In this chapter, we explore statewide tuition-free college programs which encourage students to earn Career and Technical Education (CTE) credentials. To map the current landscape of statewide Promise programs, we conducted a policy discourse analysis of all statewide Promise programs while focusing on policy features relevant to workforce…

This article analyzes the China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) education policy using a critical policy discourse approach. At the textual level, this paper focuses on policy framing by identifying how diagnostic (problem definition), prognostic (solutions), and motivational (rationales) framings are described in two foundational BRI education…

This study aims to illustrate how states include an improvement science approach to educational improvement in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan. Through a qualitative content analysis of 52 state ESSA plans, we propose an introductory organizational typology to categorize states based on their explicit inclusion of improvement…

This study examines the key historical stages of the sustainable rural education policy development, including the stage of Rural Education Restoration and Adjustment Period (1979-1985); the stage of Comprehensive Reform Period of Rural Education (1985-2003); the stage of Rural Education Coordinated Development Period (2003-2018); and the stage of…

A large body of research has documented the ineffectiveness and detrimental effects of punitive discipline policies and practices in schools. Though the anti-punitive discipline reform movement has grown in the last two decades, punitive discipline practices persist as the most prevalent approach to addressing behavior-related issues in U.S.…

The Programme for International Student Assessment has become an important policy tool that has affected educational practices in many countries. Despite some remarkable results in PISA's global ranking tables from China's Eastern provinces, China's distinctive policy response has not been well documented or understood. We systematically examine…

The problematisation of a social phenomenon is a political process that both constructs the problem and, in doing so, suggests possible remedies and occludes others. Based on the first-ever comprehensive analysis of 129 UK university policies to address Gender-based violence (GBV), we examine how the 'problem' of GBV is conceptualised in…

Contrary to common assumptions, the vast majority of the world's refugees reside in neighbouring countries in the Global South. This paper explores the complex interaction of global vocational education policies with the local realities of five communities within the under-researched yet highly relevant refugee context of India, across three major…

In 2012, Florida adopted the Academically Challenging Curriculum to Enhance Learning (ACCEL) statute establishing minimum requirements for local education agencies to provide access to accelerated learning options for eligible K-12 public school students. This study examined Florida public school district acceleration policies for elementary…

Antiblackness is a persistent feature of American society with continued implications for the experiences, outcomes, and well-being of Black communities. In the wake of widespread protests against antiblack police brutality and heightened awareness of racial injustices in 2020, federal, state, and local political actors swiftly began a concerted…

In this article, we explore inconsistencies in the implementation of outdoor learning across Australian early years' education. The benefits of outdoor learning justify regular employment of this pedagogical approach in both early childhood education and primary school settings. Early childhood education services provide daily outdoor learning…

This study aims to conceptualize "Pyramid-hierarchy" model of the educational policy discourse system in China. Education discourse system is the external education expression form of ideological and theoretical system and knowledge system. Constructing the discourse system of educational policy with Chinese characteristics is a system…

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidizes child care costs to help low-income families afford care. Reimbursements for cost-subsidized care are paid to child care providers; however, per-child reimbursements are extremely low compared with market rates and actual cost of care. We examine how the 2014 CCDF reauthorization, which…

This report analyzes the parental leave policies of secondary Catholic schools across the United States. Current research suggests Catholic schools lack the ability to provide parental leave, which aligns with the methods and length recommended by various organizations, including the Vatican, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and…

In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to the embodiment of education for sustainable development (ESD) in early childhood education (ECE) policies in various countries, but there is a lack of relevant research in China. Therefore, this study adopts the ESD analytical framework to analyze some representative ECE policies in…