Guiding Principles for the Assessment of Arts Learning: A Discussion Draft Created by Delegates at the 10th World Summit on Arts Education October 11-15, 2021

From October 11-15, 2021, the World Alliance for Arts Education’s Executive Forum authorized the 10th World Summit on Arts Education to be hosted by the University of Florida and the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE). During the 2021 Virtual World Summit, titled Arts Impact: Context Matters, over 200 delegates from twenty-six nations on all six continents gathered to network, share research, and examine the multiple and varied ways in which arts assessments are designed and implemented around the world. Throughout the Summit, multiple discussions by various groups of delegates resulted in rich sets of qualitative data that were analyzed and interpreted daily by the conference leaders and rapporteur. These analyses were used to modify and update the concepts and ideas found within the resulting "Guiding Principles for the Assessment of Arts Learning."

Research and practice, meet the state education agency

State education agencies play critically important roles in promoting research use in education. They influence policy design and implementation, collect data about schools and districts, and can use their statewide reach to advance research use within the state agency and in districts. As Carrie Conaway explains, the states that have done the most to advance research use for systems improvement have built research infrastructures, used both existing research and local data to spur improvement, and formed close partnerships with researchers.

Remote Learning Guidance From State Education Agencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A First Look

We analyze the state education agency policy guidance concerning remote learning published by all 50 U.S. states by the end of March 2020. We find several areas of consensus, including cancellation of testing, recommendations to continue some form of remote learning, attention to digital and non-digital options, and a concerns for providing a fair and appropriate education for students with disabilities. The primary area of policy divergence that we found regarded the purpose of continuous learning during a pandemic: whether to pursue forward progress in standards-aligned new material or whether to pursue skills review and enrichment learning. We recommend that states continue to emphasize equity, consider the particular challenges of home-based learning, and produce concise communications for multiple target audiences.

Students with Acquired Brain Injury

Representing a sequel to a similar snapshot in mid-2010, this article provides an updated overview of the judicial and administrative case law concerning students with traumatic and nontraumatic brain injury from pre-K to grade 12. The scope is limited to cases under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the pair of disability-based civil rights statutes, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The cases include not only hearing/review officer and court decisions but also state education agency and Office for Civil Rights complaint investigation reports available in the only national database, LRP’s SpecialEdConnection®. The analysis focuses on the frequency and outcomes these published rulings, with the discussion extending to the empirical limitations and professional implications of the findings.

How State Education Agencies Are Administering School Turnaround Efforts: 15 Years After No Child Left Behind

School turnaround—the rapid improvement of student achievement in low-performing schools—is increasingly a major topic of interest in K-12 public education. Federal legislation has left varying degrees of school improvement–related responsibilities up to states, and policy makers have divergent views about how to realize turnaround. We investigate and describe how each state education agency (SEA) is administering school turnaround efforts in federally designated priority schools. To accomplish this, we examined a variety of publicly available documents from SEA websites and summarized the data into three overarching categories. We discuss how this finding has significant implications for policy makers and SEAs, especially as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is implemented.

Defining Autism: Variability in State Education Agency Definitions of and Evaluations for Autism Spectrum Disorders

In light of the steady rise in the prevalence of students with autism, this study examined the definition of autism published by state education agencies (SEAs), as well as SEA-indicated evaluation procedures for determining student qualification for autism. We compared components of each SEA definition to aspects of autism from two authoritative sources: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA-2004). We also compared SEA-indicated evaluation procedures across SEAs to evaluation procedures noted in IDEA-2004. Results indicated that many more SEA definitions incorporate IDEA-2004 features than DSM-IV-TR features. However, despite similar foundations, SEA definitions of autism displayed considerable variability. Evaluation procedures were found to vary even more across SEAs. Moreover, within any particular SEA there often was little concordance between the definition (what autism is) and evaluation procedures (how autism is recognized). Recommendations for state and federal policy changes are discussed.