Suspensions and expulsions have long been employed in schools to discipline students for disruptive behavior and maintain a safe school environment. However, a growing body of research suggests that these types of disciplinary interventions negatively impact student achievement and increase both students' risk of dropping out and their likelihood…

California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was signed into law in 2013, and represents the most significant change in California education finance and governance in 40 years. It moves additional funds to districts with students in poverty, English language learners, and foster youth. The LCFF sends supplemental funds to districts based on…

In 2009 the Washington State Legislature created an accountability system for online learning (SSB 5410, RCW 28A.250.005). The Legislature directed the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop an online provider approval system and report annually on the state of online learning in Washington (RCW 28A.250.040). The…

Many teachers do not receive the support necessary to simultaneously teach and respond appropriately to challenging student behavior. The systems in place are often purely reactive and lack a preventative component to address challenging behavior. The Center for Promise examined exclusionary discipline in Minnesota by speaking with young people…

Trenton Public Schools (TPS) have faced multiple years of fiscal turmoil as the district struggles to provide students with the resources required to meet the State's Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCSS). Under the tenure of Governor Chris Christie, the State failed to provide the state aid needed to support the district's budget, eroding…

Policy surrounding K-12 online learning continues to evolve as the field grows exponentially. In Michigan, Section 21f of the State School Aid Act enacted in 2013 strengthened parents' and students' ability to request online courses: "A student enrolled in a district in any of grades 6 to 12 is eligible to enroll in an online course as…

This study highlights the efforts of Indiana University East to make substantive changes to its general education program, resulting primarily from state mandates and legislation, on an extremely aggressive timeline. While fraught with challenges, these legislative mandates also presented opportunities for the institution to make necessary and…

Can successful schools replicate? In a climate of school turnarounds, charter conversions, and new school openings, an important question is whether schools that have demonstrated success with in one or several schools can replicate their success with additional schools. The federal government's Investing in Innovation (i3) grant program has been…

Relative to earlier research, this study from the Center for Reinventing Public Education provides a more in-depth analysis of policy features across the 27 states that allow online charter schools. It presents a well-organized description of policy features and includes a set of policy recommendations that generally, but not always, follow well…

In 2016, there was an increasingly dramatic divergence between state economies in the West. Most states in the region benefited from an ongoing economic recovery, but states reliant on the energy sector for tax revenues were hit hard by the global decline in oil prices. This resulted in varying budget situations in legislatures across the…

In this quantitative study, the perceptions of safety and preparedness of Missouri's high school administrators after participating in active shooter training as mandated by Missouri's Senate Bill No. 75 were analyzed. As school shootings continue, states have passed legislation to prepare schools to provide safety for students and faculty members…

We analyze the votes taken in the Ohio State Legislature pertaining to the establishment of six school voucher programs: The Ohio Scholarship and Tutoring Program, The Autism Scholarship, The Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship, The Educational Choice Pilot Scholarship, The Educational Choice Scholarship, and the Income-based Scholarship…

In February 2015 a large group of scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in P-20 finance issues gathered in St. Louis, Missouri, for the National Education Finance Academy's annual conference, on February 25-27, 2015 to discuss, among multiple topics, the state of P-20 finance in all 50 states. There were 35 states represented in the…

Many organizations from legislative bodies to advocacy groups to research centers have recently "discovered" developmental education in much the same way as Columbus discovered America. In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, private philanthropic organizations, initially led by the Lumina Foundation (n.d.), promoted a…

The Michigan legislature recently enacted a teacher evaluation law which requires school districts to incorporate student achievement data into evaluation systems and mandated that evaluations be used to make high-stakes personnel decisions. Though administrators have considerable discretion to design and implement their evaluation systems, the…