State of the States Brief: High School Graduation Requirements
This brief highlights changes that states have made in their high school graduation requirements since 2019.
K–2 Assessment Systems Enable Early Intervention to Foster Student Success
Across the United States, statewide assessments in English language arts and mathematics are federally mandated each school year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. The intent is to help educators, policymakers, and parents directly gauge how students and their school systems are performing against state standards. Missing nationwide, however, is any […]
Scaffolding Writing With the “Teaching and Learning Cycle” for Students in Grades 6–12
Reading critically involves examining the language choices authors make to “get the job done” — in other words, to communicate effectively in specific ways with particular audiences. Not all students in middle and high school intuit this type of reading and may experience challenges when they go to write for academic purposes. Their teachers are […]
Strong Professional Learning Systems for Math Instruction in California: What Do We Know Today?
The coming months are an opportune time to reexamine the professional learning infrastructure around math teaching in California. In addition to the re-conceptualized instructional guidance and the emphasis on equity put forth in the math framework revision that’s now underway, California counties, local education agencies, and schools are also rebuilding their policies and systems for […]
Ethnic Studies Legislation: State Scan
Reviewing state efforts to develop and implement curricula that reflects and affirms students’ racial and ethnic identities, Sylvia Kwon from the Region 15 Comprehensive Center developed this summary of recent and ongoing states’ ethnic studies legislation. For the purposes of this scan, “ethnic studies” encompasses coursework that purposefully reflects and supports students’ identities. Kwon examines […]
WestEd’s Standards‐to‐Standards Alignment and Evaluation Studies
WestEd’s content and assessment experts are available to conduct standards-to-standards alignment studies, which provide: findings to meet rigorous evidence requirements, such as federal peer review guidelines; and key feedback that contributes to quality content standards. This service is available for a range of grade levels and content areas.