In response to concerns regarding school quality, state policy-makers reformed their charter school authorization processes to impose greater regulatory barriers to chartering. These barriers to market entry could impose substantial burdens for Black and Latino would-be charter operators, as well as independent operators, who may lack access to…

We survey 137 charter school administrators and 129 board members and find that U.S. charter school internal controls are perceived to be relatively strong overall. However, board independence, board communication of internal control responsibilities to school personnel, lines of communication between the board and school personnel, and reporting…

The last three decades of board research has embarked on various aspects of school boards (Alsbury, 2008b; Delagardelle, 2008; Resnick & Bryant, 2010; Strauss, 2018) including characteristics of effective boards (Alsbury & Gore, 2015; Dervarics & O'Brien, 2016), importance of targeted school board trainings (Cook, 2014; Gann, 2015;…

Children's health is affected by physical activity (PA) opportunities throughout the school day. Schools are a central venue for children meeting physical activity recommendations, and multiple areas, such as recess, have been established to protect against childhood obesity and overweight. Senate Bill 1083 is a law that addresses recess policies…

Schools across America are losing teachers at an alarming rate. Changing workforce demographics forecasted some level of loss decades ago. More recently, however, it has been noted declines are now reaching a crisis level across parts of the United States for a variety of reasons. Today the prevailing professional literature addressing public…

This article presents a critical discourse analysis of "no promo homo" policies and their effects in US schools. "No promo homo"--short for "no promotion of homosexuality" (Eskridge, 2000, p. 1329)--polices have been adopted across nine states and several local school districts in the United States. They direct…

Although inclusive education has been increasing in frequency for students with disabilities in the United States, for many students, the opportunity to be educated with their peers without disabilities continues to be out of reach despite decades of efforts by those promoting the vision of inclusion. This exploratory case study used interviews…

Background: Via the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), stronger accountability proponents are now knocking on the doors of the colleges of education that prepare teachers and, many argue, prepare teachers ineffectively. This is raising questions about how effective and necessary teacher education programs indeed are. While research…

This case describes the struggle of a small school employee association located in a right-to-work state as it attempts to continue exercising influence after a political turmoil caused the composition of the school board to change. This case presents many elements that foster discussion of basic employee rights such as freedom of association,…

Background/Context: In September 2007, the Arizona State Board of Education adopted the Structured English Immersion (SEI) model proposed by the Arizona English Language Learner (ELL) Task Force.During the 2008-2009 academic year, it required all school districts to implement the SEI model.The SEI program, best known as the 4-hour English Language…

This study examines the socialization and enculturation process by which one becomes a school board member, using adult socialization and small group theory to construct a model of the role personalization process. Thirteen new school board members in seven Arizona school districts were interviewed indepth, from the announcement of their candidacy…

Charter schools must answer to public entities (bureaucratic accountability) and to participating parents, students, and teachers (market accountability). This study examines bureaucratic accountability, highlighting regulatory approaches of statewide charter-school authorizers in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Michigan. CSA's favor a…

An overview is offered of the Plan for Arizona's Career Education, a 10-year career education program developed by the Arizona State Board of Education. The handbook includes a definition of career education, the elements of career education, program organization, teacher support, impact on counseling, a description of the Arizona Clearinghouse in…

Elementary school principals who received a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) award in January or August 2002 (n = 21) were invited to be interviewed in the late spring and summer of 2003. A total of 19 principals consented to audiotaped interviews. The interviews focused on several CSR dimensions, including principals' beliefs about the extent to…

As a part of the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, the history of statewide planning for postsecondary education in Arizona is presented. In 1974, the Board of Regents adopted a long-range planning document with statements of what it would not do to limit university aspirations…