Developing and Managing Talent in the SEA. Benchmark. No. 4

State education agencies (SEAs) are reframing their work to be more coordinated and strategic but talent in most SEAs continues to be in large part defined by federal programs and oriented toward the routines of compliance. Existing talent pipelines in SEAs are rooted in the historic functions of administering federal programs and doing little more. But, in an era of education reform, tight state budgets, and increasing public expectations, SEAs face new demands to: (1) More efficiently manage SEA initiatives and assess progress toward goals; (2) Improve data systems to more precisely track performance of students in local education agencies (LEAs) and schools; (3) Intensify and diversify efforts to support the improvement of LEAs and schools; and (4) Encourage and evaluate innovative models of teaching, learning, and school design.