School reform and turnaround efforts have been in the public eye since the signing of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1965. Research has been focused on the School Improvement Grant, as well as the essential components that improve performance of schools. This qualitative case examines one…

"Districts' Use of Weighted Student Funding Systems to Increase School Autonomy and Equity: Findings from a National Study. Volume 1," is intended to provide both practitioners and policymakers with detailed information about the design, implementation, and outcomes of weighted student funding (WSF) systems in the United States. Findings…

Concerns about the equitable distribution of school funding within and across school districts have led to new federal data collections on school-level expenditures. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) required states to collect and report, for the first time, school-level data on both personnel and non-personnel expenditures…

In 2011, President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provided states with an opportunity for flexibility from certain requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, currently known as the No Child Left Behind, or NCLB, Act. A total of 43 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and eight districts in…

Little research has been conducted examining advocacy efforts in the school library field despite the fact that program advocate is a prominent role for school librarians. One element of advocacy is the engagement in political initiatives that may affect school library programs. This case study investigates the effectiveness of one advocacy effort…

This paper provides federal policymakers and advocates with comprehensive, big-picture ideas for transforming federal policy to support the transition to competency-based learning. It is meant to start a dialogue on these issues, posing important questions to explore as policymakers contemplate a new vision for federal education policy through the…

Over the past forty years, schools across the United States have become more inclusive for students with disabilities. However, in many high-poverty urban school districts, a disproportionate number of minority children with disabilities are segregated from their non-disabled peers. This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of…

Many low-performing schools across the nation have increased learning time in response to federal requirements for the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. The conditions governing federal waivers of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) also require certain schools to redesign the school day, week, or year to include additional…

The 2001 reauthorization of the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), otherwise known as No Child Left Behind, requires those schools which fail to make "adequate yearly progress" for five consecutive years to enter into "restructuring." Further clarified by the Obama administration's Blueprint for Reform,…

With many efforts underway across the United States, state education agency (SEA) leaders have the opportunity to utilize the expertise of their contacts in other SEAs and regional comprehensive centers (RCCs) in their region and throughout the country to exchange ideas and share the lessons they have learned about involving stakeholders in…

This article reports the research findings of a qualitative study thatemploys case study research methods to examine a newly-formed university-district-teacher union partnership. Examination of the question ''How do we better prepare teachers'' led to the formation of a university-district-association (teacher union) partnership, which led to a…

This qualitative study examined the actions of district and school leaders in changing from a traditional age-based grade-level structure to a standards-based student grouping model in a Western school district. Based on interview, observation, and artifact data collected over 5 years, the findings identify specific leadership actions that…

Purpose: Despite the popularity of school "turnaround" and "portfolio district" management as solutions to low performance, there has been limited research on these strategies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the strategic case of Los Angeles Unified School District's Public School Choice…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is due for reauthorization, and Senator Tom Harkin and Congressman Chakkah Fattah have both proposed revisions to the comparability provision of the federal Title I program. Harkin's proposed legislation requires the use of per pupil expenditures, including actual teacher salaries, to demonstrate…

This final report presents findings from a multi-year evaluation of the Comprehensive Technical Assistance Centers, a federally funded program that provides technical assistance to states in connection with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. With the redesign of the Center…