This article argues that the last three decades of school improvement policies have progressively limited the places and arguments created for arts education in public schools. The result has been a steady marginalization of the arts in the work of school improvement, an exacerbation of opportunity gaps related to access to arts education, and a…

The Arizona state legislature has aimed to pass a series of bills banning those in schools from teaching topics associated with inclusion, social justice, and equity. Since 2020, the legislature has targeted teaching 'critical race theory' (CRT), often (mis)using the term to refer to any ideas related to systemic discrimination and racial…

The US Department of Agriculture runs a large array of farm and food subsidy programs. The school lunch and breakfast programs are two of the largest, which together with related school food programs will cost federal taxpayers an estimated $35 billion in 2025. Thirty million children, about 58 percent of students in public schools, receive school…

In recent years, Florida has become increasingly hostile toward issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in public education. This poses challenges for principals who need to ensure that students, particularly from marginalized backgrounds, have the opportunity to succeed. This case explores the social justice practices of a self-identifying…

As obesity and physical inactivity rates continue to rise in the United States, Kentucky ranks third in childhood obesity rates (10-17 year olds) and 50th in physical inactivity. The public school environment is a logical place to examine practices and closely discern how time is spent. Federal legislation over the past 50 years has largely…

The study explores the implementation of teacher evaluation models and federal education policies, particularly AchieveNJ, in an urban public school district in New Jersey. It focuses on principals' experiences and perceptions, uncovering their challenges and thoughts on the policy's effectiveness in enhancing teacher performance and student…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine if there were differences in perception among Indiana public school principals on the federal requirements of ESSA in the three policy areas of accountability, school improvement, and fiscal reporting that differ from current state requirements. This study surveyed all traditional…

There have been countless efforts to improve academic achievement in public schools across the United States, especially in urban school districts. Few efforts, however, use rigorous analytic modeling tools to anticipate and prevent the potential side effects of change. This chapter proposes the application of system dynamics on educational reform…

In the last decade, many political conflicts over K-12 education in the United States have increasingly divided along party lines. While it may seem like this development represents a sudden and surprising departure from a long-standing tradition of bipartisanship, I argue that the politics of education has been gradually growing more exposed to…

State legislation serves as a guide and critical influence on the evaluation and identification of students with dyslexia across the United States. The state of Texas has numerous laws and regulations concerning dyslexia, guided by the Texas Administrative Code, Texas Education Code, Texas Occupations Code, and the Texas Education Agency's…

In an effort to promote public elementary and secondary education that meets world standards where all students have equal access to 21st-century public schools, some countries have adopted Education For All (EFA) policy. This article examines how three selected countries (the United States, Nigeria, and Gambia) are implementing the idea of giving…

A-F school letter grade systems, currently used in 13 states across the United States (U.S.), are one popular version of the systems required by federal policy to help states define, rate, and label school quality every year. In this study, we explored the extent to which such grades assigned to schools, as based on objective measures including…

Given the importance of teachers for students' short- and long-term success, many education policies include mandates to match targeted students with "highly effective" teachers. An example is Michigan's Read by Grade Three Law, which requires students eligible for retention to be assigned "highly effective" teachers. Using a…

We conducted an inductive analysis of 166 interviews from a longitudinal study of 26 Chicago Public School principals. Test-based accountability pressures played a visible role in principals' views of and relations with parents. Some principals reported banning parents from classrooms based on the need to protect instructional time to raise test…

Whether principals are required to allow service animals in the public schools is not entirely clear in law, policy, or practice. The matter is further complicated when the alleged harm caused by denying a request for a service animal is not clearly related to the educational program. The purpose of this article is to inform principals about the…