The only organization dedicated solely to helping state boards advance equity and excellence in public education.

Policy Updates

February 2019Volume 26, No. 1

Examining Chronic Absence through a Student Health Lens

To understand the drivers of chronic absence, state boards of education should examine data on student health in their state. This policy update suggests questions for state boards to ask and actions they can take to address chronic absence. 


December 2018Volume 25, No 11

Involving Students in State Education Governance

This analysis outlines the advantages to having a student at the state board table, not the least of which is having direct input from the very people that education policies are meant to benefit, increasing stakeholder engagement, and developing civically engaged youth leaders.


December 2018Volume 25, No. 10

Protecting Privacy of School Directory Information

This analysis explores data protections for school directory information.


December 2018Vol. 21, No. 3

Trends in Student Data Sharing and Privacy in 2018

In 2018, state boards of education discussed and adopted policies to increase accountability for student data protection and to increase transparency of schoolwide data through data dashboards. This analysis highlights changes in state policy that cover data protection requirements, test administration and security, records retention, and confidentiality protocols.


November 2018Vol. 25, No. 8

The Impact of the 2018 Elections on State Boards of Education

This analysis examines how leadership changes brought about by the 2018 elections will affect state boards.


October 2018Vol. 25, No. 7

States Set Sights on Growth of Low-Performing Students

With the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states can include a student growth indicator as a measure of school quality in their accountability systems. Most of them do. Nine states also saw this as an opportunity and added a separate growth measure for the bottom quartile and quintile of students.


August 2018Volume 25, No. 6

Collaborating to Support the Early Childhood Workforce

This NASBE policy update explores how NASBE, the National League of Cities (NLC), and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) built up the nation’s early childhood education (ECE) workforce through an effective collaboration.


July 2018Volume 25, No. 5

Expanding and Aligning World Language Teaching

This NASBE policy update discusses ways state boards can bridge the divide between English-only and non-English speakers by promoting policies to increase world language workforce capacity and better align language programs to communities and national need.