While the use of generative AI (genAI) in K12 schools is increasing, it is poorly understood from a policy perspective. There are significant tensions in technology integration in education between public interests for social good and pressure from educational technology companies to view schools as markets. This study examined genAI policy…

While there has been movement from disability, or special education needs (SEN), eligibility identification as a prerequisite for special education services, formal school-based identification remains critical in understanding the educational experience of students with disabilities. This study examined data from Ontario, Canada between 2006 and…

This was a case study of the principal succession planning practices of a large school district in Oregon. For the study, the researcher interviewed nine principals and nine central office administrators and surveyed 17, K-12 assistant principals within the studied school district. The findings from this study reveal many strengths and weaknesses…

Standards-based grading (SBG) is a grading system in which each student is given a set of grades, each reflecting their proficiency in relation to a specific skill. The present study examined K-12 teachers' implementation of SBG practices in a small, suburban Midwestern school district, as well as their perceptions of and confidence in…

Purpose: This study contributes to a growing literature focused on institutional complexity, or the phenomenon of competing institutional logics, in PK-12 public education. Responding to calls for more nuanced characterizations of district-level administration, our purpose was to identify the logics of curriculum leadership in one large school…

This mixed methods research study explores superintendents' beliefs about and engagement in state education policymaking processes. Through interviews with 58 superintendents and a national survey of superintendents, I find that many superintendents feel that their voices have value in state policymaking spaces; however, superintendents' actual…

The importance of school support staff was found to be a critical factor in students' success. However, role ambiguity, bias, and limited quantitative research have caused questions around the impact that support staff have within the school setting. Consequently, this quantitative correlational research study examined the relationship between a…

Despite growing concerns about the harmful effects of "hardening" schools through increased police and surveillance on school campuses, little research has examined trends in financial resources allocated to these programs, practices, and personnel. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing trends and patterns in school…

Access to technology has increased significantly in K-12 classrooms in recent years, with many districts and schools achieving a 1:1 device-to-student ratio. Considering this increased access to technology, blended learning has become more commonplace as an instructional approach. However, the advancement of blended learning has outpaced the…

Summer programs have historically been a staple in public school districts' arsenals to help students keep up academically and recover from summer break-related academic setbacks. In addition to academic support, summer programs may have a positive impact on students' physical and mental health, development of interests, and development of social…

Many of the most tangible and immediate political conflicts in American's lives occur at the local level. Yet, we lack large-scale evidence on how, why, and where conflict occurs in local governments. In this paper, we present a new dataset of nearly 100,000 videos of school board meetings, and a new measure of local political conflict. We use and…

The challenge of reopening US public schools in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has high-lighted the significant role that local teachers unions play in setting policy. The politics of school reopening during the pandemic has brought to the national spotlight the outsized role that teachers unions play in managing big cities. Bureau of Labor…

Summer programming is one of the main ways school districts have sought to help students recover academically from COVID-19 pandemic-related setbacks. Authors use a survey administered to a nationally representative sample of kindergarten through grade 12 public school districts to investigate the prevalence and structure of districts' programming…

School district consolidation has continued at a rapid pace in the United States, with one in every nine districts consolidating between 2000 and 2015 (Collins forthcoming). The stated aim of consolidation efforts is usually improved efficiency -- growing larger to lower unit costs or improve student outcomes without spending more money (Callahan…

This resource from the Region 15 Comprehensive Center provides an overview of the process that the Nevada Department of Education used to refine the review process for the adoption of high-quality instructional materials. This refined process gives all districts, regardless of size or type, a choice of instructional materials that are…