State governments have the purview to interpret federal special education policies as they see fit. Interpretations of these policies to music education rarely are addressed within state special education policy. The authors selected four states to analyze and compare state special education policies; Illinois, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia.…

As policy debates concerning LGBTQ+ students and staff continue across the American education system, there is not a clear description of the prevalence of local policy protections, even in states with legislative mandates, nor a strong understanding of how to expand reform initiatives. After conducting a document analysis of policies with a…

In 2021, Illinois became the first state in the United States to require that K-12 students learn about Asian American history. Illinois achieved this when lawmakers passed House Bill 376 (H.B. 376), colloquially known as the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act. H.B. 376 received praise for being the first legislation…

Increasingly alarmed by instructional mandates more founded on journalistic rhetoric and popular opinion than on research findings or practitioner expertise, researchers gathered survey data from teachers to better understand the status of K-2 phonics instruction. Data demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of these K-2 teachers teach phonics,…

Over the past decade, numerous reports have indicated pervasively high rates of early childhood expulsion nationwide. In response, state and federal policymakers have enacted various measures to ban or reduce reliance on such exclusionary discipline. Prior evaluations of the implementation of one such legislative ban on expulsion enacted in…

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the workplace discrimination experiences of individuals with disabilities residing in the Midwest by exploring their allegations filed under Title I of the ADA from 1992 through 2016. Objective: The goals of this article are to describe region- and state-level patterns in workplace…

Recent union-supported teachers' walkouts and strikes across several U.S. states and cities highlighted union-led and grassroots efforts to amplify teachers' voices. Yet, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, "Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31," provides a strength test for teachers' unions and members engaging in social justice/equity work…

New teacher evaluation reform efforts in the United States hold principals accountable for improving teaching and learning. Yet little is known about how effective principals are at these instructional leadership tasks or how principals experience and adapt to the demands of teacher evaluation reform over time. In the current study, principals (n…

In its four years of life, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has blazed new pathways for policy and funding in K-12 arts education. Many states acted early to take advantage of these federal opportunities to expand students' access to the arts. Through its definitional language, suggested actions, and funding mechanisms, ESSA provides states…

In the past, parents of children with disabilities have spearheaded several policies for individuals with disabilities. However, little is known about their experiences with legislators. To address this gap, focus groups and surveys about legislative advocacy were conducted with 127 parents of individuals with disabilities across four states. The…

Purpose: To systematically examine the institutional values and campus recreational policies and practices of all Big 10 institutions to determine whether equitable physical activity opportunities are being provided. Approach: Websites were systematically searched, and data extracted were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings: Community…

Recognizing the essential value of the arts, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) included the arts as an indicator of school quality and student success in the state's Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, which the U.S. Department of Education approved in August 2017. The indicator currently has no weight in Illinois's accountability…

Although the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) mandates parent participation in their children's education programs, the implementation of IDEA results in parent effort beyond participation, specifically, an expectation of advocacy. To date, research on the advocacy expectation is mixed, with some parents perceiving…

The paper highlights the development of a collaborative formative assessment scoring process in a partnership between an urban university and one of the nation's largest districts. We explore collaborative research through the lens of a single formative assessment rubric derived from the Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning Framework (CER, McNeill…

This paper uses sensemaking theory and frame analysis to examine how a non-system actor's framing for advancing LGBT inclusion, what they called "code-switching," was taken up. Drawing on qualitative interview data generated as part of a larger mixed-methods study, this article examines the material and ideological affordances and…