This paper explores the student achievement-related decision-making processes of eight school principals in Ontario, Canada. First, we describe Ontario's public education system with respect to neo-liberalism and student achievement. Next, we review general approaches to reducing the achievement gap as it pertains to matters of race. We then show…

This Equity Tool, intended to support when critically reading a research study/report, provides a brief introduction to key concepts and issues involved in using largescale research, calling attention to high profile controversies, and providing explicit linkages to desegregation areas (race, sex, nationality, religion). The first part (Table 1)…

Addressing racial disparities in school discipline is an urgent and widespread issue facing US schools. One approach to improve racial equity in school discipline practice is to enhance the contextual fit of empirically validated schoolwide practices. Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a widely implemented and…

The achievement gap has been identified as a significant challenge faced by school districts across the nation and has been an item on the national agenda for quite some time. Students that are part of the identified disaggregated groups are not achieving at the same rate as their White and Asian counterparts. While urban schools have had to deal…

Addressing racial disparities in school discipline is an urgent and widespread issue facing U.S. schools. One approach to improve racial equity in school discipline practice is to enhance the contextual fit of empirically validated school-wide practices. School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a widely implemented…

The problem of racial and ethnic discipline disproportionality is both long-standing and widespread. Educators must address this issue by identifying rates of discipline disproportionality, taking steps to reduce it, and monitoring the effects of intervention on disproportionality. The purpose of this guide is to provide a reference for…

Presented at the Advanced Placement Annual Conference (APAC) in Lake Buena Vista, FL in July 2012. This presentation reviews concepts central to achieving equitable AP access and success for all willing and academically prepared students. We analyze trends in participation and performance by race/ethnicity from the AP Report to the Nation and…

We report findings of a convergent validity study examining the internalizing subscale (SRSS-I5) of the newly adapted Student Risk Screening Scale for Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE12) with the internalizing subscale of the Teacher Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991) conducted in 13 schools across three states with 195 kindergarten…

Federal education policy in recent years has encouraged state and local education agencies to embrace data use and analysis in decision-making, ranging from policy development and implementation to performance evaluation. The capacity of these agencies to make effective and methodologically sound use of collected data for these purposes remains an…

This conceptual article reviews current research on racial disparities in disciplinary practices in early childhood education and work to address these issues within a positive behavior support (PBS) framework. Building largely on the Pyramid Model, recommendations and a culturally responsive approach are suggested for use within a program-wide…

The Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework, which uses a systems approach to promote school improvement and support all students in improving academics and behavior using data-based problem-solving, is a key part of the Wake County Public Schools System (WCPSS) Strategic Plan. As of 2017-18, MTSS schools were at the initial stages of MTSS…

The school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SW PBIS) program is managed by the Minnesota Department of Education and is implemented in hundreds of Minnesota schools. PBIS is an evidence-based model that attempts to develop a school-wide positive behavior culture. Based on previously documented outcomes, PBIS is a potential…

Disparities in suspension rates for White, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students are more often a result of inequitable disciplinary actions than differences in behavior. Exclusionary discipline undermines students' academic achievement by weakening their connection with school and removing them from the classroom. Students who experience…

The purpose of this study is to describe what data preschools in a mid-sized city in the Northeast collect, how they use that data, and the challenges they face. The study focuses on three types of data: early learning outcomes, dosage (i.e., the amount of exposure to early childhood education), and classroom quality. The report further…

This "Stated Briefly" report is a companion piece that summarizes the results of another report of the same name. This study explores how seven early childhood education programs in a mid-sized city in the Northeast region are collecting and using data, how they would like to use data, how they could use the data that they have, and the…