Education cut-backs are likely to worsen in the short run. This makes it imperative for policy makers to reverse trends toward lopsided cutbacks that decimate efforts to address factors interfering with learning and teaching. Furthermore, it is essential to move forward in more cost-effective ways by unifying student and learning supports and…

Every school is confronted with many concerns about improving students' achievement and well-being and enhancing school climate. While the emphasis shifts, there is constant pressure to do more about learning problems; bullying, harassment, and other forms of violence and acting out behavior at school; substance abuse; disconnected students;…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) were developed as part of a broader effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers to develop common state standards in key subjects. Released in 2010, the CCSSM are intended to provide a blueprint for the…

This brief reviews different agenda for establishing school-community connections in general and community schools specifically. A Comprehensive Community School is discussed as an entity that emerges from system building by school-family-community collaboratives. Establishing effective collaboratives requires policy that supports shared…

This report uses the three-component framework to categorize and synthesize major recommendations to Congress for the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) reauthorization and briefly analyzes them from the perspective of the third component. The analysis illuminates fundamental gaps in the prevailing recommendations. In particular, this…

This report continues a series analyzing proposals and blueprints for transforming schools from the perspective of how well they delineate ways to enable equity of opportunity for "all" students to succeed at school. The focus of this report is on the July 2010 draft of CCSSO's (Council of Chief State School Office's) "Model Core Teaching…

As Secretary Arne Duncan recognizes, turning around schools that are not doing well is a formidable task. It is also a task about which many ambiguities and controversies swirl. Given all the uncertainties associated with turning around, transforming, and continuously improving schools, it is essential to keep analyzing deficiencies in blueprints…

This report addresses the question: "Where do interventions for concerns about substance use fit into the work of schools?" By way of background, we begin by differentiating between use and abuse and briefly summarizing some major issues and data relevant to substance use and treatment of abuse and dependency. And, to highlight the importance of…

As the focus on school improvement at a state education agency moves from mostly a compliance approach to playing a greater role in capacity building, the agency's leadership needs to rethink student and learning supports. That is the focus of this report. Given that almost half of the chief state school officers have assumed their position in the…

Risk taking is natural. As the bumper stickers says: "Risk taking happens!" Risk taking behavior may be beneficial or harmful. Some risk taking is unintentional. But a considerable amount stems from proactive or reactive motivation. For schools, some forms of student risk taking behavior are a necessity, and some forms are a problem. With respect…

This report extends previous Center explorations of the status of organized efforts to provide student supports. In 2005 we did a policy and practice analysis of school improvement planning guides to determine how student supports were formally integrated into school improvement planning. We followed this, in 2006, with analyses of a sample of…

Our analysis of California's state department of education's Request for Proposals (RFP) for a project to "Build Collaboration for Mental Health Services in California Schools" leads us to underscore both the opportunity presented by the proposed work and the potential for serious unintended negative consequences. This brief is designed to share…

Anticipating Congressional hearings related to reauthorizing NCLB, this policy analysis report focuses on how learning supports can be enhanced in the reauthorized law. The intent is to enhance effectiveness in addressing the factors that interfere with a great many students succeeding at school. The emphasis is on fully integrating the…

This is a long-standing problem in our "age-graded" school system. And, it continues to be one of the most contentious issues in public education. Neither grade retention nor social promotion are recipes for narrowing the achievement gap or reducing dropouts. It is time for policy that doesn't "wait for failure;" it's time for a policy that…

This guide/toolkit is designed as a resource aid for those in schools and communities who are concerned about sustaining valuable initiatives and innovations. The focus is on sustaining valued functions and collaborations. A particular emphasis is on efforts designed to enhance how schools address barriers to learning and teaching. The material is…