Fewer than one-third of degree-seeking, full-time freshmen in the nation's public four-year institutions graduate in four years. To help raise this rate, SREB examined many strategies that public institutions are using to help more students earn bachelor's degrees, with particular attention to students in regional colleges and universities who…

When Alabama Governor Bob Riley established the Governor's Congress on School Leadership in 2004, few people in the state fully anticipated the resulting transformation in the state's philosophical and conceptual framework for educational leadership. The Governor's Congress on School Leadership resulted in an unmistakable statewide paradigm shift…

Principals can profoundly influence student achievement by leading school change, but they cannot turn schools around by themselves. District leaders need to create working conditions that support and encourage change for improved achievement, rather than hindering principals' abilities to lead change. This report includes principals' perceptions…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) asked online students in SREB states for feedback about their experiences through a voluntary online questionnaire in spring 2008. This report summarizes more than 2,000 responses and provides insight into what students think about online learning and how courses might be improved. Specifically, the…

The primary objective of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") is to help schools improve so more students can reach their full potential. The "HSTW" Follow-up Study of 2004 Graduates is one measure that gauges how well schools have prepared their students for college and careers. Students' reflections on…

Students benefit from a year or more gain in student achievement when urban district and high school leaders commit to the implementation of the "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") design. It is not enough to be a "HSTW" site--it is about taking effective actions to implement the design. Schools that do take action witness significant progress in…

How will you know if your state is making progress toward having a qualified teacher in every classroom? One indicator of progress in Goals for Education relates to licensure and certification: "Licensure and certification focus on performance and lead to sufficient numbers of teachers with content knowledge and proven teaching skills to improve…

If Southern Regional Education Board, SREB, were to grade states today on the middle grades goal, only a few would earn high marks; most are still struggling, and that goes for most of the rest of the nation as well. That does not mean that student achievement is not improving or that SREB states have not developed some key policies and promising…

The Southern Regional Education Board was the first education organization in the nation to stress that states not only should set goals for education but also should measure progress toward those goals and monitor trends. Now, the SREB Challenge to Lead Goals for Education in the 21st century make a dramatic statement: "SREB states can lead the…

This report highlights how key parts of the teacher work force "system" should work together and helps you ask--and answer--questions about emerging solutions that offer promise. Policy-makers in SREB states should focus on five policy areas in which there is now considerable data, plus three emerging policy areas that are growing in importance.…

Whether new to teaching or an experienced veteran, every teacher needs up-to-date training. How can states provide effective, replicable and scalable professional development to over a million teachers in more than 3,400 school districts in Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states? For many years, states attempted to meet this need with…

In 1987, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and 13 Southern states formed the SREB-State Career/Technical Education Consortium and established two goals. One goal is to increase the percentages of career-oriented students who complete a planned sequence of career/technical (CT) courses and a challenging academic core in English/language…