Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the readability of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B procedural safeguard notices written in Spanish, as distributed by each of the 50 states in the United States and the District of Columbia. Results were compared with the 6th-8th grade document readability guideline…

While children's rights are often framed in a global context, ultimately they are upheld, defended, and realized at the local community level. Despite the United States being the only country that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child in the U.S. has the right to a public education as recognized in state…

The federal Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) was introduced into law as part of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. The federal law requires states funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 to have a state law in effect that requires local education agencies (LEAs) to expel students for firearm offenses for a…

This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This edition of "The ABCs of School Choice" defines each of the four types of school choice: education savings accounts, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and individual tax credits and…

There is mounting evidence that school counselors positively affect students' academic and behavioral outcomes. Yet, federal policymakers do not seem to view school counselors as principal agents of school improvement, and state policies vary widely regarding their availability. Thus far, little empirical work documents the distribution of school…

Today, free public kindergarten for five-year-old children is available in every state and community throughout the United States, and public education is routinely referred to as K-12. But kindergarten did not start out this way. Kindergartens in the United States once served children as young as three and four years old. In fact, today's…

This paper compares the educational achievement and growth of Latinx third through eighth-grade students attending school along the U.S.-Mexico Border and in the interior of the four Border states. The theories of structural and legal violence predict that powerful Anglos have created systems of social reproduction, concentrated disadvantage, and…

For the first time in the history of the State of the States, all 50 states will be represented with entries this year. A number of state legislatures are working to provide public education the necessary fiscal support to provide students with a high quality 21st century education, or restore funding levels for public education to pre-Great…

Only about one-third of children attending school in the United States can read proficiently at fourth grade, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as "the nation's report card." If that is not dismaying enough, consider the outcomes for the nation's most vulnerable students. The first eight years of…

According to the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" (ESEA) section 9101(25), an EL (or "limited English proficient" child, per the ESEA) is "an individual (A) who is aged 3 through 21; (B) who is enrolled or preparing to enroll in an elementary school or secondary school; (C)(i) who was not born in the United States…

Noting that 60 percent of both fourth and eighth graders currently struggle with reading, this report urges the U.S. Congress to focus on students' literacy development from early childhood through grade twelve as it works to rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In…

As the ongoing national indicator of what American students know and can do, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading regularly collects achievement information on representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, the NAEP Reading Assessment reports how well students perform in…

Elementary education has theoretical underpinnings based on cognitive psychology. Ideas from cognitive psychologists such as James, Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky coalesce to form constructivism (Cooper, 1993; Yager, 2000; Yilmaz, 2011). Among others, the Montessori Method (1912/1964) is an exemplar of constructivism. Currently, public education in…

"Title III" of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA") provides formula grants to states to help support the educational needs of students identified as English learners (ELs). In school year (SY) 2011-12, ELs served by "Title III"-funded activities comprised approximately 9 percent of the…

Evidence of disparate identification of autism at national and local levels is accumulating, but there is little understanding about disparate identification of autism at the state level. This study examined trends in state-level administrative identification of autism under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Prevalence rates and…