In the US, the presence of a lifetime diagnosis of either depression or anxiety rose from 5.4% in 2003 to 8.4% in 2012 in children aged 6-17 years (Bitsko et al., 2018) and by 2016, 16.5% had at least one mental health disorder including depression or anxiety (Whitney & Peterson, 2019). Children and adolescents exposed to adverse childhood…

Education is a standards-driven business where accountability is at the forefront of its practices and processes for evaluating schools. The role of today's school leaders has changed tremendously in this new era of accountability. The research and findings presented in this paper will explain the evolution that has taken place in the duties of…

Tax credit scholarship (TCS) programs offer state tax credits to individuals or businesses that donate to scholarship funds for students to attend private elementary and secondary schools. Through these credits, donors may reduce the amount they owe in state taxes by the full or a partial amount of their donation, depending on each program's…

States and districts allocate hundreds of billions of dollars annually to fund K-12 schools, and this allocation is largely driven by one calculation: how states count student enrollment. They do this in one of five ways: (1) A single count on a single day; (2) Two counts twice per year; (3) Multiple counts over a period of time; (4) An attendance…

This study investigated the assessment literacy required for K-12 educators to interpret score reports from a K-12 English language proficiency assessment. The assessment in concern is ACCESS for ELLs, which is an annual summative assessment that is delivered to nearly 2 million English learners (ELs) across 39 US states and territories. This…

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy used for a series of American Educator Panels (AEP) Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2019. The Data Note series is intended to provide brief but incisive analyses of teacher and school leader survey results that may be of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and teacher job satisfaction for teachers within elementary schools in southeast Alabama. Individuals involved in educational policy making and professional preparation should take into consideration the key role teachers play in shaping the lives of children,…

In randomized control trials, such as the one the authors conducted in Alabama, moderators are potentially an important source of variation in treatment effects. Whether moderators used in the RCT's analysis are pre-existing characteristics of students, their teachers, or the school or other organizational context, they can point toward…

This study examined the relationships between enabling structures, academic optimism, and student achievement to determine whether academic optimism served as a mediator between the two. Student achievement was measured using both criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests. Findings indicated a relationship between academic optimism, enabling…

The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the states that have designed strong history standards and note what has made them exceptional so other states might do the same. They include Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina. The report draws on interviews with individuals from each state who sat on…

The purpose of this research study will be to examine teacher perceptions on various issues pertaining to school law in the State of Alabama. Having data on teacher perception in Alabama can help shape future educational policy so that teachers can have an understanding of what they should and are required to do in various ethical and moral…

In this study, I employ geospatial techniques to assess the impact of school attendance zone "gerrymandering" on the racial/ethnic segregation of schools, using a large national sample of 15,290 attendance zones in 663 districts. I estimate the effect of gerrymandering on school diversity and school district segregation by comparing the…

The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at SEDL, an affiliate of American Institutes for Research (AIR), partnered with the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) in 2014 to assist in evaluating Alabama Plan 2020, mainly focusing on learners and the graduation rate. SECC provided professional development and analytic technical assistance…

Business leaders in Alabama cannot find the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent they need to stay competitive. Students' lagging performance in K-12 is a critical reason why. The good news is that the nation's most effective STEM education programs can help turn the tide. Alabama students have already made real progress…

The purpose of the research was to determine the effects of academic optimism on student academic achievement through measuring the individual and collective effects of academic emphasis, collective efficacy, and faculty trust in clients. Data for this study were obtained from the School Academic Optimism Scale and the reading section of the…