Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

This study provides an overview and a snapshot of new student orientation (NSO) and new student e-orientation (NSEO) programs, with a focus on the content and feature analysis of the NSEOs. It offers an overview of currently available NSO programs of 100 randomly selected community colleges from a master list of nearly 900 community colleges in…

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED), declared a "new wave" of Local Area Under-performance Inspections (LAUI) of schools "denying children the standard of education they deserve". This paper examines how the threat of LAUI played out over three mathematics lessons taught by a teacher…

Despite decades of effort by federal science funders to increase the numbers of women holding advanced degrees and faculty jobs in science and engineering, they are persistently underrepresented in academic STEM disciplines, especially in positions of seniority, leadership, and prestige. Women filled 47% of all US jobs in 2015, but held only 24%…

In January 2016, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) commenced an 18-month project to study the implementation of California's Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG) initiative. AEBG's purpose is "to improve coordination and better serve the needs of adult learners within each region." CLASP set out to foster greater understanding…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's Implementation Study, which uses interview and survey…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

This paper reports on an interpretive study in which 25 elementary principals were asked about their assessment knowledge, the use of large-scale assessments in their schools, and principals' perceptions on their roles with respect to large-scale assessments. Principals in this study suggested that the current context of large-scale assessment and…

Disparities in college access for underrepresented urban students are one of the most urgent educational problems of America's education system. In response to growing national concern, this longitudinal study investigated how school leaders worked collaboratively with key stakeholders to implement research-supported student services in order to…

The purpose of this study was to further extend research initially conducted in 2003 pertaining to the critical issues K-12 principals address on a daily basis. The study involved surveying school principals within the state of Mississippi to discover the critical issues they identified, the significance level of these issues, and the rationale…

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent superintendents' leadership practices are influenced by the contemporary focus on the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 (NCLB). The authors hypothesized that a national policy as pervasive as "NCLB" would have an impact on how superintendents lead, and they sought to…

This study explored the strategic use of negotiating as a tool for creating and enhancing democratic communities. A total of 44 principals from four elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school, provided data for this study. Results found that within schools, principals used certain skills to negotiate bureaucratic roles, and…

In partnership with the Urban League of Greater Miami, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released "Teacher Quality Roadmap: Improving Policies and Practices in Miami," an in-depth study of the work rules Miami-Dade teachers. This look at the state of teacher policies in Miami-Dade County Public Schools explores the…