The U.S. Department of Education introduced the four-year adjusted cohort high school graduation rate formula in 2008 to usher high school graduation in as a high-stakes accountability metric. This policy sought to address disparate graduation rates by student race but did not attend to systemic reasons why minoritized students had lower…

The purpose of this paper is to explore 10-year trends in the use of Assistive Technology (AT). Using 2006 and 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data, univariate analysis were performed, and the rate of change was calculated. In both 2006 and 2015 data, a higher per cent of Blacks were using AT compared to Whites and…

Do teachers continue to improve in their effectiveness as they gain experience in the teaching profession? This paper aims to answer that question by critically reviewing recent literature that analyzes the effect of teaching experience on student outcomes in K-12 public schools in the United States. This report reviews 30 studies published within…

Drawing from empirically based and theoretical literature in the field, this review examines Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the accountability provisions found in Title One of the NCLB legislation. States have the ability to statistically manipulate their AYP implementation, which may give a false impression to the public that AYP is a…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has increased concern about the staffing difficulties faced by schools that serve a high percentage of low-achieving students. NCLB requires each student be taught in all core academic subjects by a highly-qualified teacher by the 2005-06 school year. The law defines highly-qualified teachers as those…

This paper examines whether state governments perform systematically less environmental enforcement of facilities in communities with higher minority and low-income populations. Although this is an important claim made by environmental justice advocates, it has received little attention in the scholarly literature. Specifically, I analyze state…

This report contains the proceedings of a hearing on the overidentification of students with disabilities that was conducted on October 4, 2001, before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. The report includes opening statements by Chairman John Boehner and Representative George Miller and the…

With the mandate of "No Child Left Behind," high-stakes achievement testing is firmly in place in every state. The few studies that have explored the effectiveness of high-stakes testing using NAEP scores have yielded mixed results. This study considered state demographic characteristics for each NAEP testing period in reading, writing,…

At the time of its enactment, liberal groups passionately denounced the welfare reform legislation, predicting that it would result in substantial increases in poverty, hunger, and other social ills. Contrary to these alarming forecasts, welfare reform has been effective in meeting each of its goals. Data from various sources show that overall…

This review of the literature, litigation, and legislation summarizes special education classification patterns for children with disabilities in the rural Southeast. Focus is particularly on those socially constructed and culture bound disabilities (such as specific learning disabilities (SLD), educable mental retardation (EMR), and mild…