The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Equity Matters." Contents include: (1) Families Insist on Equitable School…

We survey 137 charter school administrators and 129 board members and find that U.S. charter school internal controls are perceived to be relatively strong overall. However, board independence, board communication of internal control responsibilities to school personnel, lines of communication between the board and school personnel, and reporting…

The objective of the audit was to determine if Remington College used the Student Aid (Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425E) and Institutional (ALN 84.425F) portions of its Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grant funds for allowable and intended purposes. The audit covered Remington College's use of HEERF funds from the grant award…

This qualitative content analysis study examined the framing of equity audits and the Texas Accountability Intervention System (TAIS) plans implemented by aspiring principal fellows to develop a support system for marginalized students. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how a principal preparation program leverages equity-driven data to…

Principal preparation programs are of great importance with high stakes accountability and the ESSA Act advocating for the needs of all students. School leaders can no longer neglect inequities and must move rhetoric to action. This study examines the utilization of the reconceptualized equity audit to identify, address, and eliminate inequities…

In 2013, the Texas Legislature gave the state commissioner of education the broad statutory authority necessary to close poor performing public charter schools. Since then, the commissioner has vigorously exercised this new authority, preparing the way for the state to shift its resources away from enforcement and toward creation and support of…

The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to explore the impact of the instructional coaching model that was conducted over three years during a job-embedded principal preparation residency program. This study revealed how instructional coaching relationships used culturally responsive leadership to improve teaching practices and…

This dissertation consists of three essays using publicly reported internal control deficiencies to examine agency conflicts in the unique organizational setting provided by nonprofit charter schools. In my first essay, I find evidence that increased agency conflicts in nonprofit charter schools are "not" associated with increased…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Equity Auditing." Contents include: (1) Using Equity Audits to Assess and…

Organization leaders manage change through projects to realize specific expected benefits. Under Expectation-Confirmation theory, expected benefits can be used to judge the ongoing viability and final success of the project. Organization leaders often develop management controls to ensure that the expected benefits are defined to allow their use…

In 2012, five foundations launched the Credit When Its Due (CWID) initiative that was "designed to encourage partnerships of community colleges and universities to significantly expand programs that award associate degrees to transfer students when the student completes the requirements for the associate degree while pursuing a bachelor's…

Background: Over the past several decades, a significant number of states have either adopted or increased high school exit examination requirements. Although these policies are intended to generate improvement in schools, little is known about how high schools are responding to exit testing pressures. Purpose: This study examined how five…

This study examined the extent to which transition components of students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) were compliant with IDEIA 2004; the extent to which transition components provided evidence of best practices; the association among disability, ethnicity, compliance, and practices; and the relationship between compliance and best…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme utilizes an inquiry-based multi-disciplinary approach and focuses on the teaching of critical-thinking skills. The IB programme is growing at a rapid rate within the United States, with the overall number of IB schools having more than doubled in the last five years. The purpose of the present study…

A spate of school shootings in the U.S. has prompted policymakers to address the public's growing perception that our schools are unsafe. As education policymakers continue to press for additional security initiatives, it is important to understand the costs borne by school systems for these programs. Thus far, the scholarly literature is silent…