The school-to-prison pipeline has been an ongoing phenomenon for many decades that disproportionately and negatively impacts students of color. Due to research suggesting school principals play a critical role in the student disciplinary decision-making process, the present study aimed to better understand how principals make discipline decisions…

This study examined the impact of a state policy requiring that any school with a habitual truancy rate of 8% of higher to be trained in Tier 1 school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS). A regression discontinuity (RD) design was used to examine how the schools' mandate status related to SW-PBIS training as well as…

Background: In response to escalating concerns about the pervasive use of digital media and research documenting the impact on adolescent well-being and academic performance, schools are exploring opportunities to reverse these concerning trends. Many schools respond with full or partial bans on social media use during the school day; however,…

Background: Over the last twenty years, retention has increased in popularity with policymakers who are concerned with student achievement and aim to end social promotion (i.e., the practice of advancing a student to the next grade level although they have not yet met the academic expectations of their current grade level). Despite calls to expand…

There is currently no designated policy, procedure or staff in place to facilitate the objective of increasing student yield. As a result, magnet applications and acceptance of invitations to attend Owl Middle School is approached without a strategy which makes planning difficult and negates the ability to determine effective methods. Filling…

The use of exclusionary discipline practices in schools has continued to increase since the advent of Zero Tolerance discipline policies in the 1990s. Research indicates that these practices are largely ineffective in addressing behavior, and result in detrimental outcomes for students and communities. This study focused on the use of Disciplinary…

Ample evidence documents rising student obesity in summer months and falling student obesity during the school year. One theory for this pattern is that out-of-school days lack some of the structure and health-promoting behaviors that schools provide. Given this observed seasonal pattern, a natural question is whether there is room for policies…

Most studies of test-based promotion policies focus on measuring the effect of retention (being left back) on later student outcomes, and the evidence is fairly mixed. However, test-based promotion policies do not only affect the students who are retained. Presumably, they also affect students and schools as they try to improve reading performance…

Educators are tasked with ensuring that all students are provided with a quality education, regardless of their cultural backgrounds. This study explores the impact of culturally responsive teaching on the disciplinary rates of African American students in K-12 education. With a focus on qualitative methods, the research examines how culturally…

To strengthen inclusion practices in schools, a mandate was passed requiring special education teachers working at the middle and high school levels to become content certified. The purpose of this research study was to examine the outcome the content/dual certification mandate had on special education teachers' roles in co-taught inclusion…

This article presents a formative intervention study, called "Learning Lab" that facilitated the collective design of a culturally responsive behavioral support system at an urban middle school in the United States. Learning Lab united parents, teachers, support staff, education leaders, and researchers, specifically those who have been…

Civil, informed debate is essential for any healthy democracy. This is truer than ever judging from the often uncivil, fact-free public discourse one sees too often on television and social media. But does participation in formal debate training improve educational outcomes? While policy debaters historically have come from high-income public…

Pandemic-era disruptions to schooling resulted in academic setbacks for many students. To help students catch up, school districts nationwide are implementing a range of academic recovery interventions. In this paper, we use multiple data sources to evaluate the impact and implementation of academic recovery interventions in four school districts…

The purpose of this study was to explore administrators' and teachers' experiences and perceptions of how restorative practice strategies impact the execution of school discipline in an urban middle school. This study included a review of data collected from interviews with middle school administrators and teachers in a large school district. A…

This action research explores how teachers and students at a private elementary school in Gyeonggi Province perceive the effectiveness of the English-only TEE policy and proposes a revised model tailored to the school's diverse needs. A total of 250 students and 6 teachers participated in the study, with data collected through surveys, interviews,…