Americans are dissatisfied with the public school system--and student academic outcomes have fallen to historic lows. Increasingly, state lawmakers are responding by giving parents more options for their children's education. Some of these new opportunities, such as in Arkansas and Iowa, allow every child in the state to apply. Policymakers also…

As of February 2023, 44 states have either introduced or passed legislation that aims to control the teaching of race in K-12 public schools. Using political discourse analysis, we investigate the discourse from six "anti-CRT" documents. We frame the discourse from an agnotological perspective; agnotology is the study of how ignorance is…

This conceptual paper examines the question of the political imaginary in the neoliberal moment, and the crucial role that Ethnic Studies can play in realizing critical pedagogy's promise of emancipatory social transformation. After Arizona House Bill 2281, educational scholarship has paid renewed attention to Ethnic Studies classrooms as key…

While there is an increased national focus on student safety and gun violence in schools, the policies for arming teachers are often vague and unclear. Additionally, policies and laws enforcing safety protocol for students differ across states. Clarity in policies are important for stakeholders in school communities who can use such information to…

As an immigrant, born to formerly undocumented parents who left Hong Kong for the United States with barely a middle school education and a pair of tourist visas, Tina Cheuk, was separated from her parents for four years. She later joined them at age seven. Upon arriving in the United States, she was one of three English Learners, (ELs) in her…

In the shadow of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold raceconscious policies in "Fisher v. University of Texas" (2016), and midway to Justice O'Connor's 25-year sunset clause in "Grutter v. Bollinger" (2003), affirmative action remains contentious. This qualitative theoretical study posits that we need not speculate about…

The impacts of the 2018 elections were felt in the 2019 state legislative sessions across the country. While charter school supporters continued to rack up legislative victories on increasing funding and facilities support, strengthening accountability, and protecting autonomy, they also faced political climates in several states that were…

Since the 2000s, states have experimented with reforms to improve success among underprepared students traditionally assigned to developmental education (DE). Florida's reform under Senate Bill 1720 has been among the most comprehensive and wide-reaching. Recent public high school graduates and military personnel became exempt from DE, but nearly…

This article serves as the first in a series addressing comprehensive suicide prevention programming in the school context. Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds in the United States. As schools are a place where the majority of youth spend a significant amount of time, it follows that they are a natural…

California delivers Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education using performance-based instruction and assessment. This ensures English language learners are prepared to participate in society as workers, parents, and active community members. This article describes the 20-year-old program's history, structure, requirements, and successes.

Texas House Bill 3 established a college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus, which provides extra funding to districts for each annual graduate demonstrating CCMR under the state accountability system. Some small district and rural district leaders expressed concern about the ability of their graduates to meet the career…

Across all 50 states, there are different ways in which states allocate K-12 and special education funding to districts. Education Commission of the States has collected information on states' primary funding models, base per-student funding amounts, student attendance count methods, and funding for special education, English language learners,…

In this report, we focus on the world of charter schools run for profit, a world both hidden and misunderstood. We pull back the veil on tactics and practices designed to reap as many public dollars as possible from charter schools while hiding behind laws designed to keep profit-making hidden from the public's eyes. This report exposes how both…

As of fall 2019, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office required all California community colleges (CCC) to be in compliance with Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705). CCC were required to implement multiple measures placement policies for math and English that would maximize the likelihood that students with an educational goal of degree or…

In May 2013, the governor of Florida signed into law Senate Bill 1720, which fundamentally changed how institutions of higher education manage remedial programs. Institutions seemed to be responding to the high demand for education by channeling large percentages of incoming first-year students to remedial classes based on assessment test scores,…