School climate is important for continuous improvement. California's LCFF requires districts to report on school climate and use data to inform decision making. Qualitative data, derived from an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study, explored three belief constructs and sub-groups by response patterns. Education leaders have a range of…

Understanding why and how stakeholders become involved in education governance, and with what consequence, is critical to the success of any equity-minded participatory policy. This area of inquiry is especially salient to California's education law called the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). LCAP requires local district officials to…

In Ohio, three movements have made diversity management and advancement crucial to the success of two-year colleges: increasingly diverse student bodies, the recent emphasis of outcome-based accountability, and the evolution of funding sources that led to the creation of performance-based funding formulae. The history of ideologies of diversity…

A case study of a Latinx parent-school engagement program is presented illustrating how immigrant parents became collective political actors providing input into their California school district's formulation of its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP was part of newly adopted statewide Local Control Funding Formula policy providing…

More than 725,000, nearly 12 percent, of California's public school students receive special education and related services. Although more than half of those students spend 80 percent or more of the school day in a general education classroom, California's special education funding system may not be as inclusive as California's classrooms. This…

The Rhode Island Education Policy Primer provides an overview of how public education operates in Rhode Island. The Introduction offers context on the inequitable origins of Rhode Island's public school system, as well as the role that activism has played in expanding educational opportunities. The At a Glance section provides a quick look at…

Minnesota needs drastically different and better approaches to learning in order to meet the needs of all students, and the challenges of the 21st century. That will require a move to more student-centered learning--that is, learning that is built on a foundation of strong relationships, responsive to basic needs, driven by students, respectful of…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act will be coming up for reauthorization amid a number of contentious issues, and debates over these issues are likely to more heated leading up to the 2012 elections. If ESEA is to be renewed, the President must make it a high priority, Republicans will need to work with Democrats, and national education…

In a review of statewide plans for assessing student learning at institutions of higher education, this paper argues that assessment, carefully planned to focus on students, can lead to an improvement in the communication and understanding between the academy and the polity. A brief section on the role of statewide assessment places it in a…

This review of the key issues likely to surround the reauthorization of Chapter 1 covers allocation formulas, selection of schools and students, fiscal issues, and accountability. As Chapter 1 is the largest federal elementary and secondary education program, with appropriations of over $6.1 billion in fiscal year 1993, a concern of…

The Chapter 1 program provides aid to local education agencies (LEAs) for the education of disadvantaged children. This review of background and issues involved in the reauthorization of Chapter 1 covers funding and participation trends, features of the program, selection for participation, fiscal issues, and program improvement. A key concern is…

A plan for community college finance in 1981 is presented, based on an examination of socioeconomic factors likely to affect the California community colleges between 1981 and 1985. The report first outlines 11 assumptions concerning trends in community college finance and mission and, then, presents a general approach to financing the California…