Behavioral threat assessment is a widely used violence prevention strategy in schools, but there is little research on how frequently a student attempts to carry out a threat of violence after a threat assessment and whether schools accurately recognize and classify these cases. This study investigated: 1) how often students attempted violence and…

In the United States, sexual violence in K-12 public schools saw a 55% increase in incidents from the 2015-2016 school year to the 2017-2018 school year. These incidents included sexual violence by school employees against students and peers against other peers. The current study estimated the overall weighted average number of sexual…

This 2022 policy evaluation explores the continually low (<60%) educator participation rate associated with the Teaching and Learning Conditions Colorado (TLCC) survey and the state's overall alignment with its 2008 goal, to reduce educator turnover and related student achievement gaps. Through an intrinsic case study and a pragmatic lens,…

The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is part of a multi-center collaborative project focused on child care in New Jersey. The Heldrich Center works alongside the Center for Women and Work and the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, with support and…

The decisions states make regarding what their assessments look like and what kind of information they produce inevitably shape instruction. Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 ushered in an era of testing-based accountability for schools, state assessments have been governed by a set of design decisions that emphasize easily generated,…

Public Act (PA) 102-0522, effective August 20, 2021, created the Comprehensive Personal Health and Safety and Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Act and required the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to adopt the National Sex Education Standards as the Illinois Learning Standards for sexual health education. These new standards went into…

This report presents the results from the third biennial Texas OER Landscape Survey, administered in 2023 and commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The survey aimed to explore the open educational resources (OER) landscape, policies, and practices at…

Optimism bias is common across health risk assessments, including firearm injury risk, and can have behavioral consequences. Using data from the 2018 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey, we examine whether optimism bias influences firearm injury prevention practices and policy support by comparing the characteristics, behaviors, and opinions of…

Coach education and training on character development can improve young people's sport experiences. However, less well understood is the prevalence of coaches trained on character-building strategies and whether those that participate in and value training on these topics have higher self-efficacy and success as a coach (e.g., defined by their…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) amended policy Part 100.2(j) (July 2017) which impacted school counselor practice, preparation, and credentialing for the first time since 1978. With implementation scheduled to begin in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the process just as it was getting underway. New York City Public Schools…

In 2023, Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative developed and conducted a statewide survey from their position as evaluators of the Illinois Preschool Development Birth through Five Planning Grant (PDG B-5). The survey queried families (with small children) and community members (with and without small children) about three key…

The prevalence of students with visual impairments varies across the United States, yet limited analysis exists on how many students receive special education services. The following study collected population data on students with visual impairments for the 2017-2018 school year and ran focus groups with state-level administrators to understand…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced districts to rapidly adjust their policies in ways that altered teachers' working conditions. Teachers' perceptions of how conditions changed could impact their well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Purpose: We examined the relationships between Virginia teachers' perceptions of how…

Recent trends in vaccine hesitancy have brought to light the importance of using accurate school vaccination data. This study evaluated the accuracy of a pilot statewide kindergarten vaccination survey in Oklahoma. School vaccination and exemption data were collected from November 2017 to April 2018 via the Research Electronic Data Capture system.…

Educators and researchers often use research-based assessments before and after instruction to measure the efficacy of courses. Limited resources exist for interpreting assessment results, particularly for attitudinal surveys. We present analyses and representations created with data from 192 introductory physics courses that educators and…