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Anecdotal evidence points to the importance of school principals, but the limited existing research has neither provided consistent results nor indicated any set of essential characteristics of effective principals. This paper exploits extensive student-level panel data across six states to investigate both variations in principal performance and the relationship between effectiveness and key certification factors. While principal effectiveness varies widely across states, there is little indication that regulation of the background and training of principals yields consistently effective performance. Having prior teaching or management experience is not related to our estimates of principal value-added.

We use administrative panel data from seven states covering nearly 3 million students to document and explore variation in "academic mobility," a term we use to describe the extent to which students' ranks in the distribution of academic performance change during their public schooling careers. On average, we show that student ranks are highly persistent during elementary and secondary education--that is, academic mobility is limited in U.S. schools as a whole. Still, there is non-negligible variation in the degree of upward mobility across some student subgroups as well as individual school districts. On average, districts that exhibit the greatest upward academic mobility serve more socioeconomically advantaged populations and have higher value-added to student achievement.

There is empirical evidence of substantial heterogeneity in economic mobility across geographic areas and the efficacy of schools has been suggested as an explanatory factor. Using administrative microdata from seven states covering nearly 3 million students, we explore the potential role of schools in promoting economic mobility by estimating cross-district variation in "academic mobility"--a term we use to describe the extent to which students' ranks in the distribution of academic performance change during their schooling careers. We show that there exists considerable heterogeneity in academic mobility across school districts. However, after aggregating our district-level measures of academic mobility to the commuting-zone level and merging them with geographically matched external estimates of economic mobility, we find little scope for geographic differences in academic mobility to meaningfully account for differences in economic mobility.

Educational inequality due to family socioeconomic status (SES) has been the focus of both public dialogue and education research in the United States for many years. The current study aims to understand how educational inequality due to family SES has changed in the United States. Specifically, the study focuses on the changes in achievement gaps between high and low SES students between 2003 and 2017 and the changes in the performance of low-SES students over time. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 8 mathematics assessment were used for the analyses. Results show that the SES achievement gap at the national level has remained the same over time. State-level results suggest that 34 of the 50 states' SES achievement gaps experienced no significant change between 2003 and 2017, 14 gaps widened, and only two SES gaps narrowed. In addition, at the national level, more low-SES students achieved at the NAEP Basic and at the NAEP Proficient levels over time with a majority of states improving their low-SES students' performance. In conclusion, the study contributes to the existing literature not only by reflecting on U.S. national trends using an effective SES index, but also by providing state-level results. It also collects trend data on states' macro-level indicators, including economic growth, social inequality, and educational expenditures, allowing state-specific findings to be presented in the context of changes in macro-level context. Initial explorations of relationships between state SES achievement gap trends and macroeconomic factors are presented to motivate future research. The trends in SES achievement gaps and the specific policy contexts are presented in greater detail for 13 states/jurisdictions.

Although many programs remotely disseminate information to students about the college application process, there is little evidence as to how students experience these programs. This paper examines a large-scale remote counseling program in which college counselors initiated interactions with 15,000 high school seniors via text message to support them through the college application process. Given the passive nature of text messaging, not all of the counselors' prompts elicited similar responses from students. I use text-as-data methods (combining qualitative coding and supervised machine learning) to measure which interactions lead to productive engagement between counselors and students, and which do not. I show that interactions about financial aid offers and financial aid applications are much more likely to generate productive engagement than interactions about college lists. This finding may help to explain why recent remote counseling interventions that have sought to influence students' college lists have been ineffective.

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and non-financial outcomes. After summarizing the heterogeneity of individual SFR impacts, we then examine its correlates, identifying both policy and legislative/political factors. Taken together, this research aims to provide a rich description of variation in states' responses to SFRs, as well as explanation of this heterogeneity as it relates to contextual factors.

This white paper presents a selection of model schools who all have, to some degree, fostered deeper learning. Schools were selected by internet search, or through references in "deeper learning" reports and documents. It should be noted that information in these reviews is based on information from school web-sites, in some cases the web sites of state education agencies, media reports and ratings, such as those published by "US News and World Report" or "Newsweek." It is hoped that this paper will serve as a resource directory of sorts, giving interested parties the opportunity to read more widely about these schools, consult the referenced documents, or to contact the schools directly. [For "Innovation and Deeper Learning: Volume 2," see ED604592.]

