A new report from the Government Accountability Office describes nearly two-thirds of American school buildings as lacking adequate access for students and staff with disabilities.  Additionally, the report found that many districts have delayed projects that are critical for facilities to function, including roofing and…

Transportation has become a significant thorn in the sides of districts working to craft back-to-school plans for the fall, as officials struggle to identify workable solutions for social distancing, sanitation, and scheduling of fleets of busses. In order to meet guidelines released by the Center…

Students’ social-emotional learning is being prioritized by education stakeholders more than ever before. That why in this Ed Surge article, Dr. Bill Daggett, “founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE) and former teacher, administrator, and director with the New York State Education…

A new policy brief from the Migration Policy Institute “explores the policy and practical questions for states considering implementing native-language assessments,” which may more effectively measure student knowledge and allow educators to identify gaps in English-language instruction. The brief comes at a time when many…

According to a new report by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, a growing shortage of secondary school principals is “hampering the country’s efforts to provide quality educational opportunities for students.” Among the key findings, the new report found…

“What happens when the $1.3 billion state summative assessment market begins to merge with the growing $1.6 billion market for formative assessments?” asks David DeSchryver in Ed Surge. “Investors and the education community are closely watching emerging models and how they could shape the markets…

ESSA “was designed to remedy the wrongs” of NCLB, Andrew Saultz, Jack Schneider, and Karalyn McGovern write in the Phi Delta Kappan. But the law has failed to live up to its promise. The trio argue that this is the result of the U.S. Department…

State standardized testing is changing rapidly in the post-No Child Left Behind era. A new report, The New Testing Landscape: How State Assessments are Changing Under the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act, from FutureEd explores emerging trends, including the expanded use of college entrance exams for high…

In this follow-up piece to an article we covered last week, EdWeek Market Brief’s Michelle R. Davis says that “school districts are searching for education vendors whose products have evidence to highlight their effectiveness, but it’s often a struggle for them to find a match.”…

“Researchers probing a new, interactive ‘data explorer’ that matches students’ outcomes with college and career readiness measures found that—while nearly all students are graduating from high school in some states—fewer than half are considered ready for college or careers,” reports Michele Molnar for EdWeek Market Brief. “The digital database, released…

Last week, the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University released a report (District Leader Interviews: How School Districts are Responding to ESSA’s Evidence Requirements for School Improvement), which is the second in a series examining the implementation of ESSA’s evidence-based school improvement approaches…

“Thousands of administrators across the country have spent countless hours this summer attempting to rejigger their school finance software to determine how much money they spend on each individual school—a new reporting requirement under the Every Student Succeeds Act,” writes Daarel Burnette II in Education…

“Students who need more should get more,” writes Ramin Taheri, Director of Advocacy and Policy for Chiefs for Change. The most direct way to make this happen is through student-based budgeting—and ESSA could help. The federal law “includes a provision allowing flexibility for local education…

Even though Congress passed ESSA four years ago, one part of the law is still challenging for schools is evidence-based interventions and materials tiers, writes Stacey Pusey. But an Ohio Department of Education initiative could help serve as a guide. In this piece, Eben Dowell,…

According to recently released survey data regarding ESSA Title IV-A spending, which was sponsored by the School Superintendents Association, the National Association of Federal Program Administrators, the Association of Educational Service Agencies, the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO), Whiteboard Advisors, and the Title…

Last month, in this guest ECS post, Advance CTE’s Senior Policy Associate Austin Estes examined the latest research on, as well as state examples of, work-based learning as it has been put into practice. “While work-based learning is often delivered at the local level in…

In Education Next, Marguerite Roza, Director of the Edunomics Lab and a research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, takes a look at education finance—and considers the question of why most people “jump to the revenue side of the equation”? The “spending…

In this Military Times piece, Military Families for High Standards examines how we can all help military-connected students achieve in the classroom. The article notes that there “are many resources for educators on best practices for how to create a welcoming learning environment for military…

For the first time—thanks to ESSA—the federal government is requiring states to report school-level spending data this year. Writing in The 74, Data Quality Campaign Director of Policy and Advocacy Brennan McMahon Parton has five areas she thinks states should focus on when preparing to…

