Because states typically fund districts based on student counts, districts reporting shrinking enrollment worry about shrinking dollars as well. The seemingly obvious quick fix is for states to hold districts financially harmless for some or all of their enrollment loss. But states have many factors to weigh when deciding whether or how to go down…

Over the years, as states have sought to incorporate more inclusive and relevant academic standards and curriculum for K-12 students, they have interpreted ethnic studies in both broad and narrow terms. While most states use the term ethnic studies to describe their efforts to incorporate the knowledge and perspectives of traditionally excluded…

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and…

Despite the myriad of challenges that families, students, teachers and policymakers faced in 2021, the momentum to transform education did not waver. New opportunities for students unfolded in more than a dozen states through expanded private and public school choice. An additional 1.7 million students gained eligibility for private choice alone,…

America's diverse higher education landscape includes more than 700 four-year nonprofit colleges and universities that focus on baccalaureate education. These private nondoctoral (PND) institutions are located in almost every state and collectively enroll about 1.6 million students and award nearly 150,000 degrees annually, with the majority of…

In recent years, two-year colleges have tried various strategies to improve student outcomes and remediate skill deficits in order to promote academic and employment success. Promising approaches include career pathways, dual-enrollment, competency-based credentialing, sectoral strategies, wrap-around services, and acceleration. Taken together,…

In 2012, there were an estimated 11.2 million undocumented individuals living in the United States. The peak of unauthorized immigrant population occurred in 2007 with 12.2 million, a stark rise from original estimates of 3.5 million in 1990. Although down from its peak, a sizeable and stable population of unauthorized individuals resides in the…

The report contains real-world, proven school climate strategies to guide policymakers in building a comprehensive and coherent state-wide approach for improving school climate. It features 12 recommendations linked to existing state policy examples policymakers can use to build a comprehensive, coherent state-wide approach for improving school…

Several systemic factors contribute to the lack of stability and educational opportunities for students in foster care, including lack of transportation to the school of origin (or the schools they enrolled in when they first entered foster care), difficulty enrolling in new schools and transferring credits between school districts, gaps in…

In this Information Research Cadre, Teresa Blythe responds to the following research question: For those states that have residential schools for the Blind/VI and Deaf/HI students, have they developed policies and procedures for residential placement of these students? To develop this response Blythe conducted web research utilizing numerous…

Families, teachers and policy makers increasingly understand that high-quality pre-kindergarten is a critical part of children's educational experience. In 13 states and the District of Columbia, Pre-K programs are financed through the school funding formula. This report, co-written with the Education Law Center, discussed the benefits and…

This paper examines 12 states' statutes that extend in-state resident tuition for undocumented students, illustrating their ambiguities and contradictions as they produce the "subject" in these on-going policy debates. This study asks and answers the question: "How are students' identities produced in ISRT policy?" At stake in…

Several states had an assessment that they considered to be an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS) in place, or in development, when the April 2007 federal regulations on modified achievement standards were finalized. This article uses publicly available information collected by the National Center on…

With the heightened emphasis of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 on inclusion in the general curriculum and meeting the associated standards, assistive technology (AT) has become a necessary consideration to ensure a free appropriate public education and to promote education in the least restrictive environment…

All students, including students with disabilities, must be included in state accountability systems as required by law. In April 2007, federal regulations provided states the flexibility to offer another assessment option--an Alternate Assessment based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) for some students with disabilities. The AA-MAS is…