Student loans are a crucial aspect of financing a college education for millions of Americans, yet we have surprisingly little empirical evidence concerning individuals' unwillingness to borrow money for educational purposes. This study provides the first large-scale quantitative evidence of levels of loan aversion in the United States. Using survey data collected on more than 6,000 individuals, we examine the frequency of loan aversion in three distinct populations. Depending on the measure, between 20 to 40 percent of high school seniors exhibit loan aversion with lower rates among community college students and adults not in college. Women are less likely to express loan averse attitudes than men, and Hispanic respondents are more likely to be loan averse than white respondents.

With the tuition cost of traditional colleges and universities soaring and education technology advancing, online courses and degree programs are becoming more common. Some critics argue that an online degree cannot provide all the important features of a traditional college education, from extracurricular activities to new professional networks, but the evidence disputes much of that criticism, especially for certain groups of students. Indeed, some aspects of online education may provide a better experience than a traditional brick-and-mortar college for some students. (Contains 49 footnotes.)

While it is generally understood that defined benefit pension systems concentrate benefits on career teachers and impose costs on mobile teachers, there has been very little analysis of the magnitude of these effects. The authors develop a measure of implicit redistribution of pension wealth among teachers at varying ages of separation. Compared to a neutral system, often about half of an entering cohort's net pension wealth is redistributed to teachers who separate in their fifties from those who separate earlier. There is some variation across six state systems. This implies large costs for interstate mobility. Estimates show teachers who split a thirty-year career between two pension plans often lose over half their net pension wealth compared to teachers who complete a career in a single system. Plan options that permit purchases of service years mitigate few or none of these losses. It is difficult to explain these patterns of costs and benefits on efficiency grounds. More likely explanations include the relative influence of senior versus junior educators in interest group politics and a coordination problem between states. (Contains 7 tables, 16 figures, and 40 footnotes.)

Research examining the impact of arts education on workforce preparation has confirmed that programs incorporating the arts can be educational, developmentally rich, and cost-effective ways of providing students with the skills needed for productive participation in today's economy. Arts education has been shown to help students develop basic, higher-order thinking, and affective skills needed for workplace success. Studies have shown that young people who study the arts show heightened academic standing, a strong capacity for self-assessment, and a secure sense of their own ability to plan and work for a positive future. Studies of arts-based education programs for general, at-risk, and incarcerated youth populations in 10 states have documented their effectiveness and illustrated how schools can make strategic use of states' cultural resources. Governors seeking to take advantage of the arts as a workforce development strategy can take the following policy actions: (1) include arts education as an element of comprehensive education reform legislation; (2) encourage artists to participate in community development programs; (3) leverage the private sector's willingness to contribute to the arts by providing seed funding and starter grants to innovative arts-based education programs; and (4) facilitate collaboration between arts educators and juvenile detention centers to promote programs for detained youth. (Contains 27 endnotes.) (MN)

Jobs for the Future's (JFF) vision for the Big Blur calls for entirely new educational institutions and systems to better prepare 16-to-20-year-olds for college and careers. This paper examines the new type of governance needed to help states create more effective grade 11-14 schools and systems by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. JFF makes the case for an entirely new type of public institution, neither high school nor college, designed to better meet the needs of 16-to-20-year-olds by enabling them to earn a postsecondary credential and prepare for a career--free of charge.

This paper aims to draw lessons from existing research on school leader diversity, and to supplement that evidence with new insights from the lived experiences of teachers, aspiring and practicing school leaders of color, and local and state administrators who oversee school leader recruitment and support. These perspectives are elevated to bring the research to life and to inspire policy makers to take effective, research- and experienced-backed actions to help districts and state education agencies close the school leader representation gap. [The Institutional Collaborators on this report include: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College.]