Cindi Williams, co-founder of Learning Heroes and a principal at HCM Strategists, writes in The 74 about the vital importance of making sure parents have access to clear and honest information about both how their child or children are doing in school—and how well schools…

This DQC report notes that ESSA “requires states and districts to rate schools based on multiple data points (measures) that collectively comprise a state’s ‘accountability system,’” and that states “must use academic and non-academic measures, and are given flexibility on the design and weight of…

Language Magazine reports on a new Migration Policy Institute study—The Unintended Consequences for English Learners of Using the Four-Year Graduation Rate for School Accountability—which “provides a profile of high school ELs and examines causes of dropout, how graduation rates are calculated, and the effects of these…

In this article, Molly Sarubbi explores how to build awareness and construct policy supports to help foster students succeed in education. “The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) outlines provisions that encourage more collaborative policy development and implementation that mitigate barriers for highly mobile individuals, such…

This recent teacher and administrator survey from RAND notes that it’s no surprise that support for SEL is growing across the country given that research “shows that students’ social and emotional competencies are related to improvements in achievement and in other outcomes.” In addition, the…

According to the Stanford Social Innovation Review, schools are emerging as critical places to address childhood health concerns. As part of this discussion, the authors note that the “next few years will present important opportunities for school health advocates to address student health and wellness…

In this recent Learning Policy Institute report, authors Hanna Melnick and Lorea Martinez note that “federal, state, and local efforts can support school and district leaders’ learning about SEL and administrators’ role in supporting teachers and students.” States can use federal dollars to foot the…

In the context of ongoing ESSA implementation, this report from the National Center for Learning Disabilities provides the “first national analysis” of how state plans treat students with disabilities under ESSA. Assessing ESSA: Missed Opportunities for Students with Disabilities examines “the 15 most critical components of…

As ESSA “has significantly changed the nation’s school accountability landscape,” recent work from NWEA identifies three key takeaways from an examination of school effectiveness research: “1. School effectiveness measures are sensitive to summer loss;” “2. More student growth is attributable to schools when summer loss…

States are now required to “publish school-level spending data in report cards,” under ESSA. In this new infographic, the Data Quality Campaign seeks to “illustrate what it looks like when leaders – from state and local policymakers to principals and community advocates – use school-level…

Michael Q. McShane reports for Education Next on the importance of integrated student supports, which seek to help overcome obstacles outside of school—hunger, homelessness, mental health concerns—that make it harder for students to learn when they are in school. While educating the whole child is…

“Next year, states will for the first-time report actual school-by-school spending as required under ESSA,” writes Dale Chu in this Fordham Institute blog post. “This effort represents a quantum leap from the typical practice of tracking and reporting average district per-pupil spending, and is arguably…

Corey Mitchell reports for Education Week that, according to a new Migration Policy Institute report, ESSA may be “penalizing older English-language learners and the schools that educate them.” How? “By making four-year graduation rates such a prominent part of school accountability plans, the Every Student…

A recent report from the Center on Education Policy — “How States are Responding to ESSA’s Evidence Requirements for School Improvement” — reveals that many education leaders feel “overwhelmed” about how to implement school improvement under ESSA. Using interview information from education leaders in seven…

In this blog post from the Latino Policy Forum, Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro and Karen Garibay-Mulattieri take a look at “the promise of equitable educational opportunities” for English learners under ESSA, with a focus on Illinois. “The Forum advocates for accountability systems which help us to understand…

The National Conference of State Legislatures’ College and Career Readiness State Legislation Project released a new ESSA State Plan Database of all state accountability plans submitted to and approved by the U.S. Department of Education. The database allows users to access individual state profiles and…

According to this new report from the National School Boards Association, under ESSA, “each state educational agency (SEA) and local educational agency (LEA) that receives Title I Part A funds must prepare and disseminate an annual report card that includes a variety of data about…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) “establishes civil rights standards for educating students from historically underserved populations—such as children of color, students with disabilities, and those learning English as a second language” so that they “receive the resources they need,” writes National Urban League (NUL)…