Since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, U.S. state IDEA programs have been required to report annually on a set of performance indicators. Indicator 8 of the Part B State Performance Plan is the "percent of parents who report that schools facilitated parent involvement as a means of…

Transferring credits from a community college to a four-year institution remains a crucial strategy many students must use to obtain a bachelor's degree. However, effectively implementing this strategy can be difficult. Despite state policies intended to streamline credit transfer, students face significant barriers to having their credits…

The Trump administration may push for a shift away from the current formula-driven federal K-12 education funding toward more flexible block grants -- part of a broader effort to significantly scale back the U.S. Department of Education and direct more education policy decision-making to the states. If Congress authorizes this new flexibility,…

This article provides a review of prior empirical work exploring whether and to what extent school district racial composition affects the costs associated with providing equal educational opportunity to achieve a common set of outcomes. This prior work mainly involves education cost function modeling on several states and in an earlier version of…

Dual enrollment has proved to be a powerful strategy for expanding college opportunity for all students, especially those who facing barriers that limit their access to postsecondary education. Extensive evidence shows that dual enrollment has wide-ranging benefits for students, high schools, colleges, and states. The model helps save time and…

Public schools are one of the last remaining institutions that bring people together across lines of race, class, and politics. Their civic role cannot be distilled to a single course. Embracing a broader vision means seeing school as a civic space and the everyday experience of school as an incubator of civic knowledge, skills, and commitment.…

STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education allows students to engage in interdisciplinary learning that fosters innovation, problem-solving skills and creativity. In November 2023, Education Commission of the States received applications from 10 states to participate in a technical assistance network and professional…

Almost all 11- to 17-year-olds with smartphones use them regularly in school, for a median 43 minutes per school day. Teachers and school leaders call this use a major distraction from learning. Many state and local authorities have responded by restricting the devices at school, and others are mulling doing so. Many have found stakeholder input…

The modernized National Career Clusters® Framework presents an opportunity for states to make their policies and guidance on educator licensure more flexible when selecting instructors and the courses they teach. All learners should have access to high-quality instruction to further their success in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs and…

This article is a case study of how educators made sense of the core ideas of a new statewide initiative intentionally designed to foster local flexibility. We trace the initiative's core elements through (1) communication materials, (2) school principals' understandings of the initiative and reasons for participation, and (3) teachers'…

Background: The most recent Farm to School (FTS) Census reported that of the 42% of US schools that participate in FTS, 77% procure food locally. In 2019, Colorado joined many other states in passing legislation that provides per-meal incentives for purchasing local foods. However, little is known about how these incentives impact procurement…

In some states, alternative schooling options are provided for specific student populations. State statute or regulation commonly notes which alternatives are available, which entity is responsible for establishing or providing such alternatives and for which student populations these alternatives are made available. This data point highlights…

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is an important policy that enables adult learners to complete their credentials by demonstrating their life experience is worthy of earning college credit. PLA policy in the state of Colorado remains a priority for the government and state agencies and understanding Colorado faculty perspectives of and experiences…

Research has demonstrated the wide-ranging and positive benefits from high-quality publicly-funded prekindergarten education. Yet, access for families with young children remains uneven, with significant gaps across geography, income, race, and ethnicity. Over the last few decades, many states have worked to broaden access to prekindergarten…

The qualifications that early childhood (EC) teachers attain vary across the 50 states. This variance is likely associated with the differences in state-level childcare licensing policies governing the qualification attainment of EC teachers. This research explores the relationship between childcare licensing policy and the qualifications that EC…