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15 Sep 2008
Report

Help Wanted: State Capacity for School Improvement

Research Brief

Summary
This research brief reports on findings from an on-line survey conducted by AIR to study state education agency capacity to develop and deploy a statewide system of support for schools identified for improvement under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). To provide support commensurate with the challenges facing low-performing schools, state education agencies need adequate capacity—including infrastructure, professional resources, and political support. Data from a survey of state officials in all 50 states reveal that:

  • State officials report limited capacity to support school improvement: only 16 states reported “moderate” capacity while 33 reported limited capacity.
  • Respondents in states with more challenging workloads perceived lower levels of capacity.
  • State officials generally perceive expertise within the state education agency to be a strength, although they report lower levels of expertise regarding the needs of English language learners.

In summary, state officials perceive constraints associated with their own capacity to provide support to low-performing schools, particularly with regard to staff, funding, and technology. This brief is a companion to State Systems of Support under NCLB: Design Components and Quality Considerations.

PDF icon Help Wanted: State Capacity for School Improvement Research Brief

Related Work

15 Sep 2008
Report

State Systems of Support Under NCLB: Design Components and Quality Considerations

This brief presents data from a national survey of state administrators to describe trends in the implementation of the NCLB mandate for states to provide system to support to schools identified for improvement.

Topic: 
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Teacher Preparation and Performance
17 Sep 2008
News Release

States Work Hard to Implement NCLB’s ‘State Systems of Support’ Requirement to Help Low-Performing Schools, But Face Challenges

Only one-third of state education officials say their departments have adequate capacity to help improve low-performing schools as required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), according to a survey of all 50 states by the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

Further Reading

  • States Work Hard to Implement NCLB’s ‘State Systems of Support’ Requirement to Help Low-Performing Schools, But Face Challenges
  • State Systems of Support Under NCLB: Design Components and Quality Considerations
  • State Support for School Improvement: School-level Perceptions of Quality
  • What Are States Doing to Bring Up All Their Schools?
  • Operational Authority, Support, and Monitoring of School Turnaround
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Topic

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

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