Scholars theorize that the nature of school gun violence varies across school settings. Yet, there is a lack of statistical research testing this idea. This study investigates contextual factors associated with six forms of school gun incidents (N = 1,238) over a 40-year period (1980-2019) in the United States. To conduct the analyses, school,…

English language (EL) students' English language proficiency (ELP) scores directly impact a school district's College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) score, measuring whether Georgia meets accountability requirements. English language proficiency for English language learners (ELLs) is measured by the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. The…

The outcomes of special education learning and transition services for K-12 public school special education graduated students is less often investigated in the field of education. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to understand the perspectives of post-high school K-12 graduated students concerning their perceptions of the…

Rural schools and communities across the United States are increasingly diverse--linguistically, racially, and culturally. As rural schools experience this diversity, the need for well-prepared educators (teachers, leaders, counselors, and coaches) has continued to grow. This three-year study consisted of a place-conscious educator professional…

The goal of this qualitative study was to examine how non-STEM teachers worked to find their place in a K-12 school district implementing a district-wide STEM initiative. Teachers of individual STEM disciplines have been found to struggle with curricular integration, a key focus of many STEM initiatives. A yet unexplored question around STEM…

The discussion in policy circles and secondary schools focuses on the importance of being college and career readiness for all students (Conley & McGaughy, 2012). As with any type of policy, implementation is the key to success. The federally approved Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) required states to design K-12 career education based on…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between principal attrition and academic factors in Georgia's high-needs rural schools. The research shows that principals have a significant impact on student outcomes, and principal attrition is a disruptive factor in schools. The findings from this study indicate a negative correlation…

This paper explores the efforts of rural administrators to link students with the local community. Previous research on the visibility of rural administrators and rural school-community connections are discussed. Findings indicate that bolstering the prominent role of students within the local community supports rural administrators' learning…

This Data Point uses school questionnaire data from the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) and from the 2011-12 and 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS). These data include nationally representative information for public K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This Data Point…

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,…

A growing group of admission officials, high school counselors, and college access professionals say rural students don't always have the same access to college as their counterparts in more urban areas. Given the barriers, those who advocate for rural students have developed a variety of ways they can be supported ranging from extra guidance from…

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…

This brief gives an update on our nationally representative sample of school district reopening plans. This update comes at a critical time, as a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic once again forces school system leaders to rethink plans to welcome students safely to campuses, and spiking caseloads raise a new round of public health fears for…

Charter school Alternative Education Campuses (AECs) leverage the nimbleness of the charter school model to create unique learning opportunities nationwide for students who experience challenges that make it difficult to excel academically. Some of the challenges include homelessness, pregnancy, parenting while in school, or interaction with the…

In 2018, the National Science Foundation supported the sixth in a series of surveys through a grant to Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI). This series of studies has been known as the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education (NSSME). The 2018 NSSME+ was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher…