In this report, we examined the educational outcomes of Houston Independent School District's (HISD) students who are homeless from 2012-13 to 2016-17, the years immediately preceding Hurricane Harvey. We found that, compared to non-homeless students with similar characteristics, homeless students were at elevated risk of a range of adverse…

Data about English Learner (EL) students in the United States are more plentiful than ever. Under the federal "Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015" (ESSA), states must report a wide range of information about their students' English language arts and math standardized test scores, graduation rates, and more. They must also break these…

These are the appendixes for the report, "Assessing the Alignment between West Virginia's High School Career and Technical Education Programs and the Labor Market." The study found that 70 percent of West Virginia's long-term projected employment openings typically require some occupational preparation beyond a high school diploma but…

MAEC's Title IX 2020 Regulations Series examines the impact of the recently-released Final Rule, which went into effect August 14, 2020. The Final Rule determines how schools navigate incidents of sexual harassment. This document, the second in our series, compares Title IX then (the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, 1972) and Title…

This article describes the inclusion challenge children with special needs face on playgrounds and public parks with universal design guiding the rights of children both with and without special needs to have play opportunities. This study evaluated 68 public school elementary playgrounds to determine whether they met Section 502 guidelines for…

Historically, girls and women have experienced gender disparity in access to, and persistence in, STEM education. Though women comprise 50% of the total workforce, they occupy only 25% of STEM-related occupations. STEM degrees and occupations have been linked to economic prosperity, both for individuals and the nation as a whole. However, women…

This report provides a comprehensive review of the research on the effect of K-12 school funding on student outcomes. In other words, does money matter in education? This is the third edition of this review, with the first two editions having been published in 2012 and 2016. In the previous edition of this report, the authors reviewed the evidence…

The study focuses on the intersection of public education and child protection. The school performance of children in the public education system is strongly influenced by the social environment from which they come to school. The starting point of the research is the legislative background. A comparative analysis of relevant sections of the…

Today, all 50 states have enacted mandates requiring some level of insurance coverage for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this paper, I examine the impact of Massachusetts' mandate, ARICA (An Act Relative to Insurance Coverage for Autism) on the academic and behavioral outcomes of students with ASD in the state. Using…

A small rural district in the eastern United States is experiencing challenges related to meeting the diverse behavioral needs of its special education students. After out-of-district placement options were limited due to the aftereffects of COVID-19, school leaders worked together to create a specialized program within their own district to meet…

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between proposed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and depressive symptoms among LGBTQ+ college students. Participants: Participants (N = 72,135) included LGBTQ+ college students (N = 21,466) from over 530 colleges and universities, including technical and community institutions, across the United…

The recent passage of H.R. 1 by a partisan Congress chooses billionaires over babies, and puts children in unprecedented peril. This Issue Brief describes some of the many ways that H.R. 1 will hurt children in the U.S. and even around the world in the very near term and in the years to come, including that it: (1) Cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid…

The House has passed a budget reconciliation bill that supporters are referring to as a "one big, beautiful bill." However, the authors of this Issue Brief believe that this budget bill threatens the health and nutrition of millions of children and pushes millions of children into poverty in order to provide tax credits for corporations,…

This paper examines how Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) practices can help address educational inequalities, particularly those rooted in systemic racism. Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT), it argues that embedding DEIB into educational systems is essential for dismantling the barriers that perpetuate inequity. The paper…

Preparing students for science, technology, and engineering careers is an urgent state policy challenge. We examined the design and roll-out of a science testing requirement for high school graduation in Massachusetts. While science test performance improved over time for all demographic subgroups, we observed rising inequality in failure rates…