This narrative study examines a failed attempt to unionise an urban charter school. To investigate why this effort failed, I construct two competing 'stories of the school' -- the discursive narratives each side told about how the school operates, who it serves, and how it fits into a larger battle for educational, racial, and economic justice. I…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the relationship between school leaders and teachers and how these relationships impact school climate. The study also examined essential traits of effective school leaders using the lens of servant and transformative theories. The focus on research included secondary schools under the…

Purpose: This study examines school climate and student achievement trends under an ambitious school leadership residency program in an urban school district. The 2-year leadership residencies were intensive, combining at least 370 hours of professional development with on-the-job training, in which aspiring school principals held either…

The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the possibility of increased staff attrition from the public school sector, as it did for other occupations during the Great Resignation that followed the pandemic's onset. Recruiting and retaining education staff were pressing challenges even before the pandemic began. Since March 2020, education staff…

Purpose: This paper explores how leaders of new public high schools -- one charter and two innovation schools -- navigated the journey from school-in-theory to school-in-practice during the school's first three years. School leaders at charter and innovation schools have increased freedom over curriculum, budget, scheduling and personnel when…

New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA), a public/private partnership comprised of an accredited New Mexico state charter high school and a non-profit arts educational institution, opened its doors in 2010 to students from throughout the state of New Mexico. NMSA administrators and teachers take pride in the fact that their ninth through twelfth…

No recent reform has had so profound an effect as no-excuses schools in increasing the achievement of low-income black and Hispanic students. In the past decade, no-excuses schools--whose practices include extended instructional time, data-driven instruction, ongoing professional development, and a highly structured disciplinary system--have…

Admission officers at post-secondary institutions face the contemporary challenge of evaluating applicants who have chosen to attend online high schools. The rapidly increasing enrollment in online educational programs has drastically outpaced the research related to the outcomes associated with this decision. The goal of this quantitative study…

How working conditions, personal characteristics, and school factors influence teacher recruitment and retention is an oft-studied topic in the field of education finance and policy. Through decades of research, it has become increasingly clear that teachers respond to a set of monetary and non-monetary factors when making decisions in the teacher…

As Apple iPads are increasingly being adopted in schools for educational purposes, school administrators are seen as the key facilitators in the implementation of this new technology. This survey-based quantitative study investigated the impact of receiving iPad training on school administrators' attitudes towards iPad use in their professional…

"Ohio Education by the Numbers" offers busy policy makers, journalists, and civic and business leaders simple and easy-to-use vital statistics about Ohio's schools and the students they serve. The facts and figures contained within offer an overview of Ohio's students; where they go to school; their achievement on national and state…

Drawing on interview and informal observation data collected from eight adolescent African-American boys residing in an urban community and attending an urban charter school, this paper describes and explores their relationships with African-American male school personnel. This paper highlights how adolescent African-American boys' experience and…

This report serves as a quick reference guide for elected officials to compare key education policies and data in their states to the rest of the nation. The first section highlights major state policies for all 50 states in both table and chart formats (see Summary Charts ). The second section provides key state data, such as per-student spending…

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that have influenced the literacy success of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) students in the low-income, poverty stricken Delta Region of a mid-south state. The study examined the progress made since the implementation of the KIPP Program and the influence the program has made upon student…

State and local educators encountered both opportunities and obstacles in their first year of implementing the School Improvement Grants (SIGs) funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In 2009, the ARRA, better known as the economic stimulus package, provided $3 billion for SIGs to help reform persistently low-achieving…