Education Commission of the States--Helping State Leaders Shape Education Policy

	Network News: Documenting and Archiving Service-Learning over Time: It’s Not Just a Story Anymore This issue focuses on a challenge faced by many service-learning teachers and practitioners in the field — how to effectively document and archive service-learning projects. Learn more about tools and strategies teachers can use to chronicle their project work, while enhancing students' learning experience and creating a collection of quality projects to share with the larger learning community. Get the latest on the District Leaders and Schools of Success network member advocacy, and find out what funding opportunities are available around service-learning and civic engagement. (National Center for Learning and Citizenship, ECS, July 2011)
	5 Myths About Remedial Education While college remediation often shows up on lists of what ails America's higher education system, Bruce Vandal from ECS and Jane V. Wellman from the Delta Cost Project argue that rethinking these services could help increase postsecondary attainment and spur economic development. In their recent op-ed that ran in Inside Higher Ed, the pair lay out five myths that stand in the way of true reform of remedial education in most states. In addition to dispelling the myths, they offer simple steps that most states can take today to reform remedial education and increase college completion rates.
	College Completion Paths to the Bachelor's Degree Bachelor's degree recipients who began at a community college took almost 20% longer to complete their degrees than did those who started out at a four-year institution, according to a federal report. And students who delayed entry into college by more than a year out of high school took almost 60% longer to complete their degrees than did those who went directly to college. (Inside Higher Ed, 07/21/11) See all of today's e-Clips stories
	Colorado Public Radio Features ECS National Forum Listen to this edition of Colorado Matters, Keeping Kids in College, that highlights discussions during the 2011 ECS National Forum on Education Policy on challenges to and options for increasing college completion rates to meet the demands of the U.S. economy. The Forum was held in Denver, Colorado, July 6-8.
	Early Warning Indicator Systems Boosting high school graduation rates is a growing concern to educators and policymakers. Research shows that students who fail to graduate high school exhibit clear signs of dropping out. Access to student data has prompted state and school district officials across the country to develop "early warning indicator systems" to efficiently identify students who are at risk of dropping out and provide targeted supports to get them back on track and graduate. This Statenote highlights the statewide early warning indicator systems in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama and the Philadelphia Public Schools district-wide system. (Molly Ryan, Education Commission of the States, July 2011)
	A State Policymaker's Guide to Expanding Learning Time This brief describes recent state actions to amend the instructional year, and suggests actions for state policymakers. It includes proposed actions for maintaining or expanding learning time during difficult financial times. This guide was a joint project between the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL).
	Credit Recovery and Proficiency-Based Credit Maintaining high expectations while providing flexibility This issue of The Progress of Education Reform will address the following questions: 1) What is credit recovery? What is proficiency-based credit? 2) How is credit recovery different from traditional remediation? 3) Why does providing for these options matter for high school completion? 4) How widespread are these options across the states? And what do state policies look like? 5) What are the challenges in implementing credit recovery and proficiency-based credit programs? 6) What does the research say on the effectiveness of credit recovery and proficiency-based credit? 7) What are the essential policy components? (Jennifer Dounay Zinth, Education Commission of the States, June 2011)
	The Education Commission of the States to Honor Ted Kolderie with the 2011 Conant Award Ted Kolderie is the recipient of this year's Education Commission of the States James Bryant Conant Award, for his decades of work in developing and spreading the idea of a "chartered" sector in public education. ECS Chair and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper will present the award at the ECS National Forum on Education Policy in Denver on July 7.
	Read the 2010 ECS Annual Report ECS is legislatively-established; P-20 focused; cross-agency focused; policy focused; nonprofit and nonpartisan. Check out the ECS 2010 Annual Report to Commissioners.
	Education Commission of the States Honors ExxonMobil For Leadership in Math, Science Education The Education Commission of the States (ECS) will present ExxonMobil with the 2011 ECS Corporate Award for the company’s leadership and investment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The award will be presented by Colorado Governor and ECS Chair John Hickenlooper at the 2011 ECS National Forum on Education Policy in Denver on July 7.
	New England Secondary School Consortium Receives ECS Frank Newman Award Five states recognized for their bold leadership and innovative partnership The Education Commission of the States (ECS) will honor the New England Secondary School Consortium with the prestigious Frank Newman Award for State Innovation at the 2011 National Forum on Education Policy in Denver on July 7. The award recognizes the Consortium’s bold example of collaboration, expertise exchange and resource sharing. (Read the press release.)
	What Savings are Produced by Moving to a Four-Day School Week? Because of the economic downturn more districts than ever are moving to a four-day school week, but the question still exists — what cost savings, if any, will this move produce? Making use of national and local spending data, this report shows what savings a district might realistically expect to realize when moving to a four-day week.
	Truancy and Habitual Truancy: Examples of State Definitions For the most part, compulsory attendance laws do not specify the number of times a student must be truant before sanctions (also part of the compulsory attendance laws) are enforced. This ECS StateNote provides examples of states where truancy and habitual truancy are defined at the state level. (Dinah Frey, Education Commission of the States, April 2011)

$teacher$	Low Income Students are Missing Out on High School Math In 2009, nearly 17% of students from the lowest fifth of the socioeconomic status (SES) distribution were not enrolled in any mathematics course during their 9th-grade year. In contrast, only 5.7% of students in the highest fifth of the SES distribution did not enroll in a math course during their freshman year. Source: Ingels, S., Dalton, B., Holder, T., Lauff, E. and Burns, L. (2011). High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09): A First Look at Fall 2009 9th-Graders (NCES 2011- 327). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC:U.S. Government Printing Office. Accessed June 28, 2011 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011327.pdf.

See all StateNotes	Recent StateNotes and Policy Briefs: Truancy and Habitual Truancy: Examples of State Definitions Legislative Commissions and Task Forces: Developing Strategies to Meet Completion & Workforce Challenges Governors Taking Larger Role in Education Transfer and Articulation Policies P-20 Governance State Policy Approaches to Reducing Truancy State Teacher Tenure/Continuing Contract Laws State Characteristics: Kindergarten Using the Past to Inform the Future of Developmental Education