In their nascent stages, charter schools formed under competing ideologies. In academic circles, charter schools were envisioned as pedagogical laboratories that would allow for educator- and community-driven school improvement. In other circles, charter schools emerged as a free-market reform driven by accountability, choice, and growth. Amid the…

With a focus on the American context, the study investigates a teacher accountability reform as an expanding assemblage of neoliberal governance by providing an account of physical education teachers who were experiencing an accountability reform that required them to document student learning growth for teacher evaluation. Through stratified…

An opportunity gap exists in the United States school system where students of color score lower on standardized tests and have fewer opportunities than their white counterparts. Culturally Relevant Education (CRE) theory attempts to close this gap, and is defined by Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) as Pedagogy that rests on three criteria or…

Implicit racial bias has gained attention as a central contributor to enduring racial disparities in various systems in the United States, such as in criminal justice, particularly regarding police violence--and in education as related to school discipline. Scholars in education have suggested multiple strategies and products (e.g., professional…

Through a sense-making lens, this qualitative study explores high school principals' considerations while they perceive and enact additional resources within a national reform implementation. Principals' allocation of resources, especially as part of a national reform, is a complex matter for schools' effectiveness in an era of accountability.…

Background or Context: Federal and state reforms have expanded accountability systems for school districts, schools, and teachers. However, there is little evidence that the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems relying on measures of student learning and measures of teaching practice, with differentiated performance categories and…

Quality high-school advising is essential to ensuring access to higher education. However, while efforts are being made in a number of areas to improve access to higher education, there has not yet been enough work done to assess the impact of DEI initiatives on post-secondary advising and, in turn, on college access for underserved students.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine data use practices within a cross-sector initiative involving high school career academies. It discerns how partners used data to assess the public value of academies and address equity concerns. Design/methodology/approach: A case study methodology was applied to examine cross-sector activities…

The Cowen Institute has published the "State of Public Education in New Orleans" ("SPENO") annually since 2007, with a pause for two years after the March 2020 report because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022-2023 has marked a return to a more familiar school environment. This report works to capture some of the changes,…

Education systems focus on issues related to school effects and differences. School effects are used as a basis for accountability in various countries including China. This study investigated the stability and cross-disciplinary consistency of value-added estimates based on student scores in selected schools in a city in central China. The…

This interview study explored the experience of principals as they mediate reforms marked by high-stakes accountability and competition between schools at the intersection of gentrification occurring in their school communities. School principals of high schools within New York City are called to mediate mandated school choice with the continued…

This qualitative study investigates the perceptions of alternative school administrators in North Carolina about the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on them and their campuses. The study interviewed four alternative high school administrators with schools labeled as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) during the 2018-2019…

Case studies of two biology teachers, Cathy and David, from the same minority-majority, urban U.S. high school, provide insights into their instructional practices while they engaged in long-term professional development (PD). Findings suggest why science teachers engaged with PD may, or may not, adopt more adaptive pedagogical approaches in the…

Purpose: This study analyzed leadership structures, processes, and practices that have enabled and constrained an ambitious career and college readiness reform within an urban school district. It was designed to discern how leaders worked across cross-sector boundaries to support district-wide high school career academy implementation. Research…

Stanley Park High was designated a Building Schools for the Future "One School Pathfinder" in 2006, and charged with being innovative in all aspects of schooling. This article, which prefaces a number of forthcoming contributions about interconnected practices at the school, focuses on the journey of reform, one that has rightly…