While new teachers bring energy and passion into their classrooms and schools, they can find themselves incredibly challenged as they learn how to plan and implement lessons, collect, and use data to inform their instructional practices, build relationships with students and families, manage classroom behavior, and meet the varying academic, social, and emotional needs of their students. To no surprise, inexperienced teachers and high teacher turnover disproportionately affect the achievement of students who are most underserved. Education Resource Strategies paints a clear picture of this in their report, "Growing Great Teachers" (ED593368), where they describe how an inexperienced workforce can impede efforts to improve conditions for teachers and students who have been underserved for far too long. In this paper, the authors look closely at inequitable access to experienced teachers for Latino students across the country. Findings reveal that, while Latino students have similar rates of non-novice teachers as their peers nationwide, drastic disparities still exist in several states. The findings reveal whether these inequities are due to varying levels of teacher experience between the districts in a particular state or within a particular district. In either case, these disparities are not inevitable. State and district leaders and local school board members can set clear goals and identify and address barriers to preparing, recruiting, and retaining strong and racially diverse teachers. And school leaders can take steps to create working conditions that ensure teachers, including teachers of color, remain in schools and hone their craft. [For the accompanying report "Getting Black Students Better Access to Non-Novice Teachers," see ED617544.]

While new teachers bring energy and passion into their classrooms and schools, they can find themselves incredibly challenged as they learn how to plan and implement lessons, collect and use data to inform their instructional practices, build relationships with students and families, manage classroom behavior, and meet the varying academic, social, and emotional needs of their students. To no surprise, inexperienced teachers and high teacher turnover disproportionately affect the achievement of students who are most underserved. Education Resource Strategies paints a clear picture of this in their report, "Growing Great Teachers" (ED593368), where they describe how an inexperienced workforce can impede efforts to improve conditions for teachers and students who have been underserved for far too long. In this paper, the authors look closely at inequitable access to experienced teachers for Black students across the country. Findings reveal that the education system is failing Black students, as they find themselves more likely than any other group of students to be in classrooms with teachers who are in their first years of teaching or teachers who are uncertified. The findings reveal whether these inequities are due to varying levels of teacher experience between the districts in a particular state or within a particular district. In either case, these disparities are not inevitable. State and district leaders and local school board members can set clear goals and identify and address barriers to preparing, recruiting, and retaining strong and racially diverse teachers. And school leaders can take steps to create working conditions that ensure teachers, including teachers of color, remain in schools and hone their craft. [For the accompanying report "Getting Latino Students Better Access to Non-Novice Teachers," see ED617546.]

In May 2017, the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) College Access and Success community embarked on a project to compile shared challenges and lessons learned as a resource for fellow i3 College Access and Success grantees, the larger community of i3 grantees, and the broader field of college access. Through this project, the authors discovered that many of the key challenges i3 College Access and Success grantees faced were not necessarily specific to their college access work, but related to the work of creating change and innovation and strong partnerships. As such, this paper may be of interest to all i3 grantees--regardless of whether their projects relate to college access and success--as well as to individuals working in the field of college access. Chapter 1 of this report introduces the i3 program and describes the i3 College Access and Success community and the development of this paper. Chapter 2 provides highlights of the key challenges i3 College Access and Success grantees reported, and maps the challenges to the grantee profiles in Chapter 4. Similarly, Chapter 3 shares key lessons learned, mapping the lessons learned to the grantee profiles in Chapter 4. Finally, Chapter 4 contains grantee profiles providing at-a-glance information about each participating grantee, as well as more in-depth discussion of their strategies, challenges, and lessons learned. [Contributing authors include: Karen M. Morris, Lara Dreier, Joel Vargas, Sarah Hooker, Elisabeth Barnett, Sarah Newman, Laureen Avery, Judy Saylor, Meg Grigal, Tom Duenwald, Suzanne Reeve, and Nicole Norfles.]

This paper argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high school nor college--designed specifically to better meet the needs of young people after 10th grade and help prepare them to succeed in the world of work. The authors take a hard look at the obstacles that impede more than half of the nation's young people from making successful transitions from high school to postsecondary education to the labor market despite the best of intentions of the many who support them. They identify the four key areas that need transformation: (1) incentives (in accountability and finance); (2) alignment; (3) governance; and (4) staffing. For each, the authors provide examples of innovation--existing policies, programs, and networks--that have made strides toward smoothing transitions. Last, the authors recommend an action agenda of next steps to start pushing closer to the ideal. [For the executive summary, see ED614770.]

