There has been a long-standing history of segregation and exclusion of students with disabilities from receiving a quality education in public school districts throughout the country. In response to the growing outcry for equal opportunities for students with and without special needs, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act…

Across the country, school district superintendents are transforming into community school leaders. Responsible for systems of learning that also include school nutrition, bussing, safety, finances, community engagement, and so much more, superintendents recognize that they need a different strategy to effectively address the learning needs of the…

Most states in the United States operate their public preschool programs in a mixed delivery system that serves children in local education agencies (LEAs) as well as non-LEA settings, such as Head Start agencies, child care centers, private schools, and family child care homes. To inform state preschool administrators and policymakers as they…

State policy plays a critical role in determining whether and how well local education improvement strategies can be implemented. As states rework their education policies under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state and local leaders need a way to assess their current policy environment and identify the changes needed to encourage local…

Recalling the myth of Sisyphus repeatedly pushing the same boulder up a mountain in his new book, author and educator Frederick M. Hess explains how the K12 education leadership is faltering, and how it can rise above. "Cage-Busting Leadership" (Harvard Education Press, February 2013) is a new book and consequently, a small, growing…

Education Law Section 3012-c requires a new performance evaluation system for classroom teachers ("teachers") and building principals ("principals"). New York State will implement a statewide comprehensive evaluation system for school districts and boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES). The evaluation system is…

In this article, we examine how the federal, state, and district policy environments affect the decisions and work of principals and teachers. Specifically, we examine principal and teacher perceptions of policies and practices focused on: (1) increasing the overall supply of qualified teachers; (2) recruiting qualified teachers; (3) distributing…

The goal of every school district is to help students succeed academically and personally. But does every district leverage its most valuable resource, its teachers, to meet that goal? At the Valley Stream Central High School District in Nassau County, New York, these authors know how important teacher commitment is to student success, so they…

This document presents many of the federal, state, and New York City laws that apply to the health, safety, and environmental conditions of schools. The relevant portions of the law have been selected along with the mechanisms of legal enforcement that may exist and contact information where applicable. Legislative categories covered include air…

This memorandum to school administrators and other program directors in New York State summarizes guidelines regarding the rights of students with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and its relation to Article 89 of New York's Education Law and the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Specific…

The position paper of the New York State School Boards Association covers concerns of identification of the gifted and talented, program development, program evaluation, teacher qualifications, community and parental involvement, and legislation. Twenty-one recommendations are made and include the following: The definition of giftedness should be…

This handbook is designed for the dual purpose of assisting local administrators in establishing and using local advisory councils and helping council members to understand their role in maintaining high-quality occupational education course offerings. Addressed in a section on establishing local advisory councils are authorization, definition,…

This five-section handbook contains provisions of the education law, commissioner's regulations, and related state education department policies and guidelines that form the legal basis of occupational education programs in New York. Section 1 of the handbook provides a brief description of why a restructuring of the occupational education program…

The present study examined how public school administrators negotiate discipline policies that are intended to protect the common good and the educational rights of students with disabilities. We investigated the political nature of these decisions and the strategies used in reaching them through interviews with administrators in 9 public high…

According to New York State law, all school districts and BOCES are required to conduct annual visual structural inspections of all district owned educational facilities and in accordance to the "Guidelines for Visual Structural Inspections of Student Occupied Public School Buildings." This document presents the interim guidelines for…