All Publications

Principals are essential to improving student achievement and narrowing persistent achievement gaps. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides opportunities for states to use federal funds to invest in developing and supporting effective school leaders, such as supporting their recruitment, preparation, and training using the optional state set-aside under Title II. This brief summarizes the evidence about the importance of principals, describes research-based practices in leadership development, and outlines promising, evidence-based investments from submitted and draft ESSA state plans.

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states are using a new approach to accountability based on multiple indicators of educational opportunity and performance and can decide how to use these measures to identify schools for intervention and support and to encourage systems of continuous improvement. The decision rule approach can encourage greater attention to each of the measures, offer more transparency about how school performance factors into identification, and support more strategic interventions than those informed only by a single rating, ranking, or grade. This brief describes five options for using decision rules that are designed to meet ESSA’s requirements and support states' use of systems that encourage continuous improvement across all schools.

Community schools, which feature integrated student supports, expanded learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership, can be a successful strategy for improving schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). That’s the conclusion of this research review, based on an analysis of over 100 studies. This brief, published jointly by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Education Policy Center, discusses the four key features of community schools and offers guidance to support school, district, and state leaders as they consider or implement a community school intervention strategy in schools targeted for comprehensive support.

Well-designed and implemented professional development is an essential component of a comprehensive system of teaching and learning that supports students to develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies they need to thrive in the 21st century. This brief outlines key components of effective professional development and offers rich descriptions of model programs to inform education leaders and policymakers seeking to leverage professional development to improve student learning.

Twenty-first-century learning requires sophisticated forms of teaching to develop student competencies, such as deep mastery of challenging content, critical thinking, complex problem-solving, effective communication and collaboration, and self-direction. Effective professional development is needed to help teachers learn and refine the pedagogies required to teach these skills, but research has noted that many professional development initiatives appear ineffective. This fact sheet answers the question: What are the features of effective professional development?

Well-designed and implemented professional development is an essential component of a comprehensive system of teaching and learning that supports students to develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies they need to thrive in the 21st century. This report details key components of effective professional development and offers rich descriptions of model programs to inform education leaders and policymakers seeking to leverage professional development to improve student learning.

Early care and education (ECE) can have a positive effect on many aspects of children’s development, including the language, literacy, mathematics, executive functioning, and social-emotional competencies needed for a smooth transition into kindergarten and later life success. But for many families, high-quality ECE is out of reach. California has established a range of programs to support the development of children from birth to age 5, but these programs are uncoordinated, insufficient in scope, and of variable quality. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the state’s ECE system, describing its administration and funding, access to care, program quality, and data limitations.

The Every Student Succeeds Act provides an important opportunity for states to broaden the definition of student success to include measures of students’ social-emotional, as well as academic, development. This brief describes how states might measure and promote social and emotional learning (SEL) in their accountability and continuous improvement plans.

How can schools be encouraged to help students develop socially and emotionally and to foster positive school environments in the context of new accountability under the Every Student Succeeds Act? This report provides a framework for considering how measures of social and emotional learning (SEL) and school climate may be incorporated into an accountability and continuous improvement system.

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state assessment systems must be designed to measure higher-order thinking skills and understanding. This report, published in partnership with the Council of Chief State Schools Officers (CCSSO), details how states can use performance assessments—including portfolios, projects, and extended-performance tasks—to assess what students know and are able to do.