Childrens' learning has been massively disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the need for more opportunities for differentiated, high-quality learning, stronger relationships with the adults in their school, and streamlined access to social-emotional support -- especially for the country's lowest-income students, Black and Latinx students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. To support these redesign efforts, especially in light of the $122 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II and ESSER III) provided by the American Rescue Plan, we have identified five "power strategies" (Empowering, Adaptable Instruction, Time & Attention, The Teaching Job, Relationships & Social-Emotional Supports, and Family & Community Partnerships) to accelerate equity-focused recovery and redesign. Our Start Here Series features emerging examples of districts and schools around the country putting the power strategies to work. As district leaders begin to plan the use of their federal ESSER funding, state leaders must support state education policies that offer sustainable, long-term solutions that enable districts to fundamentally alter how they provide instruction, especially for students with the most need. "States Start Here" builds on the Start Here Series by detailing how state leaders can empower districts with the flexibility to implement and invest in the kinds of changes driven by our power strategies -- especially in Time & Attention. While state policies play a critical role across all the power strategies, policy areas related to instructional time and class size are particularly critical. We urge states to revisit current policies around amount of instructional time, class size limits, seat time, and more to enable districts to expand and vary the time and individualized attention students receive, while still holding districts accountable for strong student outcomes. In this paper, we discuss what strategic practice around instructional time and attention looks like, what the state role could be to enable these practices, and what other strategies state leaders might consider as they promote learning acceleration.

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper, "Outcomes-Based Funding: The Wave of Implementation" (2013) described features of models being implemented in states and the extent to which they conformed to the principles presented in the first paper. This third paper documents the continued spread of adoption with an increased focus in the field on whether outcomes are equitable across populations, with states disaggregating results by race, ethnicity, age and income and reporting those publicly. The additional purposes of this paper are threefold: (1) To reinforce the point that outcomes-based funding is but one component of the overall financing model for higher education in a state. The power of outcomes-based funding models is enhanced if the other components are designed so as to strengthen the alignment between funding streams and desired results; (2) To once again revisit the lists of design and implementation principles presented in the earlier document and (slightly) revise them in light of states' actions and experience; and (3) To describe the models that are being employed in implementing states and to assess the extent of conformance with the proffered set of design and implementation principles. This for the purpose of identifying areas of non-conformance to catalog potential weaknesses in models and questioning the applicability of certain of the principles. As with earlier versions of the document, the ultimate objective is to provide clear, straightforward guidance to policymakers who are searching for ways to better align their approaches to resource allocation with the educational outcomes that are of highest priority in their state.

A significant movement is underway across the nation to design K-12 assessment systems that better equip stakeholders to provide an equitable and excellent education to each child. While some of these innovations emerged before the pandemic, the massive disruption to instruction fueled a new urgency to rethink the potential of assessments to drive better teaching and learning. States and communities are working together to create more balanced systems of assessment that better support instruction while still providing the information necessary to inform policy and resource decisions. There is much to learn from the ideas emerging across the nation--particularly where states are trying to innovate despite limitations of federal policy. The insights and innovations emerging from this paper have the potential to cast a new vision for K-12 assessment in the United States. This work details efforts across the nation to encourage, support and grow innovative state assessment systems, and represents a significant increase in recent state-level energy and action around new forms of assessment to provide deeper and more meaningful understanding of student learning. [Additional producers of this report are Center for Innovation in Education (C!E), Envision Learning Partners, and the Great Schools Partnership.]

