One of the unique features of charter schools is their flexibility to specialize their education programming by focusing on a particular content area, group of students, or educational philosophy. These focus areas can be an important motivator for charter school founders, teachers, and families that choose to enroll their students. At the same…

Statewide school accountability systems have been required by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for more than 20 years. However, many states implemented school accountability systems well before federal requirements, demonstrating a recognition of their role in supporting school improvement. As a new administration takes office…

Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/10-22.18e) created the Full-Day Kindergarten Task Force for the purpose of conducting a statewide audit to inform the planning and implementation of full-day kindergarten. The task force may recommend that the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) consider an additional criterion when granting a waiver to the…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Community Voices Matter." Contents include: (1) Dear colleagues, family and…

As schools strive to function as communities, the inclusion of all stakeholders is paramount to establishing and maintaining an important sense of interdependency, equity, and access. In the effort to disseminate information as quickly as possible, however, U.S. high schools often neglect to ensure that their websites are accessible to those with…

This case presented in this article involves a transgender middle school student-athlete (BPJ) and the West Virginia State Board of Education (WVSSAC). BPJ, who at the time was preparing to enter sixth grade at a new school, alleges that Defendants Burch, Stutler, the WVSSAC, and Attorney General Morrisey deprived her of equal protection under the…

This report contains the proceedings of a forum held on June 28, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to discuss issues surrounding meaningful accessibility of assessments. The forum was a post-session to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA) and was a collaboration of the "Assessment,…

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify how funds provided under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), may be used to pay for the costs of child and dependent care and transportation when adult learners need this assistance to participate in adult education and…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 requires that K-12 educational agencies invest federal education funds in evidence-based practices. We estimated what percentage of Title I funds at a large school district are invested in practices supported by a single study meeting one of the top three tiers of evidence as defined by ESSA. Over 95%…

The central obligation under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is to provide each eligible student with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). In "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1" (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court revised the prior substantive standard for determining FAPE that the court had developed in…

Special education stands at a pivotal juncture, confronting both existential challenges and transformational opportunities. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is not upholding its mandate of promoting the Individualized Education Program (IEP). I underscore the centrality of the IEP in the…

The largest system of higher education in the nation, the California Community Colleges (CCC) has disappeared more than one million students in the past 15 years, a 35% decrease in its student body since 2008 despite California's population increase. This dramatic shrinking of the CCC system was not an accident. It was manufactured by a vast…

Following the recent proliferation of anti-discrimination protections supporting LGBTIQ+ youth internationally, backlash periods have ensued. Whilst liberal-progressive rights models theorise 'backlash' as an expected consequence of rights recognitions progress, some post-colonial and Queer scholars frame backlash within enduring authoritarian…

California is home to the fifth-largest population of Black people in the United States, approximately 2.8 million individuals. However, when Black Californians seek access to the state's colleges and universities, they face undue bureaucratic and financial barriers. This Equity Alert explores a legislative proposal to create a California…

In Georgia, the recent "Protect Students First Act," or GA HB 1084, states that curricula and training programs should refrain from judging others based on race or advocate for divisive concepts such as "One race is inherently superior to another race," or that "the United States of America is fundamentally racist."…