In rural school districts across the country, four-day school weeks have proliferated. Currently adopted in 1,600 schools in 600 school districts, 90% of which are rural, four-day school week policies have prospered largely without a robust body of evidence to support their expansion. J. Cameron Anglum presents an overview of four-day school week…

There has been a great deal written about ChatGPT since its launch in late 2022. Many news stories specifically address the impact of ChatGPT on education. However, there has been little research showing what K-12 teachers are thinking about and doing with ChatGPT. This research article helps to fill that gap. A survey of Missouri teachers was…

The present study investigated the relationship between teacher stress and job satisfaction, and examined the role of coping as a moderator. Based on the transactional and Coping-Competence-Context models of stress we expected that coping would serve as a protective factor in the relationship between teacher stress and their job satisfaction.…

Prior research has identified five in-school factors that impact teacher retention: positive school culture, supportive administration, strong professional development, mentoring programs, and classroom autonomy. While much of the national attention is focused on state or district-level policies to address the teacher retention crisis, this study…

As states legalize medical cannabis, school nurses face increased parent questions about administration at school. Although school nurses frequently collaborate on the development and implementation of medication administration policies, their perceptions of barriers to school-based medical cannabis administration are not well-documented. To…

The growing fiscal cost of K-12 teacher pension plans and pension-induced labor market distortions have led to calls for teacher pension reforms. Dynamic structural econometric models are a useful way to analyze the fiscal and staffing consequences of current and alternative retirement plans. This article lays out the benefits of the structural…

Understandings of teacher expertise in the US have transformed over the past 40 years, arguably being "narrowed" and "numericized" due to high-stakes accountability and neoliberal education reform movements. While this trend has been thoroughly studied under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and Race to the Top regimes, less…

The present study analyzed concurrent and predictive validity of single-item scales for assessing principal stress and coping. We examined concurrent and prospective relations among stress and coping single-items with principal job satisfaction, overall health, perceptions of school safety, and principal leadership self-efficacy. We also compared…

Assistant principals (APs) are important education personnel, but empirical evidence about their career outcomes remains scarce. Using administrative data from Tennessee and Missouri, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of AP mobility. While prior work focuses on promotions into principal positions, we also examine APs exiting school…

Federal law defines English learner (EL) eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, students, allowing for broader entry into the EL category, along with its accompanying resources and services. We interviewed EL leaders from 25 state departments of education to learn about their level of understanding of the…

The purpose of this explorative study was to examine the use and understanding of key components of data-based decision making by educators in two countries--Germany and the United States. Educators responded to a survey that asked about data use and characteristics related to data-based decision making (DBDM). Results suggest educators in both…

We evaluate the feasibility of estimating test-score growth for schools and districts with a gap year in test data. Our research design uses a simulated gap year in testing when a true test gap did not occur, which facilitates comparisons of district- and school-level growth estimates with and without a gap year. We find that growth estimates…

Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, school district administrators in the United States were faced with difficult decisions regarding the implementation of virtual or in-person learning to reduce risk of infection throughout student and staff populations. While a coordinated effort with surrounding districts would be most beneficial when…

Utilizing effective data collection methods to track student progress on Individual Education Program (IEP) goals is essential to quality programming and meeting each student's specific needs. This study surveyed special education teachers in four midwestern states to understand IEP data collection methods and assessment training. Results…

We use administrative data from three states to document the relationships between geographic mobility and student outcomes during K-12 schooling. We focus specifically on nonstructural mobility events--which we define as school changes that do not occur as the result of normal transitions between schools--and on longitudinal measures that capture…