This paper examines the balance between autonomy and accountability in education from the perspective of Massachusetts and Texas charter schools and their state authorizers. By analyzing national survey data, interviews with key policymakers, and case studies of six low, medium, and high performing schools, the paper examines the organizational needs of charter schools and how government oversight policies address or mitigate those needs. The paper draws lessons from the charter school governance model and applies them to the efforts of districts moving toward more decentralized governance systems such as charter districts. It builds on Hassel's 1999 work, "The Charter School Challenge," which highlights three strategies in which charter schools might achieve systemic reform (the laboratory, competition, and replacement theses). This paper notes a fourth thesis, the governance thesis, which hypothesizes that the primary benefit of charter schools is in changing the basic district structure so that schools have the opportunity to control their fiscal and human resources while the central government holds them accountable for performance. (Contains 123 references.) (SM)

Earning college credit in high school matters to students and parents. Students who earn college credits by taking a college-level course while in high school are more likely to enter college and succeed. Through these experiences, students become familiar with college expectations, academic behaviors, and habits of mind; get a head start on postsecondary education and gain academic momentum toward a degree or credential; and begin to develop a college identity. Additionally, just as states should know whether students are progressing toward and reaching certain benchmarks of college and career readiness, they should also know whether high school students are exceeding those goals by taking the advanced courses that further solidify their transition to college and put them a step ahead once they arrive. Policymakers and educators who value this indicator for key student subgroups can drive improvements in outcomes for low-income and minority students who are historically less likely to earn a postsecondary degree or credential. There is clear evidence that earning college credit prior to postsecondary enrollment is a predictor of college success. As a result, both Achieve and Jobs for the Future have encouraged states to incorporate into their accountability systems measures related to earning college credit while in high school. This paper provides research-based guidance to states contemplating whether and how to incorporate indicators of students earning college credit during high school into their accountability systems, including through their accountability formulas and public reporting. The first section describes the three most common models of earning college credit in high school: Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment. The second section describes the research that shows the positive relationship between earning college credit while in high school and later college success. The third section looks at the landscape of current state policies on incorporating college course taking into accountability systems and highlights different state approaches in both accountability formulas and public reporting. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for states interested in valuing students earning college credit while in high school in state accountability systems and provides concrete steps for ensuring that those policies serve all students.

This paper explores what happens to similar groups of children educated in different school districts. In this case, the "twins" in the study are groups of students who live in the same state in similar geographies and who share certain demographic characteristics. For this report, "twin districts" have very similar sizes and they have the following in common: (1) The proportion of students who are from low-income families; (2) The proportion of students who have limited English proficiency or are English language learners; and (3) The proportion of students who receive instruction through individualized educational programs. The study's twin districts, however, differ in terms of per-pupil spending and revenues. The goal of this paper was to study twin districts and use the data culled to provide recommendations for how districts can best leverage their school funding investments--in other words, achieve a bigger bang for their educational buck. Using data available from the U.S. Department of Education, the authors compiled a dataset with over 7,000 K-12 districts from over 15,000 local education agencies across the county. All data on spending and achievement was from the 2009-10 school year. In this analysis, they identified 424 pairs of districts to analyze from this larger dataset. Given that tests and proficiency definitions differ across states, only twin districts within the same state are identified and compared. Additionally, the authors also completed interviews with 20 district superintendents from across the United States to discuss what control they have over their districts' spending and what spending constraints they face from outside governing bodies--the state, the federal government, and school boards. Based on their in-depth look at twin districts and their subsequent analysis of the data, the authors offer the following findings: (1) When it comes to education, spending does not always equal results; (2) There are significant funding inequities between demographically similar districts; and (3) Districts have limited control over their own expenditures. A table showing descriptive statistics for 424 sets of twins from the 2009-10 school year is appended. [For the accompanying report, "Return on Educational Investment: 2014. A District-by-District Evaluation of U.S. Educational Productivity" (2014), see ED561093.]

