This qualitative case study reports on an emerging four-stage process of support for curriculum change using reflective data which highlights three perspectives: that of the Academic Developer, the Head of Program, and the Discipline Leader. The aim of the change process was to enhance employment outcomes of Creative Arts students by aligning the…

Afterschool programs that provide strong science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning experiences are making an impact on participating youth not only become excited and engaged in these fields but develop STEM skills and proficiencies, come to value these fields and their contributions to society, and--significantly--begin to see…

In American higher education, it has become the accepted standard to measure graduation rates at four-year colleges on a six-year time frame. Evaluations of two-year community colleges are now based on three-year graduation rates. Metrics like these are unacceptable, especially when we consider that students and their families are trying…

In joint partnership, Achieve, The Council of Chief State School Officers, and Student Achievement Partners have developed a Toolkit for Evaluating the Alignment of Instructional and Assessment Materials to the Common Core State Standards. The Toolkit is a set of interrelated, freely available instruments for evaluating alignment to the CCSS; each…

In joint partnership, Achieve, The Council of Chief State School Officers, and Student Achievement Partners have developed a Toolkit for Evaluating the Alignment of Instructional and Assessment Materials to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The Toolkit is a set of interrelated, freely available instruments for evaluating alignment to the…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how one secondary school, known for its high quality educational program, is infusing the pedagogical elements that are conducive for a 21st century education. The administration's vision along with teacher interviews and classroom observations were used to understand if the school was…

School communities across the country are working hard to comply with state and federal policies requiring that all students be prepared for success in college. Technological advances and new reporting requirements make data on students and schools more accessible than ever--but more and better data alone are not enough to meet the challenges…

For the nearly 39 million U.S. adults who do not have a high school diploma, the General Educational Development (GED) programs and exam have served as the main avenue for improving individuals' skills and helping them earn a high school credential. However, few students who start these programs ever get this credential, and even fewer advance to…

After spending decades introducing curriculum and instructional programs with little to show in the way of student achievement results, the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), under the leadership of Chancellor Michelle Rhee, decided to shift its focus. Emphasizing what to teach had yielded few results. Dogged by its standing as perhaps…

Community college efforts to increase completion rates typically involve small programs or pilots that serve relatively few students and often rely on temporary outside funding. However, small-scale innovations, such as learning communities, supplemental instruction, and mentoring programs--particularly if implemented in isolation from larger…

This report is a descriptive analysis of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), intended to determine which content is eligible for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium's end-of-year summative assessment for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3-8 and high school. The high school standards analyzed were those in grades…

The conceptual framework guiding this study focuses on local, state, and federal standards as well as demands on schools to improve performance of underserved student populations as impetuses for school structure changes. As related to the aforementioned framework, many schools have developed innovative school restructuring methods such as the…

A list of programs that offer a doctorate in adult education was created using the most recent edition of "Peterson's Graduate Programs in Business, Education, Health, Information Studies, Law & Social Work" (2010) and the most recent version of the Commission of Professors of Adult Education (CPAE) "Directory of Adult Education…

As rapid change threatens to outpace the skills of an ageing workforce and Europe developed towards a knowledge based society, the European Union, other European countries and the social partners have worked together to establish a policy framework for modernising education and training. In vocational education and training (VET), the EU has…

This first draft of the "Comparison of Virginia's 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics" provides a side-by-side overview demonstrating how the 2009 Mathematics SOL are aligned to the CCSS. The comparison was made using Virginia's complete standards program for supporting…