guide is intended to help states assess the engagement strategies used during the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) development stage, identify the ones to sustain or refine, and develop a long-term plan that will continue to create opportunities for stakeholders to be heard on this and other education issues. The guidance in this document…

In this article Kavita Gupta describes how she used assessment "as" learning, where students learn, self-correct, and collaborate "during" the assessment (Rowe 2012) in her AP chemistry class. In her class, she used these assessments as learning for "performance-based assessments" (PBAs). They share attributes of both…

While teachers play an important role in education and supporting learning, many learners in under-resourced settings are not privileged to have access to teachers. Some of these underprivileged learners deal with the issue by engaging in self-determined and self-directed learning. Their efforts sometimes pay off with access to formal higher…

Being adaptive to the individual novice teacher is considered a condition for effective teacher mentoring. The aims of this study are therefore to explore (1) mentoring activities through which mentors intend to adapt to the individual novice teacher and (2) characteristics of adaptive mentors. Information was collected through on-site,…