This study focused on Texas House Bill 51 (TX HB 51) and its impact as a performance-based funding policy. Specifically, TX HB 51 incentivized regional comprehensive institutions towards high research activity in pursuit of academic excellence and nationally recognized prestige. Employing critical policy analysis, we considered the societal and…

The landscape of school finance in Colorado paints an interesting picture of the influence of legislative initiatives on the equity of school per pupil revenue. Colorado has a convoluted history of enacting legislative initiatives designed to influence the influx and distribution of state revenue, which has created an environment in which the…

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on July 1, 2013, represents an historic and path-breaking shift for California, the first comprehensive change in the state's education funding system in 40 years. Each district now receives a base funding allocation and, in keeping with the law's equity focus, added…

In March 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court decided "Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association," a case addressing the constitutionality of "agency fees" for non-union teachers in California. Although the Court's 4-4 decision in the wake of Justice Scalia's death upheld the constitutionality of agency fees, several similar…

Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5357, passed in 2017, requires the Washington state Department of Early Learning (DEL) to establish a four year pilot project to license "outdoor, nature-based early learning and child care programs," otherwise known as outdoor preschools. This report covers DEL's efforts to date and details the department's…

This article describes the development and iterations of the English 0111 Composition Workshop-the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The TSI is a program that determines college-readiness standards in reading, writing, and math. The initial structure of English 0111 was similar to the structure used in…

Although still a marginalized practice, homeschooling is on the rise internationally and across socio-economic groups. Moreover, the current COVID-19 pandemic has shifted additional attention to homeschooling. However, much of the available research is primarily concerned with the current day-to-day practice of homeschooling and little attention…

Determining teacher supply in California is essential for policymakers as they analyze how current statutes and policies impact teacher recruitment, teaching incentives, and teacher preparation. This report provides data collected by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) and addresses several questions regarding the supply of…

"Investing in Illinois' Students: An Analysis of Evidence-Based Funding and the Path to Equity, Student Success, and Long-Term COVID-19 Recovery" shares new analyses on the impact of EBF on K-12 education resource equity and remaining gaps between current funding levels and full, adequate funding. The data are striking and underscore the…

In 2019, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5082 (SB 5082), which directed the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to establish a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Committee to build upon the work of the previous Social Emotional Learning Indicators (SELI) Workgroup. The purpose of the SEL Committee is to promote and expand SEL…

In 2010, Tennessee enacted the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), which increased the proportion of state performance-based funding from 5.45% to 85% and added a 40% funding premium for progression and degree completions by adult students and low-income students. We collect data from 2001-02 to 2014-15 and use difference-in-differences…

The purpose of this study was a state-level investigation of school counselors' knowledge of their role in the implementation of service-learning policy using survey research methods. The respondents reported having little knowledge of the policy, not having implemented it statewide, and not having been trained in service-learning pedagogy. Based…

In 2002, jurisdictions across Canada began adding two new protected grounds to their human rights laws: gender identity and/or gender expression. Gender identity protections generally apply only to transgender people, whereas gender expression protections "may apply" to all Canadians in places like K-12 schools. However, it remains…

At first glance, the recent teacher-retirement reforms in Ohio seem to bring good fiscal news to school systems in the Buckeye State. With Senate Bills 341 and 342--and a series of cutbacks on retiree healthcare--the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is projected to spend less on retirement costs in 2020 than it does today. But these reforms…

Since the late 1990s, the federal government has increased supports that promote college success for foster youth (Okpych, 2012), such as the $5,000 education and training voucher that foster youth can use each year toward college expenses. A key piece of federal legislation supporting foster youth is the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and…