"Tennessee Small School Systems v. McWherter" case led to a significant reform of the state's school finance system during 1992-1993 with the phased-in implementation of the Basic Education Program. This paper examines the impact of Tennessee's school finance reform on education spending using a complete panel of school districts from…

Evaluations of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) based in part on the performance of program completers have emerged as an education reform strategy in several states and have become central features of the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant competition. The objective of this policy review is to examine how the state of Tennessee measured and reported…

This study considers the impact of federal funding on the administrative expenditures of local school districts since the passage of the No-Child-Left-Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Under NCLB, federal education funds were made contingent upon a variety of accountability and reporting standards, creating new administrative costs and challenges for…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership behaviors influencing the schools' climate according to Green's (2010) ideologies of the 13 core competencies within the four dimensions of principal leadership. Data from the "Leadership Behavior Inventory" (Green, 2014) suggest 314…

States, programs, and schools have long focused on the inputs of teacher preparation--the rules for candidates and the preparation programs they attend--because inputs were thought to predict teacher effectiveness, and because they were often the best option available. But in the early 2000s, policymakers began trying to evaluate preparation…

This case study focusing on journalism curriculum in Tennessee sheds light on the obstacles that journalism schools face in efforts to include more instruction of sunshine laws into courses. Journalists use these laws to gather information to write their stories, either by attending public meetings or by filing open records requests. This study…

The U.S. Congress has recognized that safety is essential on our college and university campuses. Incidents such as the Virginia Tech massacre and the death of Jeanne Clery have emphasized the need for legislation that assists students in selecting a safe college and improves their safety by reducing the incidence of crimes and fires. The Clery…

In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness. We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state…

Student mobility is an issue for high poverty schools in the shadow of increased rigor and accountability for student performance. Whereas mobility is not a sole cause for poor achievement, it is a contributing factor for students in poverty who are already considered to be at risk of low achievement. Student mobility creates a hardship for…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the Tennessee State University (TSU) fall 2005 Freshmen Cohort (N = 1205) based on the variables of race, gender, persistence, retention and graduation, as well as to examine the impact of the newly implemented Complete College Tennessee Act's (CCTA) funding formula component on the university's budget…

Public institutions in the United States face a policy challenge to adapt to accountability expectations among a variety of stakeholders (Bogue & Hall, 2012; Thelin, 2004; Richardson & Martinez, 2009). Among the major stakeholders are state legislators who hold fiscal and policy influence over public institutions, but these leaders have…

Tennessee has undertaken several wide-ranging reforms aimed at educator practice and effectiveness over the past several years, including the launch of a new teacher evaluation system, modification of teacher tenure policy, and initial implementation of Common Core State Standards. This report from the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE)…

Educational leaders have a substantial degree of control over students and generally have a tremendous influence on the decisions that they make. District administrators are already involved in comprehensive efforts to stem sexual harassment, teen violence and bullying; therefore, they may be well positioned to identify and address the problem of…

This brief report offers analysis of ACT and SAT results from 2008 to 2013 in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) region. The brief focuses on the increase in test participation rates and points to policies that SREB states initiated that affected these rates. Five SREB states currently require 100 percent student participation on the…

This study examined the relationship between the percentage of highly qualified teachers and standardized measures of student proficiency in the core academic subjects of mathematics, reading, science, social studies, and writing. Signed into law in January of 2002 by President George W. Bush, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires teachers…