This paper examines and critiques the accountability movement, high-stakes testing, and their relationship to the achievement gap. Analyzing the issues in the context of Texas, the paper discusses dropout rates that were incorrectly identified and reported, the role of courts and specific court cases in high-stakes testing, ethical considerations,…

Education policy has the potential to eradicate opportunity and achievement gaps. For those on the ground enacting policy, however, it can be difficult to translate it into optimal strategies for helping all students achieve. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a way for state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and…

North Carolina voted into law legislation known as the Privacy Facilities and Security Act, commonly known as HB2 or the anti-transgender "bathroom bill." We use Pinar's (1975a, 1975b, 2012) "currere" methodology as a brief exercise in deconstructing this bathroom bill and others similar to it. In this short piece, we go…

Time trends in U.S. autism prevalence from three ongoing datasets [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, and California Department of Developmental Services (CDDS)] are calculated using two different methods: (1) constant-age tracking of 8 year-olds and (2) age-resolved snapshots.…

The transition from school to adulthood is a pivotal time in the lives of all students. For a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), change of any kind can be challenging, and a transition as momentous as this can seem especially daunting. Thoughtful planning, sound information, and open communication will help parents support young adults…

With the final passage of the Focus on College and University Success (FOCUS) Act which was signed into law on April 19, 2016, state universities within Tennessee are heading for major transitions in governance structure and autonomy. With changes moving at a speed atypical of higher education, these six soon-to-be former Tennessee Board of…

For this first "History of Education Quarterly Policy Forum," we invited participants in the special Plenary Session at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society (HES) in St. Louis to publish their remarks on the historical significance of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) at fifty. Organized and…

A pilot program in New Hampshire models innovative ways creating and applying state assessments and educator accountability. A study of New Hampshire's new system, which has already received approval by the U.S. Department of Education under a waiver from NCLB, finds some positive results and also suggests challenges states might face in putting…

Dance educators will be pleased to know that there is new legislation at the federal level that supports arts education. Seven years after Congress was due to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known for eight + seven years as No Child Left Behind [NCLB]), the lawmakers, suddenly and surprisingly, came through with a new…

Purpose: This article explores the case of the Queensland's reformatory for boys through the years 1871-1919 to analyse how the institution negotiated the complex, and at times competing, goals of reforming, educating and punishing its inmate population. Design/methodology/approach: The article relies on documentary evidence, including archival…

In this study, it is aimed to reveal the problems faced by kindergarten principals with the order of importance and to propose solutions to these problems according to their own opinions. The research was designed with mixed (exploratory order) method. In the qualitative dimension, 10 school principals were interviewed. 62 school principals were…

This article aims to show the value of the concept of policy trajectory to compare, from a long-term perspective, the transformations of education policies in the context of globalisation. After discussing the scope and limitations of the analyses of the concept in the literature -- descriptive, sequential, metaphorical and building on the works…

In 2016, one university began discussions of how to use the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to their advantage to address an adversarial position parents were taking with university personnel. These parents were termed "helicopter parents"--parents who take an "overprotective or excessive interest in the life of…

Although law and regulation governing the distribution of intellectual property rights has significant implications for the cost, quality, and adaptability of educational products and services, PreK-12 education researchers have largely overlooked this issue. Recent changes to federal regulations in the U.S. require some federally funded…

With the increased number of women participation in the labour force and the encouragement from the Malaysia government to the private sector in setting up preschool and early childcare centre, there is a high demand on the number of institution-based private childcare centre. However, the literature has shown that the number of childcare centres…