Policy: Federal

This policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education discusses the the role of school leaders in turning around low performing high schools. The author examines the effects of school leadership on all high school students and provides federal policy recommendations that include embracing high expectations, supporting development of school leader preparation programs, and replacing ineffective federal improvement systems.

The Eight Elements of High School Improvement framework provides a lens for mapping school, district, and state high school improvement efforts. This framework, updated from the original July 2008 version, incorporates new language and ideas from the U.S. Department of Education’s current education reform priorities.

This policy brief released by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability at the Institute for Educational Leadership identifies five broad policy and practice areas critical to ensuring all students--and especially those with disabilities--are prepared to succeed in high school and in their post-secondary careers. The brief makes 14 recommendations spread across the five areas and provides suggestions on what organizations can support these recommendations.

In this report, the author looks at the eight federal legislative recommendations provided by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) for high school reform identified in their field guide, Breaking Ranks II. The recommendations include: (1) increasing academic rigor, (2) personalized instruction, (3) targeted strategies to support low-performing students, (4) improving reading and writing skills, (5) assessment, (6) high-quality school leaders, (7) highly qualified teachers, and (8) high schools identified as in need of improvement.

This report from the American Youth Policy Forum and the Center for Education Policy examines the work that has been accomplished in educating children with disabilities over the past 25 years since Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975. It also identifies issues that still need to be addressed.

This brief from The Education Trust explores the need for stronger federal policy that requires high schools to adopt graduation rates – in addition to achievement indicators – as a measure for student and school progress. By identifying varying state-based definitions of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and successful state policies, it suggests ways in which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) can be altered when reauthorized to improve outcomes for all student subgroups across the country.

This report, prepared by Achieve, Inc., for the project Staying the Course: High Standards and Improved Graduation Rates, pushes for states and districts to build longitudinal data systems to track student progress and engagement in the hopes of identifying potential dropouts and at-risk students early enough for successful intervention.

This Alliance for Excellent Education policy brief provides an overview of the data collected on student writing achievement, recommends more opportunities for students to practice writing in school, encourages schools to teach better writing instruction, and offers policymakers suggestions on how to support school improvement efforts in this area.

This paper from the Center for American Progress examines high schools that implement an extended learning day as part of a required educational program for all students, explores issues related to implementing such a program, presents examples of how schools accomplish this, and analyzes the implications for school design, capacity, and financing.