In 2011, with ongoing concerns over state budget shortfalls and the increasing educational cost structure, California state legislators focused their attention on measures that could lead to access, added productivity, and value in order to sustain the current educational system. One of the recommendations provided by the Legislative Analyst's…

Imagine a high school student who does not have the opportunity to take all of the courses she needs to get into college. Today, for far too many young people, this is a sobering reality. Public schools around the country may lack the resources, staff, or demand to offer a full catalog of courses. According to recent data from the U.S. Department…

This is the forty-third report prepared in Washington providing tuition and fee data for flagship institutions, comprehensive institutions, and community colleges. Tuition and fee rates for academic year 2013-14 were collected by staff from the Connecticut Office of Higher Education, who developed an online tool to collect these data from the 50…

This case study examined the trials and tribulations a predominantly Mexican-American community in South Texas went through to obtain higher education opportunities for its residents. This study focuses on the "LULAC v. Richards" lawsuit and the South Texas Border Initiative. In 1987, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational…

This report examines traditional calendar school Read to Achieve reading camps implemented in the summer of 2014. Teacher and student survey respondents reported positive reading camp experiences and reading camp was well attended. Based on data for 502 students, a small percentage (16.1%) reached reading proficiency by the end of camp. Gains in…

This paper examines thirty major American cities to determine how "choice-friendly" they are today. Selected for their size and geographic diversity, the cities reveal both the best and worst conditions for school choice to take root and grow. "School choice" is defined broadly to incorporate a wide range of public and private…

This 2015 report is third in a series of annual reports on virtual education in the U.S. It is organized in three major sections: Section I examines the policy and political landscape associated with virtual schooling and describes the current state of affairs related to finance and governance, instructional program quality, and teacher quality.…

In 2007, educational leadership programs in Florida were notified by Florida's Department of Education of a law requiring all programs to align with new legislation, State Rule 6A-5.081. Previously, most state-approved preparation programs were based on Florida's Leadership Preparation Standards, a version of the 1996 Interstate School Leadership…

The postsecondary acts of violence at Virginia Technical University (VT) and Northern Illinois University (NIU) forced Illinois legislators to approve the "Campus Security Enhancement Act" in 2008 (110 ILCS 12/20). The "Act" requires all private and public postsecondary education institutions to develop a Campus Violence…

Drawing from a nine-month critical teacher inquiry investigation, this article examines the experiences of eleventh and twelfth grade students who participated in a year-long Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies course in California shortly after the passing of Arizona House Bill 2281 (HB 2281). Through a borderlands analysis, I explore how these students…

This policy brief explores Senate Enrolled Act 001 (SEA 1), specifically the provisions for how teachers must be evaluated. After a short summary of SEA 1 and its direct changes to evaluation policies and practices, the brief reviews literature in teacher evaluation and highlights important issues for school corporations to consider when selecting…

A state law, which helped Tennessee win Race to the Top money, pushed schools to implement a system that had limited pilot-testing. Education officials in Tennessee are taking flak from teachers and unions for rushing the implementation of the new teacher-evaluation system that will eventually undergird tenure decisions--a move, some worry, that…

This article provides an overview of the research on targeted violence, including campus violence, and the implications for policy and practice at institutions of higher education. Unique challenges of threat assessment in the community college setting are explored, and an overview of an effective threat assessment policy and team at William…

In this paper, I provide a window into the lived experience of a group of urban high school science students confronted with the stigma associated with special education, disability, and academic failure and present tools to understanding the ideological forces and institutional structures that undermine the ability of schools to create a culture…

Teacher tenure rights, first established more than a century ago, are under unprecedented attack. Tenure--which was enacted to protect students' education and those who provide it--is under assault from coast to coast, in state legislatures, in state courtrooms, and in the media. In June 2014, in the case of "Vergara v. California," a…