New Publications
To view all of our publications, please visit our web catalog.
Effective Use of AmeriCorps Tutors to Strengthen Early Literacy Skills (2005)
This issue brief summarizes the 2003–2004 evaluation results of AmeriCorps for Community Engagement and Education. It identifies reasons why the ACEE early literacy tutoring has been successful. This issue brief can be downloaded free (pdf 792kb).
Making Sense of Research for Improving Education (2003)
This issue brief is designed to help education practitioners, school district staff, and other educational leaders clarify their understanding of what scientifically based research is and learn more about several research designs used in education. This report can be downloaded free (pdf 246kb).
Driven to Succeed: High-Performing, High-Poverty, Turnaround Middle Schools (2002)
This study investigates how seven high-poverty middle schools demonstrated strong academic improvement so that they were performing at levels consistent with, and in many cases better than, higher-income schools in their states.
Volume 1 contains a cross-case analysis of findings at the seven schools. Volume 2 contains case studies of each school. The executive summary offers a summary and recommendations. Download the reports below, or purchase them through our web catalog.
- Volume 1. Cross-case analysis (pdf 1.8mb)
- Volume 2. Case studies (pdf 707kb)
- Executive summary (pdf 2.1mb)
SEDL Publications with Dana Center Staff
A Best-Fit Approach to Effective Teacher Policy (2004)
This policy brief describes a multi-step decision framework to guide policymakers in investing in teacher resources and in improving teacher policy. The brief provides guidance on the use of this ìbest-fitî model, which was developed by Jennifer King Rice, Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. This brief can be downloaded (pdf 1mb) from the SEDL website.
Investigation of Education Databases in Four States to Support Policy Research on Resource Allocation (2004)
This report investigates databases managed by state education agencies in the Southwest Region. It determines whether new education research can be conducted to support policy questions about education resources and student performance. This report can be downloaded or purchased from the SEDL website.
School Finance Adequacy: The State Role (2004)
School finance adequacy is defined as the provision of adequate resources to enable all children to meet a state's proficiency standards. Since the 1989 Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky's K–12 education system failed to provide an adequate education to all children, school finance has been addressed in some way in almost every state. Because states are under increasing pressure to define what constitutes an adequate education and determine how to fund it, this issue of Insights examines the approaches that can be used to determine the cost of an adequate education and discusses recent adequacy studies. This brief can be downloaded (pdf 1mb) from the SEDL website.
Investing in Instruction for Higher Student Achievement (2003)
This policy brief describes a research study that investigated the relationship between resource allocation and student performance. The study was conducted by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory in partnership with the Dana Center. This brief can be downloaded (pdf 466kb) from the SEDL website.
Examination of Resource Allocation in Education: Connecting Spending to Student Performance (2003)
This report describes a research study that investigated the relationship between resource allocation and student performance. The study was conducted by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory in partnership with the Dana Center. This report can be downloaded or purchased from the SEDL website.