This paper analyzes the influence of three different learning paradigms for learning literacy--formalist, cognitive-processing, and literacy practices--on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. It argues that the Common Core State Standards are based largely on a formalist paradigm as evident in the emphasis on teaching text structure/genre forms for reading, writing, and speaking/listening. It also notes that much of the analysis of alignment of the Common Core State Standards with state standards (Porter et al., 2011) as well as the development of "learning progressions" is based on cognitivist learning/cognitive stage model paradigms. And, it posits the value of adopting an alternative literacy practice paradigm that focuses on creating authentic contexts for literacy learning. It also cites research on issues about creating false expectations for low-income students in ways that do not serve students' best interests. All of this suggests the need for further research on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), an organization dedicated to redesigning and expanding school time to improve opportunities and outcomes for high poverty students, and the Education Commission of the States (ECS), with a mission to foster both the exchange of ideas on education issues among the states and long range strategic thinking, have joined forces to produce this review. Their goal is to help education leaders to better understand the complexities of time related policy and its far reaching educational implications. In exploring how policymakers and educators have dealt with the matter of school time at the federal, state, and local levels, NCTL and ECS hope to accelerate the national conversation on how they can best leverage the power of time to realize the vision of a high quality education for all. This paper offers a number of recommendations highlighting fresh ways that policy and research can best support efforts to expand learning time in schools. State policies on instructional time are appended. (Contains 82 notes and 51 footnotes.) [This paper was supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.]

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is working to respond to increased interest in the use of growth models for school accountability. Growth models are based on tracking change in individual student achievement scores over multiple years. While growth models have been used for decades in academic research and program evaluation, a wide cross section of policymakers at local, state, and national levels are now using different types of growth models. A total of 12 states are utilizing growth models that provide estimates of whether student achievement will meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) state proficiency targets within three years. These models were designed to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. In addition, 13 states have developed and implemented growth models as required by state policy; these models use different formulas to measure growth for students and schools. Finally, five states are reporting on growth under both NCLB and state policies. This paper is an overview and description of current state activities with growth models. Policymakers and educational leaders are also seeking more information on basic differences between various types of growth models and the assessments, data, and reporting systems necessary to implement them. CCSSO has developed an annual report and webpage focused on state accountability systems, and this paper provides a current snapshot of differences and similarities in growth models used by state education agencies. The present paper is one of CCSSO's recent efforts to provide information on this topic. (Contains 2 tables.)

Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) researchers visited 38 public high schools around the United States in 2007 and 2008 with the goal of validating and operationalizing a definition of college readiness. Schools in the sample were selected because they were demonstrating success at enabling more students from underrepresented groups to be ready for postsecondary education. This paper presents a qualitative summary of what researchers collected--programs, activities, practices, attitudes, and cultures of the schools visited. The results of the study include the identification of seven key principles underlying a comprehensive approach for promoting college readiness. In addition, the findings have resulted in the creation of an instrument, the CollegeCareerReady School Diagnostic, to measure school level college readiness over time and provide a detailed profile tied to actionable recommendations and resources. (Contains 3 footnotes, 3 tables, and 3 figures.)

Research led by the Consortium on Chicago Public School Research (University of Chicago) and the Center for Social Organization of Schools (Johns Hopkins University), has identified specific indicators--students' academic characteristics--that provide early signals that students are on a path toward dropping out of high school. Measured at different points in time, typically 6-9th grades, these indicators are used for a variety of purposes from identifying students in need of intervention to school and district accountability ratings. This Evidence-based Education Request summarizes ways that data are being used in schools, districts, and states, and by researchers to identify students at risk for not graduating and/or not achieving career and college readiness. Searches of Wilson Web, EBSCOHost, and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) were performed to gather this information. To add to their findings, the researchers searched well-known papers on such indicators (e.g., Allensworth & Easton, 2007) as well as the websites of reform support and education research organizations known to do work in this area. Finally, they conducted a Google search in order to identify lesser-known sites using these indicators. Information in this paper is meant to be informative to schools, districts, and states interested in learning from others who are implementing indicators. The list of places implementing indicators is "non-exhaustive and does not represent all the ways indicators can be formulated or implemented." (Contains 4 footnotes.)

