School improvement plans became a critical component of school improvement in the wake of the United States' federal accountability systems, including No Child Left Behind (2002) and Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). School improvement plans, or SIPs, were part of a formalized process for compliance purposes and, often, did not impact an…

Principals today face greater job complexities and more diverse challenges than ever before because of decreases in resources, funding, and district support, along with increases in accountability expectations, student diversity, and unfunded federal and state mandates. Principals today are tasked with myriad responsibilities ranging from…

In an effort to best support student learning, school districts are seeking the most effective means of improving instruction while effectively addressing student inequities. As the focus on accountability intensifies, the use of data is paramount. Access to data alone, does not ensure quality, data-driven instruction. The lack of teacher…

In the research reported on here we explored teachers' understanding of what they perceived as core values of ethical leadership in education. Using qualitative research within an interpretivist design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers and school management team (SMT) members and analysed using Tesch's coding…

This dissertation retells the history of women's studies from a global perspective, challenging traditional U.S. and Eurocentric narratives about this emerging interdisciplinary field. Beginning with questions about why women's, gender, and sexuality studies has incited backlash across a range of cultural and geographic locations, this study draws…

In the final phase of the federal grant project called The School Librarian Investigation--Decline of Evolution? (SLIDE), a qualitative study of interviews of K-12 school leaders was conducted. The purpose was to learn the factors, experiences, and priorities that caused school administrators to either increase or to decrease librarian positions.…

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to resources under Executive Order 14000 and the COVID-19 Handbook: Volume 3, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) is committed to efficiently and effectively administering Federal emergency and relief funds and…

This guidance supersedes the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) Program Memorandum (PM) 20-2, published February 6, 2020, and developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education (the Departments). Through this updated guidance, the Departments: (1) Revise their approach to using the statistical adjustment model…

This environmental scan argues for the value in making grant proposals open access. Applying for and receiving grant funding is an important facet of research. However, accessing information on grant application, review, and award processes remains a particular challenge for early career scholars, researchers from smaller or underresourced…

Using frame analysis, the present study examined the intersections of science of reading research, media coverage, and state literacy policy to explore how Colorado policy and media documents have defined reading achievement. It also analyzed the values, assumptions, and agendas within these definitions. It identified diagnostic frames that…

This case explores a newly implemented Strategic Education Plan, spearheaded by Principal John Barlow, which has added some tensions and sparked concerns among parents and teachers that the myopic focus on standardized test scores risks erasing the cultural richness that defines the school. The narrative explores the complexities of balancing…

Most private schools in the United States have a history of racialized segregation. Despite this, families from historically oppressed backgrounds often choose to navigate private schools for the academic and social benefits they promise. As diversifying institutions, private schools must attend to how the unique context of private funding changes…

Cheating attracts a significant amount of attention in conversations about assessment, and with good reason: if students cheat, we cannot be sure they have met the learning outcomes of their course. In this conceptual article we question the attention given to cheating as a concept and argue that the broader concept of validity is a more important…

Team based learning (TBL) is a co-operative learning method, increasingly used online within our digitalised society. The aim of this study is to better understand the factors influencing student satisfaction and engagement with online TBL. The study measures student satisfaction, accountability and preference for online TBL across three…

The purpose of this study was to explore if and how urban school districts explicitly addressed the needs of Black students within their budgets. Culturally responsive school leadership was used to examine district leaders' budgetary actions. Using content analysis methods and randomized purposeful sampling, we reviewed budget plans from districts…