Charter schools see as many as one in four teachers leave annually, and recent evidence attributes much of this turnover to provisions affected by collective bargaining processes and state laws such as salary, benefits, job security, and working hours. There have been many recent efforts to improve teacher voice in charter schools (Kahlenberg…

The popular narrative of Wisconsin's collective bargaining battle started out being about money. Should public employees pay more toward their healthcare? Can school districts offset state aid cuts using the additional revenue from employee healthcare contributions? Does collective bargaining have a cost? This article gives an overview of…

Arizona language policy now requires English learners (ELs) to enroll in "English language development" (ELD) classrooms for 4 hr of skill-based, English-only instruction. In this article, I describe Arizona teachers' interpretation and negotiation of language policy and practice during this time of change to more restrictive mandates. I…

The increasingly common practice of engaging consulting firms to assist states with educational policy agendas requires an analysis of the role these consultants play in what is positioned as a democratic decision-making process. In this study, we examine the discourse of a state-level advisory committee formed to develop a new teacher evaluation…

In Saskatchewan, many of the provincial practices and policies addressing health and social issues including, poverty and social exclusion in multi-service schools are informed by an integrated services policy called School[superscript PLUS]. This study explores how School[superscript PLUS] discourse has shaped and continues to produce the…

It has been three years since Race to the Top grant-winning states piloted new teacher evaluation systems and many of them have made considerable progress, yet according to media coverage and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in April 2015, struggles remain and most grantees have asked to extend the timetables for…

This study is a review of open-enrollment charter school laws in the State of Texas to document how needs of students in special education are addressed in accordance with Texas charter school statutes and practices. It includes a background on charter schools in Texas, a survey report of key special education personnel directly involved with…

This report examines how the nearly 1 million Black youth in California are faring from preschool through college and reveals the distressing disparities that newly released state and national data show persist at all levels of their educational journey. The report also highlights the groundbreaking efforts underway to reverse these trends in…

What our new center is about: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) can work and want to work--yet the majority don't have jobs. State and national policies exist to increase employment, but systems have not aligned to make integrated employment a priority. To meet this need, the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at…

It is critical that we examine impacts that recent immigration policies such as SB1070 are having on Arizona's youngest Latino learners.The large number of Latinos under the age of five, and the impact that this upcoming generation of Latinos will have on all aspects of life in Arizona merits a closer look. In this qualitative study, we examined…

Background: School policies can change practices on a relatively permanent basis. This study investigated adoption and implementation of state-level policies specifying minutes (or percent) of physical activity in physical education (PE) or during school. Methods: Policies were identi?ed from existing databases and rated as having weak, moderate,…

The Race to the Top and the School Improvement Grant programs provide resources to States to implement significant interventions to turn around their persistently lowest achieving schools. Implementation of school turnaround is a complex effort; States, local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools often engage outside experts and providers of…

It is arguably the case that one of the most pressing issues in higher education finance is the increasing price of obtaining a college education, and, more specifically, rising tuition and fees. Because state support to public higher education and tuition and fees at publicly supported colleges and universities have been shown to share an inverse…

This December 2012 Brief updates NSCC's 2011 report "State Policies on School Climate and Bully Prevention Efforts: Challenges and Opportunities for Deepening State Policy Support for Safe and Civil School"s (www.schoolclimate.org/climate/papers-briefs.php). This Brief provides a summary of State level: (1) anti-bullying legislation; (2)…

Implementation of school turnaround strategies under School Improvement Grant and Race to the Top programs has provided States with a unique opportunity to rethink how to govern effectively and to organize their efforts to improve their lowest achieving schools. States have had to consider such issues as whether to provide support directly to…