In 2009 the Washington State Legislature created an accountability system for online learning (SSB 5410, RCW 28A.250.005). The Legislature directed the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop an online provider approval system and report annually on the state of online learning in Washington (RCW 28A.250.040). The…

Many teachers do not receive the support necessary to simultaneously teach and respond appropriately to challenging student behavior. The systems in place are often purely reactive and lack a preventative component to address challenging behavior. The Center for Promise examined exclusionary discipline in Minnesota by speaking with young people…

Trenton Public Schools (TPS) have faced multiple years of fiscal turmoil as the district struggles to provide students with the resources required to meet the State's Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCSS). Under the tenure of Governor Chris Christie, the State failed to provide the state aid needed to support the district's budget, eroding…

Texas has one of the largest primary and secondary school systems in the United States. Funding equity has been a concern in the state courts, and significant legislative actions have been taken. We examine two votes taken in the Texas State Legislature in 1993 and 2006 that follow the directives from a series of education finance equity legal…

Given the transition from paper-and-pencil to computer administration, policymakers must update test security laws and policies to reflect the new threats to administration. There will likely always be a need for paper-and-pencil test administration security laws and policies, given that paper test copies may be needed as an accommodation or may…

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the lives of millions of schoolchildren and exacerbated existing educational inequities. Most schools rapidly transitioned to remote instruction in March 2020 and continued operating under fully remote or hybrid learning conditions for the 2020-21 school year. This rapid transition to, and subsequent…

To promote children's healthy development and give them opportunities to flourish, families need a wide range of support services. These services are often disconnected from each other. Early care and education (ECE) has a particularly fragmented system (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018). Systems with myriad processes…

English learners (ELs) are students whose primary language is not English and are eligible for English language development services through the Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program (TBIP). Washington state's TBIP has existed since the passage of Senate Bill 2149 in 1979, and is codified in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Chapter…

Second Substitute Senate Bill 5903 (2019) directed the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to contract with an organization providing coaching services to early achievers program participants, i.e., Child Care Aware of Washington (CCA WA), to provide statewide Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMH-C) to Early…

Policy surrounding K-12 online learning continues to evolve as the field grows exponentially. In Michigan, Section 21f of the State School Aid Act enacted in 2013 strengthened parents' and students' ability to request online courses: "A student enrolled in a district in any of grades 6 to 12 is eligible to enroll in an online course as…

This study highlights the efforts of Indiana University East to make substantive changes to its general education program, resulting primarily from state mandates and legislation, on an extremely aggressive timeline. While fraught with challenges, these legislative mandates also presented opportunities for the institution to make necessary and…

Can successful schools replicate? In a climate of school turnarounds, charter conversions, and new school openings, an important question is whether schools that have demonstrated success with in one or several schools can replicate their success with additional schools. The federal government's Investing in Innovation (i3) grant program has been…

Relative to earlier research, this study from the Center for Reinventing Public Education provides a more in-depth analysis of policy features across the 27 states that allow online charter schools. It presents a well-organized description of policy features and includes a set of policy recommendations that generally, but not always, follow well…

In 2016, there was an increasingly dramatic divergence between state economies in the West. Most states in the region benefited from an ongoing economic recovery, but states reliant on the energy sector for tax revenues were hit hard by the global decline in oil prices. This resulted in varying budget situations in legislatures across the…

In this quantitative study, the perceptions of safety and preparedness of Missouri's high school administrators after participating in active shooter training as mandated by Missouri's Senate Bill No. 75 were analyzed. As school shootings continue, states have passed legislation to prepare schools to provide safety for students and faculty members…