Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

Given math's importance, states are adopting a range of K12 policies to improve math outcomes. As these and other policies unfold, policymakers need to monitor intended outcomes and ultimately gauge impact. They need answers to basic questions: Are more students taking and passing algebra and advanced math? Are performance gaps changing between…

Education is seen as a resource at a global level but is currently considered to be in crisis in many parts of the world. This constitutes a significant drawback in terms of humanity's prosperity and well-being since education is the key not only to an educated workforce but also to humane, collaborative, and caring societies. Even within this dim…

More than half of U.S. states have enacted policies to expand financial literacy education in schools with kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) with the goal of improving students' financial literacy skills. Although financial literacy education can be key to building long-term financial capabilities and well-being, more information is needed on…

RAND researchers conducted a study that aimed to fill the information gap on how to successfully implement a statewide financial education mandate by studying the implementation of Nevada's 2017 financial literacy education reform. The study focused on the reform enacted by the Nevada Legislature in 2017, Senate Bill 249, which required that…

This study explores teachers' use of Spanish in sixth-grade bilingual science classrooms at an urban middle school in Texas. We used a case study approach to study how two Spanish-English bilingual teachers utilized Spanish during instruction in a unit on space exploration and their beliefs on Spanish use in English-dominant science classrooms.…

The purpose of this study was to explore how district funding for 4 years of PSAT administrations for all students in Grades 8-11 impacted Hispanic students at a North Texas school district. Using college admissions data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), the researcher examined overall district-wide college admissions percentages for…

Central exams which are reflection of structure of education systems determine many schooling processes. Especially, scores coming from these exams are indicators for student performance. Transition to upper-secondary school from lower-secondary school is based on "System of Transition to Upper-Secondary Schools" (LGS). The current study…

This study examined the impact of a state policy requiring that any school with a habitual truancy rate of 8% of higher to be trained in Tier 1 school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS). A regression discontinuity (RD) design was used to examine how the schools' mandate status related to SW-PBIS training as well as…

A rural perspective in setting education policies is often linked to spatial equity. In this brief, we provide readers with some key back-to-school statistics on rural schools, hoping to increase the awareness that rural students, families, and communities deserve a voice in policymaking decisions and an investment in their educational…

Undermatching, or students attending less selective colleges than they are academically qualified to attend, is seen as a contributing factor to the lagging college completion rate of low-income and first-generation college students. Addressing the mismatch has been mainly limited to the individual level. Through analysis of interview and…

School improvement and its associated policies aim at providing a quality education, a burdensome weight which rests largely on the shoulders of teachers. To achieve such ends, policy texts have been reformed with neoliberal underpinnings, which allow private organizations to enter a space that previously operated through public institutions. In…

This qualitative study investigates how different types of work experience shape principal sense-making of new teacher evaluation policies and systems. The U.S. state of Michigan is a timely state to study this phenomenon as Michigan has experienced significant changes to its teacher evaluation policy and system, tasking principals with making…

This study surveyed teachers' perceptions of corporal punishment and the ban on caning in basic and high school sectors of Ghana's education system. It also investigated whether there were gender differences in teachers' views about the ban on caning in Ghanaian schools. Data were collected using a five point Likert-style questionnaire…

The disappointing results of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress--a dip in trajectory of reading proficiency for all students except those at the highest level of ability--are prompting states to consider new reading-related policies and actions. In "State Policy Levers for Improving Literacy," Barbara Foorman describes…