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…

The meteoric rise in charter schools has several implications for traditional public schools and their students. One understudied implication is the geographic competition for students. Given traditional public school boundaries are often fixed while charter school boundaries are more flexible, charter schools can draw students away from existing…

School-based supports, such as LGBTQ+ -themed curriculum, invite opportunities for challenging oppression with respect to gender and its intersections with other identities such as sexuality and race. However, more understanding is needed regarding how literacy educators might leverage these opportunities. This article describes how intimacy,…

Schools utilize a range of consequences to maintain order and safety. Some employ zero-tolerance policies accompanied by exclusionary tactics like suspension (Martinez, 2009; Muschert et al., 2014). Suspensions are criticized for their disproportionate assignment to students who are Black, male, assigned an IEP, and receiving lunch assistance…

The purpose of this study was: (1) to build embedded reflective practices with qualitative data in alignment with existing continuous improvement (CI) for equity processes; and (2) provide professional development (PD) to support educators in using qualitative data sharing processes with the expectation of collective teacher efficacy (CTE)…

School nurses represent cost-effective investments in students' health and educational success. Alternative high schools (AHSs) serve an understudied population of youth who are at risk for school dropout and face numerous social inequities, heightening their risk for poor health outcomes. In this two-phase explanatory sequential mixed methods…

This dissertation explores the implementation of classical education in a non-classical charter high school, with a focus on science education using classical methodologies. Employing techniques like copy work, history-based science teaching (HBST), the Socratic method, and the Progymnastmata, astronomy, and chemistry were taught. To identify…

Education research has often overlooked how the long durée of resistance for Black education has shaped current educational policy. We complicate notions of Black public school closures in two case studies from extensive ethnographic research in post-Katrina New Orleans through our reading of the plantation. Findings suggest these institutions…

In this paper, the author draws on a qualitative case study of a place-based food justice project (FJP) at an urban public charter high school to examine the role of community-school partnerships (CSPs) in the FJP and marginalized students' experiences of these partnerships. Observations and interviews with students, teachers, and community…

Evidence-based practices in concussion management (CM) have been codified into legislation. However, legislation is varied, and implementation is narrowly evaluated. School nurses hold a unique position to assess the implementation of health policies. The implementation of concussion management policies across Massachusetts high schools was…

Background/Context: The "college-for-all" movement has guided education reform efforts over the last few decades. Of college-for-all adopters, the "no-excuses" charter school model is arguably the most successful and controversial. Schools that use this model produce high standardized test scores and four-year college…

This engaged scholarship study includes three parts, a grant proposal to redesign the greenhouse at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School into a learning garden and two mixed method studies. The Costco Charitable Giving grant proposal to redesign the greenhouse is provided as a supplemental document to this dissertation. The two mixed method studies…

Cyber charter schools continue to emerge and bring new opportunities for individualized learning to students and families, and at the same time, have a financial impact on the home school they left. However, some students return to their home school after trying cyber charter options. This study explored what motivated students to leave their home…

Purpose: As responsibilities of high school principals continue to expand, their workweeks become longer, and their attention is stretched in multiple directions. How principals from various school types use their time is influenced by their organizational structures and external policies. To gain deeper insights into the workload, priorities and…

This first of six briefs analyzing the latest available data from the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2020-21 school year, explores enrollment of students with disabilities by school sector, state, grade level, and charter legal status--that is, operating as a local education agency (LEA) or as part of an LEA. The goal is to…