High-quality K-12 instructional materials can meaningfully improve teaching practice and student achievement, especially when paired with professional learning support. Yet state policymakers have usually left ultimate authority for textbook selection to school district leaders. Consequently, the quality of materials across U.S. classrooms and…

Anthropogenic climate change is a scientific fact, but U.S. public discourse around the issue remains mired in controversy, including in education. Our study leverages natural language processing methods to give a precise look into the extent to which climate change-related topics are covered in 30 of the most widely used high school history…

Teacher effectiveness has been guided by at least three pieces of national legislation, including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, 1965), the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, 2009), also referred to as the Stimulus or Recovery Act. With the expectation that the nation's…

Classroom and arts educators frequently collaborate in the pursuit of common educational goals. Examples of sophisticated interdisciplinary teaching can be found in nearly every classroom, as when teachers use music to provide context for social movements, dancers to demonstrate various types of movement, or paintings to illustrate proportion.…

CHILDREN AT RISK, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, undertook a year-long effort to study the subsidized child care system in Texas. This included an in-depth analysis of the system's local and state partners, as well as the promotion of the study's findings and key recommendations. This report is one of the products of this…

Despite some cuts to the nation's oldest Federal College Access Programs, known as the TRIO programs (e.g., Upward Bound), new education policies have emphasized college and career readiness. In 2010, Congress approved the College Access Challenge Grant Program, which aims to increase the number of low-income students who are ready for college.…

This paper begins with an overview of the location and types of nursery schools reported to be operating in Texas between 1934 and 1943. The author reports on the results of the analysis of the photographs used in this study. The analysis is supported and contextualized by the use of references from federal documents and other publications…

House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities unanimously expressed concern for the growing trend in cyberbullying during a hearing last June 24. The event, which featured National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) board member Barbara-Jane Paris and other witnesses, including TV personality Dr. Phil…

Background/Context: According to U.S. Census figures, 11 million elementary and secondary students of immigrant families were enrolled in the public schools in October 2005, representing 20% of all students, and this figure is expected to grow in the coming years. Most of these students enter school as English learners (ELs), and most ELs have…

Evaluates the public-private mix of child-care policies in Texas with data from two surveys, each of 1,000 randomly selected households. Most parents with children under six were satisfied with their child-care programs, but substantial dissatisfaction was identified for lower-income and minority parents. (Author/JAC)

Considers issues involving deregulation and freedom of speech on the Internet versus government regulation and licensing. Discusses a case in Texas that challenged a software program offering legal advice; and a federal regulatory agency's attempt to regulate the opinions and content of newsletters, Web site publishers, and related software. (LRW)

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires states to establish goals for all students and for groups of students characterized by race, ethnicity, poverty, disability, and limited English proficiency and requires schools to make annual progress in meeting these goals. In a number of states, officials have argued that increased federal…

Environmental education and interpretive facilities in Texas were surveyed to determine how a state education reform bill affected their attendance, management, and programing. Findings indicated that attendance declined during the 12 months following the passage of legislation. Programing and management changes were made to adapt to the bill.…

Discusses the effects of past and current discriminatory practices on limited English proficiency (LEP) students. Reviews federal legislation, judicial findings, and executive action which form the legal foundation of federal responsibility, and stresses the need for a strong federal commitment to equal educational opportunity for Mexican…

The prospect of completing high school and continuing one's education at a vocational, two-year, or four-year institution continues to elude a large number of African American high school graduates (Minorities in Higher Education Twenty-first Annual Status Report [2003-2005], ACE). The expectation of pursuing gainful employment through the private…