A recent survey by the National Association for Music Education (Salvador, 2023) indicated that two-thirds of the music educators participating in the survey reported "negative impacts on their teaching, their students, or themselves." The absurdity of the attacks is surely matched only by the irony, given the overwhelmingly White…

Tennessee passed voucher-style Education Savings Account (ESA) legislation in 2019. We analyze the roll call vote in the Tennessee House to better understand the role of constituent, legislator, and special interest influences on support for school choice. This is accomplished using a binary probit model with legislator vote as the dependent…

Purpose: The unanticipated changes in state legislation in Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin in 2011-12 significantly restricted or entirely prohibited the collective bargaining rights of teachers. Considering these institutional changes as a natural experiment, we examine the causal impact of weakening teacher unionization on…

There are currently 23 states in the United States that have laws considered as some form of school disturbance law. These do not include codes or laws specifying school discipline consequences such as suspension or expulsion. They vary widely in how broadly they can be applied and how broadly they define behaviors. Students are often not aware…

The administration of campus climate surveys has proliferated across the United States at institutions of higher education to help respond to sexual misconduct. This study reviews existing state legislation related to campus climate surveys and compares it to the recent federal mandate outlined in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of…

Access to menstrual products is important to support adolescent health. Advocacy to increase access to menstrual products in schools is growing; however, ideal access requires policies that will require schools to support the menstrual health of menstruating students. We conducted a legislative review on the existence and status of state…

This critical literature review employs a novel combination of theoretical perspectives to examine the ways teachers navigate restrictive language policy. Specifically, we examine the documented effects of California's Proposition 227 on pre-service and in-service teachers' language ideologies and classroom practices. In our investigation, we…

Background: Children with asthma should have immediate access to rescue medication. Yet, <15% of children have access to this life-saving drug while at school. Methods: A search was conducted in the all states database of Westlaw to identify which the US states, territories, and the District of Columbia have a law for K-12 schools. Terms…

The identification of specific learning disabilities (SLD) remains fraught with controversy and uncertainty about professionals' capacity to appropriately identify special education eligibility. For students from linguistically minoritized backgrounds, the "exclusionary clause" prohibits the identification of learning difficulties…

Policies restricting bilingual education have yielded to policy frameworks touting its benefits. This shift corresponds with evolving lines of debate, focusing now on "how" bilingual education can best support racialized bilingual learners. One element of this new debate is the perspective on language underlying curriculum in bilingual…

Both evolution and climate change have broad scientific consensus, and yet they are the most contested scientific concepts in the US K-12 education system. This study aimed to explore trends in proposed US state legislation employed from 2003 to 2023 by anti-evolution and anti-climate change education movements to constrain the teaching of these…

Since 2020, legislators across the country have introduced bills aimed at banning instruction of Critical Race Theory in universities. This qualitative study examined 53 bills, most of which contained lists of "divisive concepts" that professors were prohibited from discussing in their classrooms. In addition, I analyzed 26 statements…

Restraint and seclusion (R/S) negatively affect students; for example, numerous investigations have demonstrated that serious injuries result from R/S (e.g., Chan et al., 2012; Mohr et al., 2003; Nunno et al., 2006). Changing policy and practice to reduce R/S is critical to promote safety and improve the educational experience and benefit for…

Dr. Jessie Wallace Hughan was a trailblazing New York City public school educator and pacifist. Hughan was a socialist, and she was among numerous teachers who faced investigations for anti-patriotic activities at the turn of the 20th-century, when teachers across the country faced intense scrutiny and legal challenges if they were suspected of…

Background: Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) initiated before medical help arrives saves lives. Hands-Only CPR keeps the blood flowing to the brain and other organs, increasing a person's chance of survival. Methods: A literature review identified Hands-Only CPR as the preferred method of CPR performed in the community setting. Many…