School district boundaries define more than just the area where a certain group of children attends a given set of schools. They also determine the taxing jurisdiction that supports those schools with local property taxes. Big differences in property value can lead to large funding gaps, even between neighboring districts. These disparities in…

The demands placed on principals to meet the wide range of needs present within the learning community continue to expand within the context of school reform. While there is some research on the ideals of successful turnaround school reform strategies, there is a lack of research on the essential key levers it takes to reform a school and district…

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 allows school districts to provide free meals to all students if over 40 percent of them are directly certified as free-meal eligible. While emerging evidence documents positive effects on student behavior and academics, critics worry that CEP has unintended…

Most people associate summer with activities that have nothing to do with school, or, if they do, summer school comes to mind -- the remediation variety. Historically, summer school is for struggling students who need to relearn and firm up skills from prior years or for those required to retake a class. But what if it could be reimagined how to…

Of the 17 industries studied by information-security company SecurityScorecard, the education sector ranked as the least secure in 2018, with the highest vulnerabilities present in application security, endpoint security, and keeping software up to date. Online learning, which has increased gradually over the past decade and significantly since…

This article investigates trends in the relative wealth of the richest school districts in the United States between 2000 and 2015. For the purposes of discussion, I focus on the top 1% of districts. I argue that trends in school funding for the richest districts deserve greater attention from education researchers. Districts in the top 1% of the…

When the government chooses to cooperate with private organizations to provide public services, the Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment prohibits religious discrimination. Three cases--"Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer" (2017), "Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue" (2020), and…

The National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) seeks to increase opportunity for rural students through the power of actionable data and evidence. NCRERN partners with networks of rural school districts to generate and evaluate strategies for improving student outcomes. For more information about NCRERN's work, see the…

This is the first study to examine the fiscal effects of the New York property tax levy limit, using variation from the degree of fiscal stringency across school districts and over time in its first five years of implementation. Based on a difference-in-differences estimator, coupled with an event study specification, we find that the tax limit…

Civics education continues to gain national importance, especially in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and with recent debates about the teaching of history that addresses the legacy of racism and discrimination in the United States. Despite the increasing interest in strengthening civics education, states continue to differ in…

Instead of asking whether money matters, this paper questions whose money matters in public education. Previous literature on education funding uses an aggregate expenditure per pupil to measure the relationship between education funding and academic performance. Federalism creates mainly three levels of funding sources: federal, state, and local…

Researchers generally credit Albert Bandura for providing the theoretical framework for studying collective teacher efficacy. Research shows that principals using transformational leadership behaviors significantly impact collective teacher efficacy. Policies, such as Every Student Succeeds Act, increasingly put pressure on school districts to…

As the follow-up to an earlier examination of the frequency and outcomes trends of published court decisions under the IDEA for P-12 students, this updated analysis covers the 25-year period ending on December 31, 2022. The frequency trend for the most recent 10 years reversed the upward trajectory of the previous 15 years. The outcomes trend for…

This qualitative research study was completed to understand better the essential components of an established partnership between the school superintendent and the school board president. A targeted group of New York school superintendents and school board presidents from school districts were interviewed. The participants answered questions on…

Culturally responsive teaching practices (CRTP) can be used to engage diverse students and increase academic achievement. Schools have used CRTP in brick-and-mortar settings, but when schools pivoted to remote learning during the pandemic, teachers did not consistently use CRTP in the remote environments. The problem addressed by this study was…