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Staff Contacts:
Kathy Christie
kchristie@ecs.org
303.299.3613

Jennifer Dounday Zinth
jdounay@ecs.org
303.299.63689

Goals and Objectives

Manage and disseminate knowledge. Monitor changes in state education policies. Identify states to watch—those promising early adopters and those with track records of high performance. Promote credible research as a basis for policymaking. Identify critical and emerging issues across the states. Provide advice based on the best knowledge available.

Outcomes

Managed and disseminated knowledge

Collected and managed information that undergirds ECS databases, publications and the ECS website. Added nearly 2,634 documents to the unique and highly specialized ECS library which consists of more than 36,000 documents in digital format and nearly triple that number in hard copy. Added 2,255 new resources to www.ecs.org (more than 9,000 if counting URLs) and archived 10-15% of website documents.

Produced four electronic newsletters:

e-clips
ECS e-Clips gives you the day's top education news, as well as a link to Education Week's extensive daily news roundup. Read subscriber comments.
e-connection
ECS e-Connection is a weekly e-mail publication with links to key education information. Read subscriber comments.
LESN
Heads Up (a monthly compilation of good reads targeted for a Legislative Education Staff audience) comes to you as a complimentary service from the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
pre-k-3
Pre-K-3 is a monthly dissemination of research and policy updates about developments in the Pre-K – 3 field

Identified critical and emerging issues and states to watch

Synthesized and analyzed state policies for dissemination (see 2011 Collection of ECS Publications for details). Topics included kindergarten entrance ages and trends, American Jobs Act, school calendars across the states, four-day school week costs, state-set limits on superintendent contracts, teacher tenure, evaluation appeals processes, state collective bargaining laws, state responses to autism spectrum disorders, early warning indicators, truancy and habitual truancy, state charter school laws, governors’ roles in education, state education governance models, P-20 governance, and state anti-bullying laws.

A joint project between the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and the National Center on Time and Learning (NCTL) resulted in the publication of three documents. Learning Time In America: Trends to Reform the School Calendar; A State Policymaker’s Guide to Expanding Learning Time. There is also an Executive Summary (ECS and the National Center on Time and Learning, July 2011).

ECS Information Clearinhouse blogs:

ed watch
ECS Ed Watch covers innovative, ahead-of-the-curve state policy approaches and the best new research with significant implications for education policy.

p-20 blog
The P-20 Blog is your source for news, policy and research related to state efforts to better align early learning, K-12 and postsecondary education efforts.
Regularly disseminated new reports being launched by ECS and others via Twitter.

feedback

“Thanks so much for following up with this good information! It’s a valuable and very useful summary.”
Vice Chancellor, State University System
 
“Thanks again for all of your help earlier this year! You are a wealth of knowledge.”
Director, Assessment, Accountability & Information Management, State Department of Education
 
“Thank you again — we really appreciate how quickly you got back to us and you have provided great background resources to help start the state board’s conversation!”
State Board of Education
 
“Thank you so much! This is just the information I needed. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. You’re the best.”
State Legislative Education Staff
 
“Thank you so much for your thorough review of the bill draft. You did a fantastic job!”
State Legislator
 
“Thank you so incredibly much! I was able to use your research in a memo that will be going to our Chief of Staff and then recommend to the Congressman.”
Staff, U.S. Congressman

 

 
 
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