The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "College Readiness and Success." Contents include: (1) Texas School Counselors…

Concussive brain injury in high school athletes is a growing problem, with 3.8 million concussions in athletes in the United States. Additionally, 50% of these are not receiving proper treatment, meaning they play with a concussion, known as underreporting (Harmon et al., 2018). Concussive injury damages the sensorimotor system and has cognitive…

With its direct impact on admissions procedures and (in)direct impact on campus climate, affirmative action bans can potentially influence student retention. This study uses a national dataset to examine the relationship between affirmative action bans in Oklahoma and New Hampshire and retention rates at public colleges and universities. Our…

Background: Youth mental health needs have worsened following COVID-19. Rising demand for school mental health services is straining capacity. Several states have added policies requiring mental health education, yet these vary widely and barriers to operationalization exist. Purpose: This paper explores the onerous landscape of mental health…

This research examines a state-level response to national political movements to decentre whiteness in American social studies education. Aiming to better understand how emotions systemically sustain and build connections to whiteness, this emotion discourse analysis examined how fear and hope shaped the content of and support for legislation…

The Massachusetts Innovation Schools initiative authorized educators to operate with increased autonomy and flexibility. This descriptive case study examines the early experiences of teachers in one innovation school. We explore the innovations teachers leveraged to build capacity, with particular attention to how they enacted teacher leadership…

Every year on January 16, Washington public schools participate in Temperance and Good Citizenship Day (TAGCD) in accordance with Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.230.150. On this day, Washington social studies teachers must provide instructional time for high school seniors to register to vote. The Office of Superintendent of Public…

The necessity of a college degree is irrefutable. However, the path to college for undocumented students can be crowded with boulders, steep walls, or altogether non-existent. Drawing on interviews with 25 undocumented Latina/o students and 5 years (2012-2017) of school ethnography, I show that their college-going experiences are framed by the…

Pursuant to California Education Code Section 84362, each community college district is required to allocate at least 50% of its annual education expenses, as defined by law, to the salaries and benefits of classroom instructors. This requirement ensures a significant portion of educational expenditures directly supports classroom instruction. The…

Senate Bill (SB) 1882 partnerships, codified into Texas state law in 2017, are the latest iteration of portfolio management models (PMMs) in elementary and secondary education. PMMs aim to overhaul the current governance structure of public education, granting autonomy over critical areas of school operations to school operators, while using the…

As the COVID-19 crisis disrupted schooling, recovery efforts in California included the adoption of Senate Bill (SB) 98, which mandated local educational agencies to complete Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs). These plans act as critical snapshots of sensemaking and local policy implementation during crisis; however, their details…

Though scholarship has long championed the positive impacts of classroom considerations of controversial or difficult issues, teachers have often hesitated to broach divisive topics for numerous reasons, including legislation purporting to limit controversy in classrooms and, often, that they had limited or no preparation to teach controversies,…

The Maine Community College System provides this letter in accordance with 20-A MRSA §10013. This law requires the Maine Community College System (MCCS), University of Maine System (UMS), and Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) to provide the following information about first-generation college students: (1) Data regarding enrollment of first-generation…

This article explores introduced tenure bans, meaning state-level legislation proposing eliminating tenure protections within all or part of a public higher education system. We describe such bills 2012-2022 and explore state-level political, economic, social, and higher education conditions associated with introducing a tenure ban. Tenure bans…

Public Act 103-0413 mandates the creation of a community- or district-level Children's Adversity Index to measure community childhood trauma among children aged 3 to 18 across Illinois by May 31, 2025. The statute tasks the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) with leading a cross-agency effort to develop the index, which will incorporate data…