Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the readability of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B procedural safeguard notices written in Spanish, as distributed by each of the 50 states in the United States and the District of Columbia. Results were compared with the 6th-8th grade document readability guideline…

The federal Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) was introduced into law as part of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. The federal law requires states funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 to have a state law in effect that requires local education agencies (LEAs) to expel students for firearm offenses for a…

At the same time teachers and administrators grapple with how to develop teachers' understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom, recent legislative sessions have unleashed a flood of legislation that seeks to limit teachers from teaching about race, racism, oppression, and injustice in U.S. schools. Teachers are struggling…

The School Quality or Student Success (SQ/SS) indicator was one of the most talked about and biggest decisions that fell to the states in drafting their new ESSA accountability plans. This memo summarizes the chosen SQ/SS measures for each state, DC, and Puerto Rico. The most common SQ/SS measures among the states are: (1) Chronic Absenteeism (37…

Noting that 60 percent of both fourth and eighth graders currently struggle with reading, this report urges the U.S. Congress to focus on students' literacy development from early childhood through grade twelve as it works to rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In…

As the ongoing national indicator of what American students know and can do, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading regularly collects achievement information on representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, the NAEP Reading Assessment reports how well students perform in…

This study examines best practices in teaching mathematics to minority students through two case studies conducted at high-minority junior high schools in the USA and Japan. Observations, interviews, and conversations with the teachers in both countries focused on the research question: how do teachers successfully teach mathematics to minority…

With the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002, the federal government signaled its intention to close achievement gaps in K-12 education, particularly for minority students. While there has been surprising progress in educating disadvantaged students since the law was passed, according to a new report released today by Education…

This is the fourteenth report by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) that analyzes public reporting practices for assessment data for students with disabilities in K-12 schools in the United States. This report includes information about both the 50 regular states and the 11 unique states (American Samoa, Bureau of Indian Education,…

International comparisons have highlighted that the U.S. mathematics curriculum, both in terms of curriculum influences (e.g., textbooks, standards) and actual instruction, is broad and shallow. Standards-based reform is explicitly designed to improve coherence and reduce redundancy across grades. This article evaluates the redundancy of…

This report measures trends in performance among urban schools receiving federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) awards as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The Council of the Great City Schools aims to document how member districts of the Council of the Great City Schools implemented SIG and specifically what…

In the United States, the population of minority students in 2005 increased to 42 percent of public school enrollment (Echevarria & Short, 2010). English learners (ELs) are the fastest growing population of students enrolled in public school across the United States. California alone has 1.5 million ELs attending public schools (Echevarria,…

Bullying, a pattern of physical or emotional abuse that students intentionally inflict on their peers, exists throughout secondary education, but is most prevalent during the middle grades. To inform the practice of middle level educators, this study canvassed school anti-bullying laws in each state and compared them with relevant research…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Global Competitiveness Report: United States's Slide Continues in Annual Ranking; Falls to Number Four; (2) New…

This study explored American high school and middle school science teachers' attitudes toward the use of standardized testing for accountability purposes, their justification for the attitudes they hold and the impact of standardized testing on their instructional and assessment practices. A total of 161 science teachers participated in the study.…