SEDL is providing analytic and technical support to three large-scale randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy of promising literacy curriculum in afterschool settings on student academic achievement. In the field of educational research, competition among research organizations and researchers can often impede collaborative efforts in the field. One important aspect of the current work has been the creation of the SEDL Afterschool Research Consortium (ARC), which brings together SEDL researchers, key staff from each afterschool research project, and experts in the field to discuss and share accomplishments, challenges, and solutions. This unique arrangement allows a number of researchers with varied backgrounds and experience implementing rigorous research in afterschool settings to collaborate in applying best research practices in the field, to a set of ongoing studies to improve the current studies' efforts and address important challenges to the field of afterschool research. The ARC also plans to develop papers and presentations documenting the lessons learned in order to advance the effective use of rigorous experimental research approaches in applied afterschool settings. This research brief is the first in a series of papers that are intended to provide the field with the insights culled from this collaborative effort. The purpose of this research brief is to summarize the challenges that have been raised by the proposal review process and the implementation of these studies during the first year of the project. This research brief seeks to highlight challenges to the field of afterschool research as the need for rigorous approaches to addressing questions of program impact and efficacy in applied settings increases. (Contains 1 footnote.) [For the related reports, see "Key Issues and Strategies for Recruitment and Implementation in Large-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial Studies in Afterschool Settings. Afterschool Research Brief. Issue No. 2" (ED513821) and "The National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning Randomized Controlled Trial Studies of Promising Afterschool Programs: Summary of Findings. Afterschool Research Brief. Issue No. 3" (ED513822).]

This paper highlights the utility of the "third wave" of school equity cases that began to take shape subsequent to funding cases. These cases challenged the adequacy of public education systems, as measured not only by funding, but by educational content and other factors. The cases attempted to create a concrete mandate for an adequate education by adopting the lofty aims of the education clauses of state constitutions. The paper discusses the development of a theory that there is a right, derived from certain state constitutions, to an adequate education. It goes on to examine the standards used to evaluate the adequacy of education in public school systems to determine whether an "adequate education" is being provided. Next, it looks at remedies adopted by different states to promote adequacy (Kentucky, Texas, Massachusetts, and New Jersey). It also notes the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, federal legislation that may provide parents and concerned third parties with additional tools to force failing school districts to take action to improve student performance, focusing on: state standards and testing; increased public awareness of school performance and parents' understanding of their children's performance; increased accountability; strengthening teaching methods and teacher quality; funding flexibility; and targeting underperforming schools. (SM)

Academic achievement in the nation's lowest performing schools is troubling. Despite improvements in students' overall academic achievement over the past few decades, proficiency gaps in reading and mathematics remain across income, racial, and ethnic groups. One promising strategy for reducing achievement gaps is to expand the school day, often called Expanded Learning Time (ELT); evidence suggests that students' increased access--through ELT programming--to enrichment activities can improve their academic motivation and social-emotional skill development. Since 1995, Citizen Schools (CS) has developed and implemented its own ELT model. CS partners with middle schools serving predominantly low income, racial or ethnic minority, and academically struggling students. The CS model relies upon an additional shift of educators and community volunteers to engage middle school students in hands-on apprenticeships, while simultaneously providing individualized supports to ensure academic and future success. The study was designed to address questions about implementation to inform program improvement as well as questions about the impact on student engagement, aspirations, and achievement. The outcome-focused findings are mixed. The study finds positive effects on student engagement and aspirations and negative perceptions about students' CS ELT experiences. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]

This paper identifies approaches, challenges, and best practices related to planning and designing today's academic library learning spaces. As part of the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Practitioner Series, qualitative data is presented from 49 interviews conducted with a sample of academic librarians, architects, and library consultants. These participants were at the forefront of the same 22 recent library learning space projects on college and university campuses in the US and Canada between 2011 and 2016. Most library projects had allocated space for supporting at least one of these four types of academic learning activities: collaborative, individual study, tutoring by campus learning partners, or occasional classes taught by campus instructors. Successful collaboration between the architect and the librarian was fostered by their shared commitment to meeting users' needs, though few stakeholders systematically collected input from users beyond standard usage statistics and gate counts. Most interviewees reported facing some common challenges during their project planning and implementations. One challenge was translating design goals into tangible designs while trying to resolve issues of noise mitigation, shared space allocations, and providing enough electrical power for IT devices. Another challenge was ensuring effective communication practices with planning teams as well as campus-wide constituents throughout projects. Additional challenges included building consensus, compensating for project interruption and inadequate knowledge about both architecture and library IT issues, and having too few a priori evaluation metrics for linking learning outcomes to goals of the library space projects. Taken together, the success of library learning space projects depends upon shared knowledge and understanding of the sweeping learning, pedagogical, and research changes facing the academy. Librarians and architects need to work together to apply that knowledge and understanding to the unique environment and learning and teaching needs of their specific institution. Contains a list of further readings. [Funding from a Strategic Research Grant from the University of Washington Information School helped to make this report possible.]

