The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as reauthorized in 2015, includes a provision to help protect students from sexual abuse and misconduct. ESEA Section 8546 requires states to adopt laws or policies that prohibit K-12 employers from assisting or aiding and abetting school employees, contractors, or agents in obtaining a…

This article reviews the development of my thesis that the California Supreme Court's Serrano decisions, which began in 1971 and sought to disconnect district school spending with local property taxes, led to the fiscal conditions that caused California voters to embrace Proposition 13 in 1978, which radically undermined the local property tax…

Military spouses face employment obstacles such as relocations, leading to un- or underemployment. The Department of Defense (DoD) proposed three best practice guidelines for transfer of licenses for military spouses. In this study, we (a) reviewed state legislation on military spouse licensure portability and identified how states addressed DoD…

The final decades of the twentieth century were rife with education reform. "A Nation at Risk" (1983) compared American schools to their counterparts in other countries, and found America wanting while E.D. Hirsch and others decried Americans' lack of knowledge of their own institutions and heritage (Hirsch 1987). These alarms caused…

In the last few years, college and university systems nationwide have implemented sweeping reforms to placement and course sequences to rectify systemic inequities affecting incoming students. Many of these reforms acknowledge that standardized placement tests create false distinctions between "prepared" and "underprepared"…

State takeover has become a consistent policy prescription for school districts who become financially insolvent and/or have low academic achievement. A look at the state of Michigan's state takeover laws and the case study of Detroit Public Schools (DPS) demonstrates the negative consequences and nuances of the policy to improve academic…

This paper is the fourth revision of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) paper on equivalency adopted by the delegates to the plenary session in Fall 1989. Previous revisions were adopted in 1999, 2006, and 2016. The original paper was intended to help local academic senates develop policies and procedures in response to…

Across the country, urban school districts are moving beyond industrial-era systems by creating "innovation" or "partnership" schools that have the freedom to reinvent the way they educate students. The Progressive Policy Institute released a how-to guide for legislators, district leaders, and advocates who want to create more…

In November 2020, Californians will vote on Proposition 20 ("Prop 20"), a ballot initiative that would roll back key elements of the state's recent justice reforms, including Public Safety Realignment, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57 (AB 109, 2011; Prop 47, 2014; Prop 57; 2016; SOS, 2018). In recent years, the Center on Juvenile and…

The "50-State Comparison: State Policies on Postsecondary Tuition Setting, Capping and Freezing" details the highest level of policy, by state, that addresses the authority to set tuition for the four-year and two-year public sectors. This resource shows the highest level of policy where tuition-setting authority is granted for four-year…

The "50-State Comparison: State Policies on Postsecondary Tuition Setting, Capping and Freezing" details the highest level of policy, by state, that addresses the authority to set tuition for the four-year and two-year public sectors. This resource shows the highest level of policy where the tuition rate is set for four-year public…

This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This publication outlines how each program works, whom it serves, and offers feedback on how it could be changed to help even more families in a particular state. Programs are grouped…

During the 2017 General Session, the Legislature passed House Bill 212, "Incentive for Effective Teachers in High Poverty Schools," which provides an annual salary bonus to eligible teachers in high poverty schools. This report is provided to the Education Interim Committee to evaluate the extent to which a salary bonus improves…

This paper explores two previously unstudied court challenges brought by black settlers in the territorial and early statehood period of Oklahoma (1889-1907). Oklahoma Territorial courts heard more challenges to segregated schools than in any state as these black pioneers challenged new legislation that segregated previously integrated territorial…

This policy brief describes the Texas high school graduation requirements put into effect through the passage of House Bill 5 in 2013. The brief also contends the introduction of academic endorsements, similar to college majors and intended to help high school students develop subject-area knowledge, may create clearer paths to selective college…