Pathblazer is a supplemental, online intervention program that helps struggling learners in grades K-8 achieve grade-level proficiency in mathematics and reading. It offers students individualized learning progression paths with fun, motivating content that addresses skill and concept gaps. Using existing student data or results from a screener,…

This dissertation explores how federal education policies affect outcomes for special populations and their teachers. The first study uses a differences-in-differences design and data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to determine if "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) waivers reduced district-level white-black and white-Hispanic…

This fact sheet outlines States' responsibilities to English learners (ELs) and their parents during the extended school closures and, in some cases, the move to remote learning due to the national emergency caused by the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A local educational agency (LEA) should collaborate with its State educational…

Depending on their experience, local special education directors may be familiar with the complaint procedures (CP) avenue that the IDEA requires each state education agency (SEA) to provide. Yet most special education professors and many parents of students with disabilities have negligible knowledge about this avenue of decisional dispute…

School leadership, next to teacher quality, plays the largest role in improving the educational outcomes of students. As such, federal and state policies have sought to hold principals accountable for the academic success of their students. Given the renewed attention paid to school leaders and overall school improvement with the passage of the…

The purpose of this survey study was to assess the perceived skill level and educational needs of special education paraprofessionals in the area of function-based intervention and to identify paraprofessionals' preferred training delivery method(s) and any variables that affect paraprofessionals' preference for these methods. Special education…

Through the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act, British Sign Language (BSL) was given legal status in Scotland. The main motives for the Act were a desire to put BSL on a similar footing with Gaelic and the fact that in Scotland, BSL signers are the only group whose first language is not English who must rely on disability discrimination…

In the world of public school finance, fewer resources are being allocated to curricular activities, let alone cocurricular activities. To help ameliorate budgets for clubs, athletic teams, and other groups, students with the guidance of school officials conduct fundraisers. Many of these fundraisers were once perceived as innocuous with…

Purpose: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represents a notable shift in K-12 accountability, requiring a more comprehensive approach to assessing school performance and a less prescriptive approach to intervening in low-performing schools. In this article, we seek to leverage the experiences of California's CORE (California Office to Reform…

The originators of special education law anticipated disputes and provided due process hearings as a means to settle the disputes. However, due process proved to be unfair, costly (financially and emotionally), and destructive to school-family relationships. Years later, lawmakers offered mandated mediation along with resolution meetings in…

Teacher Residencies have been highly touted as the next generation in teacher preparation, because they are applied programs that are predicated on strong partnerships and in-the-field mentoring. However, very little is known about this model as a whole. The goal of the current study is to report on the scope of teacher residencies, and compare…

Academic Health Centers and nonprofit hospitals are exploring strategies to meet Affordable Care Act mandates requiring tax-exempt institutions to address community health needs, which commonly include major chronic illnesses. We explore the implications of this regulatory landscape, describing methods that nonprofit health care institutions are…

Background/Context: Research reveals the Head Start program has made impressive gains in increasing the qualifications of its teachers since the passage of the Coats Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1998. These gains have been attributed to the initiatives implemented by the Administration of Children and Families to increase the…

As populations migrate and seek refuge around the world, educators in receiving countries need information about how to provide meaningful education experiences. Refugee children have higher rates of school dropout and are faced with many challenges, such as acculturation stress, poverty, poor housing, dangerous neighborhoods, and psychological…

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and ASD are two common neurobiological disorders in school-age children. In fact, approximately 6.4 million children between the ages of 4 and 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD since 2011 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). More recent prevalence estimates suggest that five percent of all…