Partnership for Student Success: Providing Youth with Quality Programs Through the FY2013 Quality Enhancements in After School and Out of School Grant
This report documents the After School and Out of School Time (ASOST) Quality Enhancement Grant (line item 7061-9611) that provides high-quality expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) before school, after school, and during the summer months to students across the state of Massachusetts. Through this grant, public school districts, non-public schools, or community based organizations (CBOs) with… Read More ›
The Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Coordinating Council: A Report to the Governor, House and Senate Comittee on Ways and Means, and Joint Committee on Education
This report details the need for more coordination of state and federal funding streams and the implementation of comprehensive policies to support the gains that have been made in ASOST programming in Massachusetts. In particular, the report details the strategies laid out by the working groups established by the Coordinating Council. Established in 2012, the… Read More ›
Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning
This report examines achievement in 62 public charter and district schools that are pursuing a variety of personalized learning practices, and examines implementation details in 32 of those schools. Researchers obtained achievement data for personalized learning students and a matched comparison group of students attending other schools serving similar populations. They also collected and analyzed… Read More ›
What Are Teachers’ and School Leaders’ Major Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?
This report shares U.S. principals’ and teachers’ main concerns about testing, drawing upon new survey tools for understanding educators’ perspectives and implementation of major education policies: RAND’s American Teacher Panel and American School Leader Panel. The findings are drawn from the ATP and ASLP surveys fielded in February 2015, before the full administration of most… Read More ›
Competency-Based Education in Three Pilot Programs
This research brief summarizes findings of the RAND evaluation of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Project Mastery grant program, which was created in 2011 to support competency-based education initiatives in large school systems that serve a high proportion of disadvantaged youth. Competency-based education meets students where they are academically, provides students with opportunities for choice,… Read More ›
Measuring Hard-to-Measure Student Competencies
This report provides guidelines to promote thoughtful development of practical, high-quality measures of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies that practitioners and policymakers can use to improve valued outcomes for students. Efforts to prepare students for college, careers, and civic engagement have traditionally emphasized academic skills, but a growing body of research suggests that interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies—such… Read More ›
The iNACOL State Policy Frameworks 2015: 5 Critical Issues to Transform K-12 Education
This policy brief from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) provides concrete, actionable recommendations for state policymakers seeking to build competency education based on new learning models that allow personalization of instruction for each student. The iNACOL State Policy Frameworks covers five main issues: create competency-based education systems, improve student access and equity,… Read More ›
Design Thinking in Schools: “You can’t make school better without student voice.”
Have you thought about bringing design thinking to your school or district? One of the major foundations for the Fuse Architect project is design thinking. Through a partnership with IDEO, the Fuse Architect schools’ design teams used and continue to use design thinking to help re-envision the way school happens. IDEO defines design thinking… Read More ›
Educate Maine: 2015 Annual Education Symposium & Leadership Luncheon
Educate Maine is hosting a day of engaging plenaries and workshops led by Maine business, education and policy leaders. The Symposium will feature keynotes from leading state and national education experts as well as more intimate interactive workshops on a range of education issues spanning early childhood through adulthood. The event culminates with the annual… Read More ›
Putting “Career” in “College and Career Readiness”— Anytime, Anywhere Learning and the Value of Apprenticeships
The United States is investing in apprenticeship, as well as expanding the scope of careers covered under the registered apprenticeship umbrella—this is great news, but we have a long way to go to establish apprenticeship to serve a wide array of education and training needs. Underemployed or unemployed adults are not the only workers who… Read More ›
STEM in Afterschool and Summer Learning: Issue Brief
This issue brief explores the role of after school and summer programs in building skills and interest in STEM fields. While practices that support STEM skills during the school day are critical, students traditionally spend only 20% of their waking hours in school. Afterschool and summer programs can offer hands-on experiences, expose students to STEM… Read More ›
Advancing Competency-Based Pathways to College and Career Readiness
This state policy framework, focused on graduation requirements, assessment, and accountability, is designed to assist states in building a policy structure that contributes to statewide adoption and implementation of competency-based pathways (CBP) that support all students in reaching college and career readiness, as defined by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). CBP can help all… Read More ›