This phenomenological study provides insight into the experiences of public-school board directors as they experience, cognitively process, and respond to religious-based reasoning during deliberations on controversial issues while serving in their elected role at school board meetings. Understanding how elected public-school district directors…

Minority students and students with disabilities are disciplined disproportionately from their peers. Discipline has led to many negative consequences in the lives of youth in the United States, including the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance encouraging school districts to develop policies that…

This qualitative study was designed to examine how homeschooling parents in Pennsylvania make the determination to engage with public school districts to accommodate the special education needs (SEN) of their children. This phenomenological study used direct interviews with 30 Pennsylvania families who are homeschooling children with SEN. Data…

This book demonstrates through case studies and expert analyses the impressive educational gains children can make when the best educational research, policy, and practice are aligned. This volume is a valuable resource to aspiring leaders, educational researchers, and current practitioners and a must-read for anyone who cares about the public…

A composite guidebook covers the collective wisdom and teachings of local school governance. From goal-setting to policy making to board-superintendent relations, this publication places in one complete resource information available to the new and the veteran school board member. Although specifically directed to Pennsylvania board members, the…

In this article, the author features the lawsuit, which Americans United filed jointly with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania asserting that the Dover School Board has violated the constitutional separation of church and state. He traces that the controversy stems from Tammy J. Kitzmiller's and other concerned parents' strong…

A Pennsylvania case shows that once a school auditorium becomes a designated public forum, the free speech clause of the First Amendment requires the board to allow other similarly situated outsiders (including religious groups) to use the facilities for expressive activity. Another Pennsylvania case involving dual employment upheld a teacher's…

Public schools as formal organizations have broad-based goals, limited resources, and a formal hierarchy with which to manage the goal achievement process. The board of education combines this organization's economic and political dimensions to provide a thorough, efficient education for all children in the state. This paper investigates the…

This manual, an update of the 1979 publication, "Pennsylvania Guidelines for Student Discipline," is intended for use by Pennsylvania school districts as they review or revise their student discipline codes. It presents a structure for responses to student misconduct, which lists student misbehaviors by type and assigns appropriate…

This research study was designed to build grounded theory about the challenges faced by rural superintendents. Participating rural superintendents identified five areas that presented a challenge but that also applied to superintendents in other settings: school law, finance, personnel, government mandates, and district or board policies. Further,…

Recently there has been a resurgence in demand for citizen participation in public school decision-making. To directly assess the degree of this phenomenon, 30 public school districts were selected from Pennsylvania (excluding Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), based on a random sample, for a citizen attitude measurement questionnaire that yielded 320…

This paper reports on a study designed to investigate the perceptions of conflict and coping by superintendents in Western Pennsylvania. Twenty-eight superintendents (13 former superintendents and 15 currently active superintendents) were interviewed. Triangulation was utilized to determine the credibility of the interview data. Common themes of…

This is Volume 1 of the Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1895-96, containing Part I. The volume begins with the Commissioner of Education's Introduction and a section entitled, State Common School Systems. Part I includes the following chapters: (1) Laws Relating to City School Boards; (2) The English Education Bill of 1896;…

This report provides a comprehensive view of teacher preparation, program approval, and teacher selection practices in Pennsylvania and other states. The major premise is that, due to changing student and teacher demographics, Pennsylvania has an opportunity to improve the quality of the teaching force as teachers retire and as Pennsylvania raises…

It goes without saying that the work of the school centers in the teacher. While educators acknowledge this principle, they too often overlook the fact that the work of the school can only reach its best when the teacher is at her best. It is the duty of the teacher to make the most of the physical powers which he or she possesses; but on the…