This study uses critical race theory (CRT) to uncover racialized interactions that influence legislative processes. The transcripts from public hearings from the 2017 Nevada State legislative session were included in the data analysis. Results demonstrate the utility of CRT as an analytic tool to examine the policy-making process, identify…

Community and technical colleges in Washington state were early adopters in the growing trend to offer bachelor's degrees, actively expanding these degrees over the last 15 years. This study describes the evolving state policy landscape on community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees in Washington in certain programs previously classified as…

Although the percentage of teachers of color in the workforce has grown significantly over the past 30 years, it still does not reflect the diversity of the national population or students. Teachers of color also have higher turnover rates than White teachers, highlighting the need for strategies to retain teachers of color as well as recruit more…

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) during the summer of 2021 for a firm to support the redesign of Utah's School Accountability System so that it's more aligned with Personalized, Competency-Based Learning and Utah's Portrait of a Graduate, but still simple and transparent. The current Utah School…

Education is the value proposition that provides individuals the opportunity to become meaningful contributors to society, their community, and their immediate families. It is the calling card of personal achievement and individual intrinsic benefits. Education is about access and opportunity. Institutions continue to navigate strategies of access…

Teachers' positionality within the political landscape has evolved rapidly over recent election cycles. In Texas, nationwide teacher advocacy and anti-teacher state legislation motivated teachers to become politically involved. Increased teacher voting greatly impacted the 2018 election results, which led statewide leaders and legislators of the…

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.…