This study highlights the Community Schools (CS) implementation experience of five rural Vermont schools. Principals and CS coordinators participating in a state-funded program aimed at CS establishment were interviewed to understand better their experience with implementing a school/district-wide policy and reform effort. Findings suggest several…

Background: District wellness policies provide an avenue to advance the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. The extent to which wellness policies currently align with WSCC is unclear; to-date, tools have been unavailable to examine this issue. Methods: We reviewed written health-focused policies among 37 school districts in…

What role does an enrollment system play in providing every child in the United States with a high-quality education? Integration and school choice literature highlight the saliency of the topic (Ben-Porath, 2012; Orfield and Frankenberg, 2013; Ryan, 2010; Viteritti, 2010). This capstone is designed to address how an increasingly diverse school…

The authors believe it is time to expand the term school climate to reflect an intention of giving all children access to positive school environments. Their expanded definition recognizes that equitable school climates are central to education equity, and it calls on educators and policymakers to deepen awareness of race, ethnicity, gender,…

Addressing student absenteeism continues to permeate education policy and practice. California and a majority of other states have incorporated "chronic absenteeism" as an accountability metric under the Every Student Succeeds Act. It is therefore a crucial time to take stock of what we know on the research, policy, and practice to…

In 2017, school board trustees in Ottawa, Ontario, voted to close Rideau High School, an urban secondary school in a historically marginalized neighbourhood. The school board had argued that low enrolment at Rideau HS, and the resultant inability of the school to offer a full range of course choices, made closure the only viable option. To many…

This paper examines the effects of declining student enrolment and population loss on one rural school district in the United States, as well as the district's strategies to mitigate these effects. In the state of Wisconsin, the relationship between student enrolment and school funding destabilises rural school districts experiencing population…

This paper explores the context of reception for immigrant students and English learners in one medium-sized suburban school district in the northeastern United States. Using qualitative methods, the authors describe how, despite a troubling context of reception emerging from a normative and political community context that harbored resentment…

This nonexperimental survey research investigated whether enrollment, location, expenditures, percentage of free and reduced lunch and percentage of minority students influenced Georgia's superintendent and board chairperson satisfaction. In addition, this study investigated whether respondents' satisfaction could predict student achievement.…

Without a written commitment, a board's intentions about communicating with the public are not clear and are often misunderstood. (Author)

To meet the demand for control of emotional outbursts and angry confrontations at public hearings, this school district developed guidelines giving the school board a stance of deliberation and utilizing a strong, neutral moderator to limit debate and still meet the public's right to be heard. (WTH)

Describes three lessons school districts have learned about the use of small groups to provide feedback from parents and other community members on major decisions involving education policy and practice: Encourage truly broad-based, large-scale participation; provide structure for small-group discussions; and ask participants to take action, not…

Suggests several ways schools can improve their efforts to collaborate with community groups such as social-service agencies, judicial and law-enforcement organizations, businesses, and civic, religious, and arts groups. Includes examples of successful school and community partnerships. (PKP)