Over half of U.S. public school students are children and teens of color, yet only about 8 percent of their teachers and administrators are people of color. Convinced that teacher and leader diversity is an essential component of an equitable education for all students, state boards of education have adopted a variety of strategies to attract,…

This article theorizes the wait list as an underexamined vehicle of administrative burden. Wait lists are now common within the U.S. social safety net, yet little research has considered their administration. Drawing on a surprising case of Massachusetts' declining wait list for subsidized childcare, I find that administrative burdens were…

While most community colleges admit all students who apply for admission, the vast majority have required students to demonstrate specified levels of literacy and numeracy before they can take college-level courses. Typically, students have been assessed using a single placement test, such as the College Board's ACCUPLACER. Colleges--or sometimes…

The problems faced by many small city school districts are often overshadowed by concerns for big city and rural school districts. We focus on some of the challenges faced by three small city school districts in Massachusetts with high percentages of students from low-income homes. Comparisons are made between these districts and three relatively…

Efforts to address adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) inequities often aim to improve school-based sexuality education and reduce individual risk behaviours. Structural determinants are more rarely the focus of interventions. The youth service providers who formed the community advisory board for this community-based participatory…

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…

As American teacher educators and teachers are being roiled by restrictive legislation around critical race theory and divisive concepts in some states, our investigation explored the impact of critical communities of practice (CoP) on redesigning and teaching introduction to education courses with a transformative lens. This manuscript details…

The Massachusetts edTPA Pilot and Field Test (2010-2013) was launched by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to evaluate the possible adoption of edTPA within that state. Guided by Cochran-Smith et al.'s (2013) Politics of Policy Framework, this mixed-methods study examines this policy initiative by analyzing the…

More than 427,000 undocumented students are enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions. That's an impressive number, considering the many hurdles they must overcome on the road to college and a degree, including restrictions on their ability to enroll in higher education institutions; limits on access to in-state tuition, state financial aid,…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides services to students who have disabilities. These IDEA-funded services are afforded to students between the ages of 3 and 21 who attend not only public schools (including charter schools), but also private schools. IDEA contains comprehensive guidelines on 3 processes which, by…

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) and the state's 28 public colleges and universities have collaborated over the last fifteen years to make easier and more transparent the process of transferring from a community college to a bachelor's degree program in one of the state's public colleges or universities. In this report, we…

Previous studies on advanced middle and high school mathematics course enrollment have focused on the correlation of successful course completion and post-secondary outcomes for students. This instrumental case study examined how school related factors such as personnel and policy influenced equitable enrollment in middle and high school honors…

A key dimension to social justice leadership is building authentic partnerships with families and community-based organizations to confront educational inequities. Authentic partnerships are respectful alliances among educators, families, and community agencies that value building relationships, communicating across difference, and sharing power…

Along with many other institutions of higher education, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Northeastern University to move courses online for the second half of the spring semester and beyond. As this crisis unfolded, faculty turned to the Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research (CATLR) for support on how to conduct their courses…

This article documents how one Teacher Preparation Program (TPP) at a medium-sized public university in the northeast responded to the needs of their urban partners during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The adaptation of this school-university partnership involved improving relationships where the TPP is more responsive to the needs of this urban…