The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how and why different state financial aid policy designs have developed, with particular attention to external influences, and what effect those design choices have on student outcomes. In the first essay, I use the theoretical framework of diffusion to understand the design and adoption of…

Financial support provided by the Legislature helps to ensure Washington children have access to healthy school meals. In fiscal year 2022, the Legislature provided $11.5 million to eliminate the co-pay for reduced-price meals, support summer meal programs, provide school districts with financial support for breakfast meal service, and provide…

When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law in 2002, it was viewed as an effort to create uniform standards for students and schools across the country. More than a decade later, we know surprisingly little about how states actually implemented NCLB and the extent to which state implementation decisions managed to undo the centralizing objectives…

One of the most important objectives of teachers, parents, school administrators, and students is to improve student scores on standardized tests, such as the State of Texas Assessment for Academic Readiness (STAAR) in eighth-grade science. This quasi-experimental study examined the science achievement scores between schools that used different…

The legal dimension of response to intervention (RTI) has been the subject of considerable professional confusion. This brief article addresses the issue in three parts. The first part provides an update of a previous iteration that compared 12 common conceptions, referred to here as the "lore," with an objective synthesis of the…

"Kappan"'s editor talks with Michigan State University's Sarah Reckhow about her research into the ways wealthy private philanthropies have influenced K-12 education in recent years. As Reckhow explains, not only have Gates, Broad, Walton, and other big foundations spent unprecedented amounts of money to support their favored reform…

The importance of physical activity has received considerable attention during the past decade. Physical education has been viewed as a cost-effective way to promote physical activity as a public health initiative. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that a "substantial percentage" of students' overall…

An employment contract between the student and the host organization may be the unintended consequence of a work-integrated learning (WIL) placement. The student, as an 'inadvertent employee' of the host organization, can expose the university to risk. A case study involving thirteen Australian university lawyers identifies the legal and…

Objectives: Following changes in federal regulations, the current study was an examination of differences in institutional responses to sexual violence among Georgia colleges and universities during 2013 and 2014. Participants: A total of 24 four-year institutions located in the state of Georgia were included. Method: Data were collected from…

This is an official document of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD), of which Council for Learning Disabilities is a long-standing, active member. With this position paper, NJCLD addresses points of agreement in the field, common misperceptions, and unresolved issues in scholarship and practice, and makes recommendations…

Critical approaches to policy analysis, although common in general education, are rare in arts education literature. By adopting critical approaches, researchers can produce scholarship that will be transformative for policies that impact arts education and for the profession as a whole. In this article, I present a framework that allows…

Purpose: Speech sound disorders (SSDs) can have a negative impact on literacy development, social-emotional well-being, and participation across the life span. Despite this, many public schools do not provide appropriate or timely services to this population of children. In large part, this is a result of variation in how state and local agencies…

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of Part C programs and how funding has impacted the quality of services for children and families given ongoing budgetary concerns. Perceptions of State Early Intervention Coordinators (EICs) regarding their state Part C systems were obtained through an online survey. Using survey…

Functional communication training (FCT) is a commonly used, often recommended intervention that involves teaching a functionally equivalent communicative response to replace challenging behavior. The purpose of this literature review was to evaluate the strength of the evidence for the use of FCT. A systematic review of the literature resulted in…

The National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) conducted a series of focused conversations on child assessment with 31 Part C (Infant-Toddler) and Part B-619 (Preschool) program state representatives and NCSI Technical Assistance (TA) Facilitators. The purpose was to learn more about how state early intervention and early childhood programs…