Executive leadership of the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) initiated a flexibility offering from No Child Left Behind. Our work explores specific design decisions made in these state-specific accountability systems as associated with state political environments, resources, and demographic characteristics. Our analysis, focused on 42 states…

Bullying threatens the mental and educational well-being of students. All states have enacted antibullying laws. This study surveyed 634 educators about the implementation of the North Carolina School Violence Prevention Act, which enumerated social classes protected from bullying: race, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual…

Statewide policies can impact enrollment patterns of students. At one Texas University, 11th-grade Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores were predictive of success in students' first college-level mathematics course, but many students--those most at risk of failure--seem to have avoided taking a mathematics course in their first year at…

The time between the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and its replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, marked a period of unprecedented policy-driven education reform. Unfortunately, the major objectives of the policy were not achieved, and the very problems it sought to fix still exist. One reason for this was an…

The Mississippi Public Universities Research Catalog is mandated by the State through the University Research Center Act of 1988 (§ 37-141-17). The publication lists the funding amounts by the sources of funding and by the university disciplines receiving the funding. It is designed for use by state policy makers, the educational community,…

This analysis of college- and career-ready standards implementation is grounded in the policy attributes framework, which states that the more specific, consistent, authoritative, powerful, and stable a policy is, the better implementation will be (Porter, 1994). "Specificity" refers to how extensive, detailed, or prescriptive a policy…

Objectives: To demonstrate how the bootstrap method could be conducted in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with a syntax written in SPSS. Methods: The data obtained from the Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation project (T-COPPE project) were used for illustration. A 5-step procedure to conduct bootstrap factor analysis (BFA) was…

This case study examines how district administrators and high school mathematics and science teachers use data in instructional decision making and what challenges they face in the current accountability context. Findings reveal unique aspects of data use directly related to a high school setting within the context of test-based accountability and…

Proportional identification of students for gifted services in Florida school districts is an important goal. A multi-level model was used to analyze school district data from the Florida Department of Education from the 2011-2016 academic years. Results from the study indicate that the likelihood of identification of students varied by their…

In an effort to increase college access and success rates, the state of Texas has expanded dual enrollment programs and Early College High Schools (ECHS) that provide students with the opportunity to begin their collegiate careers while still in high school. More recently, these dual enrollment and ECHS programs have tried to broaden inclusion…

The research objective is to explain evidence of structural racism, inequity, and inadequacy in the Michigan public school finance system related to the education of Black students or Black descendants of captive and enslaved Africans. This analysis stems from ongoing research that integrates transformative paradigms, critical race theory, and…

In 2019, Child Trends partnered with the Institute for Health Research and Policy of the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC-IHRP), EMT Associates, Inc., and the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) to publish the first comprehensive policy analysis (see ED613844) to explore codified state statutes and regulations covering…

Nationally, student debt has doubled between 2009 and 2019 and is now hovering around $1.7 trillion. The impact that student debt financing is having on borrowers of color is harmful and unsustainable. It is also widening the already significant racial wealth gap. The pandemic is likely to only exacerbate these inequities as people of color and…

In 2021, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools celebrated 30 years since the passage of the first charter school law, influenced policies at the federal and state levels, secured $440 million for the federal Charter Schools Program, and expanded our policy priorities, among many other activities. Check out our annual report to reflect…

The 2020 election brought about legislative change across the country. New and veteran policymakers need information about the schools in their state. What programs are the most cost effective and work best for students? How can states attract and retain great teachers? What information do parents need to ensure that their kids are on track to…