The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of what impacts physical education teachers in their curriculum decision-making and how the activities chosen relate to what their students are interested in. Teachers (N = 76) and students (N = 258) from 12 purposely selected secondary schools located in a large school district in the United…

Standardized testing and accountability are currently unavoidable components of Texas Public Education. Through years of push-back, parents and educators have demanded that Texas consider alternative testing options that would reduce the high-stakes testing burden on students and schools. In 2015, the State of Texas passed legislation requiring…

This three-article dissertation examined how policy choices in three key policy areas -- initial enrollment, service provision, and reclassification -- impact English learner (EL)-classified students. The first article examined the national landscape of state statutes, regulations, and state education agencies' (SEA) guidance that support…

In the United States, the American College Test (ACT) is a standardized test that is used primarily as an indicator of college readiness and as a gauge for college admission. The governing bodies for Louisiana's public schools--The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE)--made the ACT a…

The Center on Innovations in Learning (CIL) is a national content center established to work with regional comprehensive centers and state education agencies (SEA) to build SEAs' capacity to stimulate, select, implement, and scale up innovation in learning. This report is a collection of evidence ratings and practice briefs. The categories for…

In September of 2007, the Michigan Department of Education introduced a program referred to as seat time waivers to a few school districts in Michigan to pilot. During the 2009-2010 school year, 999 students were on seat time waivers with a total of 5070 classes taken by these students. While the number of online learners continues to grow…

In this case study, you are the associate superintendent and chief academic officer (CAO) of a large school district in the southwest. The case involves the complex issue of how to serve the burgeoning adolescent immigrant population in your school district. The study considers how a school that is situated in the heart of a Hispanic/Latino…

This case study explored sociocultural forces that influenced three 10th grade public high school biology teachers' instructional goals, instructional acts, and identity narratives related to the teaching of evolution. Primary data included field observations of classroom instruction and teacher interviews. Secondary data included informal…

Federal education policy in recent years has encouraged state and local education agencies to embrace data use and analysis in decision-making, ranging from policy development and implementation to performance evaluation. The capacity of these agencies to make effective and methodologically sound use of collected data for these purposes remains an…

Assistant high school principal Elise Abbott is disturbed by the autocratic decision-making of the interim principal Marla Richardson. She meets with Marla to discuss Marla's approval of the English department chair's removal of master teacher Alice Tremont from gifted/talented courses. The chair reassigned the courses to herself. Although the…