Research has begun to show that certain schoolwide characteristics--such as student-centered learning environments, leadership, and safety--can be important for improving student outcomes. In keeping with these insights, school improvement efforts around the country are becoming less narrowly focused on the performance of individual students and…

Survey research frequently involves the collection of data from multiple informants. Results, however, are usually analyzed by informant group, potentially ignoring important relationships across groups. When the same construct(s) are measured, integrative data analysis (IDA) allows pooling of data from multiple sources into one data set to…

In 2010, California adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for math and English. The new standards are part of a state effort to prepare students for college and careers in the 21st-century global economy and narrow longstanding achievement gaps. The state's implementation is complete, but because districts decide whether and when they…

Schoolwide expectations are a critical component of tiered systems of support, particularly when established with input from faculty and staff and then taught to all students. The expectation matrices depicting these expectations for all key settings serve as important instructional tools when teaching schoolwide expectations. In this study, we…

As the method, instrument, and reliability of teacher and principal evaluations have come under extreme scrutiny since the Education Reform Act of 2010, school systems across the nation have examined and refined the evaluation process for teachers and principals. Studies have shown the integration of peer evaluation as a model of teacher…

Little is known about principals' perceptions and their links to how school safety practices operate. Using data from School Survey on Crime and Safety from 2,009 public schools in the US, the current study examines the extent to which principals/administrators' perceptions of academic climate and crime risk are related to school practices…

The 2022-2023 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the ninth consecutive edition of this study. The 2022-2023 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country.…

Threat assessment has been proposed as a method for schools to respond to student threats of violence that does not rely on exclusionary discipline practices (e.g., suspension, transfer, expulsion, arrest). The present study compared disciplinary consequences for 657 students in 260 schools using the Comprehensive Student Threat Assessment…

This Data Point examines whether public schools in the United States used ability grouping (also referred to as tracking) as a method to organize classes or students. It uses data from the public school data file of the 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), which is a national sample survey of public and private K-12 schools,…

The 2021-22 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the ninth consecutive edition of this study. The 2021-2022 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracks the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country. The…

Educational administrators are expected to provide guidance to various stakeholders within the school environment. Educational administrator personality traits and leadership style were the focus of this study. Two research questions guided the focus of the current study. The first question examines the association between the degree of the…

The Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE's) Office for Safe Schools partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to conduct a study using data from PDE's school climate survey. This survey, which is available on a voluntary basis to any school in the state, provides a way to track school climate and identify schools that need additional support to…

These are the appendixes for the full report, "Changes in School Climate during COVID-19 in a Sample of Pennsylvania Schools." The REL study analyzed changes in scores from a pre-pandemic year (2018/19) to the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years, both of which were affected by COVID-19 and related policy changes. These technical appendixes…

This study examined the viability of a brief, parent-reported strengths and needs assessment as the first step in a multiple-gating approach to proactive positive behavior support for families. The "Positive Family Support--Strengths and Needs Assessment" (PFS-SaNA) was designed to collaboratively engage parents early in the school year…

Elementary and Middle school administrators continually struggle with developing instructional programs that will address the academic and human developmental levels of the students in their care. Addressing the human development and the academic issues related to the elementary and middle school student is only a small percentage of the attention…