The High School Graduation Plan (HSBP) is a graduation requirement and a critical component of supporting students' career development throughout their secondary education experience. The Washington Legislature has revised and strengthened HSBP requirements to include the implementation of a universal online HSBP platform that can be readily…

The high school (HS) graduation rate of students with disabilities who have individual education programs (IEP) is historically low compared with their non-disabled peers. The problem was that a statewide initiative to improve the standard HS diploma graduation rate of students with disabilities, the April Dunn Act (the Act), was perceived as…

The study explores how middle schools in Bergen County, New Jersey adapted their social studies curricula to include representation of LGBTQ persons, outlined by Chapter 35 of Title 18A:"35-4.35," in their curriculum, and investigated examples of lessons said to include examples of the mandate. This study sought to understand the impact…

Title IX prohibits sex-based harassment (SBH) in all federally funded educational activities, yet little is known about SBH in K-12 schools. We used the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data (N = 96,440) to examine rates and school-, district-, and state-level predictors of SBH in K-12 schools. Results found the vast majority of schools had…

Much has been written about the challenges of effective transition planning (e.g., Cavendish & Connor, 2018; Landmark etal., 2007; Luft, 2015). In this article, ways to mitigate some of these common challenges are provided, including low or passive student and family involvement, unresponsiveness to family culture, poor communication between…

Special and general education teachers are experiencing increased demands on how content is taught, the content to be taught, and the number of students with learning disabilities: all with limited available resources. Government regulations mandated through No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2001) and Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA, 2004) have…

Alternative high schools in the United States perform a significant role for students who drop out, are pushed out, or fall out of conventional high schools. An essential function of alternative high schools is to support some of the most underserved students in the country to graduate from high school. High school graduation is a major factor…

Jobs that pay livable wages increasingly call for educational attainment beyond a high school diploma, but many of these jobs do not need a bachelor's degree. By earning industry certifications in high school, students may be better prepared for life after graduation. In 2007, Florida enacted the Career and Professional Education (CAPE) Act,…

Recent legislation in Tennessee regarding "divisive concepts" in secondary education negatively impacts teachers. It causes them to question previously taught content for fear that parents or administrators might deem it too controversial, which could put educators' jobs in jeopardy. Secondary educators used various approaches when…

As American public education becomes increasingly technology-based, multiple new data sources become accessible for educators to better understand student learning processes. Novel data analysis applications became necessary during severe disruptions due to the COVID pandemic. This case study highlights a novel method for identifying high school…

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…

Transgender and nonbinary (collectively referred to here as "trans") students are ill-served by most school environments. They experience challenges trying to navigate institutions that, at best, are poorly designed to support them and that often work against them. Although some districts and states have developed laws and policies to…

Background: Despite recent tobacco control efforts, adolescent vaping remains an epidemic in the United States. The purpose of our study was to understand high school student vaping behaviors using the perceptions of Massachusetts school personnel during the critical window from when the Massachusetts statewide flavor ban legislation was passed in…

Once considered a less-rigorous high school pathway, career and technical education (CTE) has experienced a renaissance since the 1990s, as more high-skilled and white-collar professions have been included in these elective course options. Research indicates that participation in CTE--especially taking more than one course in a single occupational…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires annual data collection to monitor the provision of special education services, yet federal reports rarely disaggregate trends for English learners (ELs). In merging all available annual data files required under IDEA from 2006 to 2020, the present study provides the first large-scale…