Over the past decade, research on dropout prevention has become focused on using evidence-based practice, and data-driven decisions, to mitigate students' dropping out of high school and instead, support and prepare students for career and college. Early warning systems or on-track indicators, in which readily available student-level data are used to predict whether a student is likely to drop out, are being harnessed by schools, districts, states, and support organizations nationwide to help prevent students from falling off the track to graduation and offer additional educational and support services to those who need them (Pinkus, 2008). Initiatives to create early warning systems are aligned with the What Works Clearinghouse Dropout Prevention Practice Guide recommendation that "utilizing data systems that support a realistic diagnosis of the number of students who dropout and that help identify individual students at high risk of dropping out" is a "critical first step" in effective intervention (Dynarski et al., 2008, p. 12). This paper provides information on K-12 early warning and success indicators. An annotated bibliography is included. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller "hotspots"--are to "nontraditional" problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and culture that only in the most exceptional of circumstances can they be fixed simply by top-down applications of new curricula or pedagogy. To determine the cities with the most reform-friendly ecosystems, analysts examined six domains that shape a jurisdiction's receptivity to education reform: (1) Human Capital; (2) Financial Capital; (3) Charter Environment; (4) Quality Control; (5) District Environment; and (6) Municipal Environment. Drawing on publicly available data, national and local survey data, and interviews with on-the-ground insiders, analysts devised a grading metric that rated each city on its individual and collective accomplishments in each of these areas. What did they discover? Few cities are rolling out the red carpet for education entrepreneurs. No cities were awarded As and just a handful of cities received Bs when measured for their hospitability towards reformers. The majority fell in the C range, half a dozen in the D to F range, and the remainder had too little data to judge (see Table 1, page 8). Low-scoring cities were characterized by lethargic district administration, inert political leadership, arcane staffing policies, and unsupportive (or silent) local business and philanthropic communities. They also found that cities are making greater strides in some areas than others: (1) They do best at drumming up sources of financial capital to advance reform: Nine cities earned As and ten earned Bs; support from outside the district is also strong, with municipal environment seeing nine As and eight Bs; (2) They fare least well when it comes to district environment, where a third got Fs; and (3) Grades were generally mixed with respect to human capital, charter environment, and quality control. Finally, substantial variation exists within states that had more than one city in the study. This suggests that entrepreneurial fate is not sealed by state lines: local officials, educators, and reformers can shape their own destiny. Appendices include: (1) Methodology; (2) Scoring Rubric; and (3) A list of organizations whose members helped to shape the study design and survey instruments. Individual sections contain footnotes and tables. [The foreword for this report was written by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Amber M. Winkler. Funding for this paper was also provided by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Inc.]

On March 25-26, 2010, a cadre of urban education leaders gathered in Baltimore, Maryland for the "Fair Student Funding Summit," a conference that brought together districts that use weighted student funding (WSF) as an approach for allocating dollars to schools. Convened by Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and hosted by Baltimore City Public Schools, the purpose of the summit was to provide a forum for districts to share ideas on school funding, discuss what is and isn't working, and spark new approaches. Participants included a mix of those who have well-established WSF systems, those who recently adopted WSF, those who are in the planning stages of implementation, and those who have returned to a more centralized system. More than 60 educational leaders from 14 school districts and several other organizations attended. The purpose of this conference proceedings report is to document and share the conversations from this first-of-its-kind event so that participants can: (1) Revisit the discussion in its entirety, make connections between sessions, and use findings in current practice; (2) Learn what happened in concurrent sessions that they could not attend; (3) Share the conference discussion with colleagues who did not attend the summit; and (4) Use this as a primer to educate others on the constructs, advantages, and challenges of WSF, and to generate discussions on the issues involved. (Contains 1 footnote and 4 resources.)