This study makes use of a data set detailing instances of public school superintendent turnover in Kentucky between 2014 and 2023. A quantitative research design was used to analyze salary changes based on a set of demographic and descriptive variables in the sample of 205 superintendent turnovers occurring during the identified decade. The…

Professional development provides opportunities for teachers to acquire the knowledge needed to become experts in their classroom content and to improve their instructional skills to meet the needs of today's student learners. While districts and curriculum leaders work to improve professional development design, teachers' dissatisfaction with…

In the Houston Independent School District (HISD), how far a student lives from their zoned school determines their access to school transportation. Per district policy, students must live at least 2 miles from their zoned school to be eligible for district-provided school transportation. The Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC) examined…

We define educational access as the component of a neighborhood's value that is determined by the set of schools available to its residents. This paper studies the extent to which educational access is determined by sorting based on heterogeneous preferences over school attributes, or local institutions that constrain residential location and…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine enrollment in string orchestra instruction across Texas. Three central research questions guided the investigation: (a) How well is orchestra represented in districts and schools across the state of Texas? (b) What are the characteristics (FRPL eligibility, locale, student race/ethnicity,…

The share of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) via meal applications is often used as a proxy for the share of students from low-income households at a school. But the recent adoption of universal meal programs, such as the Community Eligibility Provision, make it more difficult to consistently measure student poverty…

The School Librarian Investigation--Decline or Evolution? (SLIDE) project is a federally funded study of the almost 20% national decline in the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) of school librarians between 2015 and 2019, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In this update to the project's original research, school…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is seeking a $4.4 billion bond aimed at addressing critical infrastructure and educational needs. Branded as "Renew HISD," the package would rebuild and modernize over 40 campuses, upgrade HVAC systems, improve campus security, and expand early childhood and career and technical education…

This first of six briefs analyzing the latest available data from the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2020-21 school year, explores enrollment of students with disabilities by school sector, state, grade level, and charter legal status--that is, operating as a local education agency (LEA) or as part of an LEA. The goal is to…

Purpose: School leaders rely on a number of collaborative policy tools to address fiscal and governance issues. While prior research has examined the dynamics and implications of research-practice and public-private partnerships, this study addresses a third form of collaboration: interdistrict cooperative agreements. Method: We develop a unique…

Most researchers and policymakers rely on the share of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals when describing student socioeconomic background in schools. But shares of students receiving free and reduced-price meals, and other measures related to the distribution of school meals, vary by state and across time because of changes in…

The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) annually submits a report outlining the method used in determining the coefficients for each site characteristic used to establish the transportation allocation for the following year. The Student Transportation Allocation Reporting System (STARS) will determine the 2024-25…

Background: Over the past several years, numerous news stories have highlighted school districts' struggles in attracting personnel to adequately staff their schools. While these stories provide important anecdotes, there is little comprehensive work that documents school districts' demand for teachers, paraprofessionals, and other essential…

Drawing upon the results of a nationally representative online survey conducted in July 2023, this report examines educators' perceptions and insights about efforts to help students recover from the academic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The report's 10 charts highlight key findings that illustrate the multifaceted approaches…

This paper compares the educational achievement and growth of Latinx third through eighth-grade students attending school along the U.S.-Mexico Border and in the interior of the four Border states. The theories of structural and legal violence predict that powerful Anglos have created systems of social reproduction, concentrated disadvantage, and…