The American Institutes for Research recently released a pocket guide, Promoting College and Career Readiness: A Pocket Guide for State and District Leaders, to support state and local policymakers and practitioners as they implement the college and career readiness initiatives included in their state Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility plans. Currently, 34 states and the District of Columbia are working to actualize flexibility plans that have been …

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On December 3, 2012, the Ford Foundation and the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) held a meeting announcing the launch of the TIME (Time for Innovation Matters in Education) Collaborative. This partnership between the two organizations and five states–Connecticut, Colorado, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and New York–aims to develop high-quality and sustainable expanded learning time schools in an effort to close the nation’s existing academic achievement gaps. The event …

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For the first time in the United States, all states are reporting their four-year high school graduation rates based on a common, rigorous measure. The U.S. Department of Education released data on November 26 presenting the new rates for school year 2010-2011. The new calculation showed 26 states reporting lower graduation rates, as compared to the previous year, and 24 states with rates that were unchanged or that had increased. …

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The Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus convened a panel Tuesday, July 24th to discuss the implications of a recent Harvard Graduate School of Education report, “Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century.” Bill Symonds, lead author of the report, argued that four-year college as a path to preparing students for the workforce had been overemphasized at the expense of other …

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On Thursday, June 21, the Coalition for College and Career Ready America and the Alliance for Excellent Education sponsored a Webinar, “Moving Toward College and Career Readiness for All Students: Major Developments and Trends in 2012 State Legislative Sessions.”  Facilitated by Liz Schneider of the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Webinar began by briefly discussing federal policy, including projected federal appropriations and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver applications. Three …

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On June 28th, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education held a Webinar for recipients of School Improvement Grants (SIG) titled Postsecondary Bridging: Building Pathways to College for All Students. The Webinar featured two school districts that have worked to ensure that every student is college ready. Both school districts have a large percentage of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and with limited English proficiency.

According to Mike McKenzie, Director of …

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On March 21, 2012, the Alliance for Excellent Education held a Webinar to provide updates on President Obama’s FY 2013 proposed budget, Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) waivers, and the ESEA reauthorization.

According to the panelists, President Obama’s $47 billion proposed budget includes a 3.8% increase from the current funding level in discretionary funding for the Department of Education and focuses on already established programs. Eight hundred and fifty million …

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