
The development of large and interconnected data sets has awakened educators to the value of strategically using data to inform education policy and improve instruction. Recognizing that using data effectively is critical to improving student achievement, numerous organizations and agencies, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are supporting school districts and other education agencies in building their capacity to generate and use data.
Even with essential data systems and supports in place, districts face challenges related to the strategic use of data. Many districts do not know what questions to ask, what data to use, or how to interpret findings to improve policy and practice. This brief discusses four key recommendations related to the strategic use of data and suggests ways districts can overcome challenges associated with these recommendations. Data and supporting examples in this brief are drawn from work conducted as part of the evaluation of strategic data use initiatives.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States

This publication brings together in partnership, the Pell Institute with the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) of University of Pennsylvania. Both organizations have a core mission to promote a more open, equitable, and democratic higher education system within the United States. The Pell Institute has a special mission to promote more equitable opportunity for low-income, first generation, and students with disabilities.
The purpose of the Indicators of Higher Education Equity report is to report the status of higher education equity in the United States and to identify policies and practices that promote and hinder progress and illustrate the need for increased support of policies, programs and practices that not only improve overall attainment in higher education but also create greater equity in higher education attainment.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Results from this study show that upon transferring to a four-year school, community college students do more than just "get by" -- they equal or surpass their peers at their new schools. Recent analyses from the National Student Clearinghouse indicate that nationally 60 percent of community college students who manage to transfer earn their bachelor's degree within four years. The highest performing college students do even better: 97 percent of Cooke Scholars earn their bachelor's degree in three years. Since 59 percent of bachelor's degree students graduate within six years, transfer students are completing their four-year degrees actually at a higher rate than students who came straight out of high school. The recent research and the experience of the Cooke Scholars makes it simply undeniable that community college transfer students are just as competent as students who begin their studies at a four-year college, and maybe more so.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States

The result of a two-year study, the report examines the history of the influential, century-old Carnegie Unit and its impact on education reform in K-12 and higher education. The study finds that the Carnegie Unit remains the central organizing feature of the vast American education system, from elementary school to graduate school, and provides students with an important opportunity-to-learn standard. But at best, the Carnegie Unit is a crude proxy for student learning. The U.S. education system needs more informative measures of student performance. Achieving this goal would require the development of rigorous standards, assessments, and accountability systems -- difficult work, especially in the field of higher education, where educational aims are highly varied and faculty autonomy is deeply engrained.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Education and Literacy;Parenting and Families
A growing number of cities now provide a range of public school options for families to choose from. Choosing a school can be one of the most stressful decisions parents make on behalf of their child. Getting access to the right public school will determine their child's future success. How are parents faring in cities where choice is widely available? This report answers this question by examining how parents' experiences with school choice vary across eight "high-choice" cities: Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Our findings suggest parents are taking advantage of the chance to choose a non-neighborhood-based public school option for their child, but there's more work to be done to ensure choice works for all families.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Western)-Colorado-Denver County-Denver;North America-United States (Southern)-Maryland-Baltimore;North America-United States (Southern)-Louisiana-Orleans Parish-New Orleans;North America-United States (Southern)-District of Columbia-Washington;North America-United States (Northeastern)-Pennsylvania-Philadelphia County-Philadelphia;North America-United States (Midwestern)-Ohio-Cuyahoga County-Cleveland;North America-United States (Midwestern)-Michigan-Wayne County-Detroit;North America-United States (Midwestern)-Indiana-Marion County-Indianapolis

Policy makers cannot make informed decisions about the regulation of charter schools without first considering the characteristics of the students who are enrolled in these schools. This report -- the first in a three-part series on New Jersey charter schools -- uses publicly available data to explore the differences found between the student populations of charter schools and those of their host districts.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Northeastern)-New Jersey

Acknowledging that national borders need not constrain our thinking, we have examined a selection of alternative academic cultures and, in some cases, specific schools, in search of solutions to common challenges we face when we consider reorganizing American schools. A wide range of interviews and e-mail exchanges with international researchers, government officials and school principals has informed this research, which was supplemented with a literature review scanning international reports and journal articles. Providing a comprehensive global inventory of competency-based education is not within the scope of this study, but we are confident that this is a representative sampling.
The report that follows first reviews the definition of competency-based learning. A brief lesson in the international vocabulary of competency education is followed by a review of global trends that complement our own efforts to improve performance and increase equitable outcomes. Next, we share an overview of competency education against a backdrop of global education trends (as seen in the international PISA exams), before embarking on an abbreviated world tour. We pause in Finland, British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand and Scotland, with interludes in Sweden, England, Singapore and Shanghai, all of which have embraced practices that can inform the further development of competency education in the United States.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States, North America-Canada (Western)-British Columbia, Europe (Western)-England, Europe (Western) - Scotland, Europe (Scandinavia)-Sweden, Europe (Northern)-Finland, Australia-New Zealand, Asia (Eastern)-China-Shanghai, Asia (Southeastern)-Singapore

Children and Youth, Education and Literacy, Health
This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité highlights the experience of Scenarios USA,3 an innovative nonprofit program that has integrated a gender and rights perspective -- and a critical thinking approach -- into curricula, while fostering new pedagogies and greater awareness among teachers. Scenarios USA approaches sexual health not as a stand-alone issue but as intertwined with young people's overall lives and agency. As such, the organization's "sex ed" work is part of a broader strategy of fostering self-expression, leadership, and advocacy among youth, especially among those living in marginalized communities.
Instead of teaching adolescents about contraceptive methods, Scenarios has them thinking and writing about gender norms, power dynamics, and intimate relationships in their own lives.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States