After 25 years, because of a change in state law California returned the responsibility for providing mental health related services to students receiving special education from county mental health departments to local education agencies. The study is secondary analysis of survey data that focuses on understanding how the change affected the…

Bullying is a significant school problem. Policies have been developed to reduce bullying, yet little is known about their implementation, which must occur for these policies to have an effect. This study examines associations between the overall implementation of a state anti-bullying policy and implementation of specific components outlined in…

This study investigated teacher evaluation practices used in Indiana as the state was implementing a mandated teacher evaluation system (Public Law 90) and early reporting of subsequent teacher effectiveness results by the Indiana Department of Education. The study surveyed public school administrators: (a) superintendents, (b) special education…

In Kentucky the school library is regarded as the hub of the school community and integral to teaching and learning. The power of the school library lies in the programming, resources, services, and instruction it provides educators and learners to support learning. Stakeholders come to appreciate Kentucky's school libraries because of their…

Political scientists have long studied the use of direct democratic ballot initiatives--proposed directly by citizens and put before a statewide vote--as currently allowed in 24 U.S. states. Despite the application of ballot initiatives to legislate education policy, however, education scholars have not yet adequately investigated this phenomenon…

This article takes a first look at the major issues and trends that are currently being seen in 2019 emerging in the region's legislatures related to higher education and workforce development. Topics include: affordability, student loan debt, and college closures/mergers/acquisitions/collaborations. Other bills touch on emerging issues:…

In 2015 the Utah State Legislature passed H.B. 213, "Safe Technology Utilization and Digital Citizenship in Public Schools," mandating that K-12 schools provide digital citizenship instruction. This study presents an exploratory endeavor to understand how school librarians in a state that adopted digital citizenship legislation engage…

When students are unable to read by the end of third grade, their risk of falling behind academically grows exponentially. In fact, research shows that nearly nine out of ten high school dropouts were struggling readers in third grade. Students who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of…

This paper reports results from a fiscal analysis of Pennsylvania SB 299, a proposal to expand the state's two tax-credit scholarship programs. Pennsylvania currently has two programs in operation, the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) Program. This paper is organized as follows.…

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Louisiana's Recovery School District took over responsibility for most of New Orleans' public schools. In 2018 the state takeover came to an end. For the first time since Katrina, nearly all of the city's public schools are in the hands of the Orleans Parish School Board. We set out to understand how the…

Two years after the State of Illinois enacted an extensive non-exclusionary discipline reform in schools, 322 key discipline gatekeepers in schools were surveyed about the extent and impact of its implementation. The results showed that a number of core provisions of the reform had not been fully implemented or addressed through professional…

On this 50th-year anniversary of "Alexander v. Holmes Board of Education" (1969) nationally enforcing school desegregation in fall 1970, Mississippi is being sued for racial disparities in public education between Black students and White students in Williams et al. v. Bryant et al. (2017). Using quantitative and qualitative primary…

Anti-immigrant sentiment, policy, and practice are deeply rooted in the US tradition. Because of this, a series of laws have been passed to restrict immigration, which has resulted in millions of children and families being designated as "undocumented". These individuals reside in the US, yet do not receive the same protections as…

The catastrophic consequences associated with the mismanagement of concussions can threaten the health and well-being of student-athletes. The primary purpose of this article is to increase awareness of concussions and provide stakeholders--parents, coaches and athletic trainers--with an appropriate framework for concussion care at every level of…

In 2017 the California Legislature, recognizing the efficacy of education as a trafficking prevention tool, enacted the first state law in the Union mandating anti-trafficking education in the 7th through 12th grade public school curriculum. Set against the backdrop of Congress' Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, this article examines…