This paper draws from data tied to a larger year-long interview study with 22 school leaders focused on how school leaders define and respond to the issue of "achievement gap." For this paper, we examine how school leaders employ the practice of colorblind ideology, standpoint, or perspective. We explore three emergent findings of how a…

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) "Communities of Practice" project builds upon SHEEO's ongoing efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with opportunities to develop solutions to common issues with those systems. The sixth Community of…

In February 2015 a large group of scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in P-20 finance issues gathered in St. Louis, Missouri, for the National Education Finance Academy's annual conference, on February 25-27, 2015 to discuss, among multiple topics, the state of P-20 finance in all 50 states. There were 35 states represented in the…

On November 19, 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would invest $290 million to support effective teaching as a means to ensure all students receive the education they need to succeed in high school and beyond. The foundation made six-year grants to support four Intensive Partnership for Effective Teaching (IP) sites…

The goal of this meeting was to discuss the challenges of adult education and mechanisms to better understand and address those challenges through research. The meeting was structured around three panel discussions representing the perspectives of State directors of adult education programs, adult education researchers, and education research…

The "Gaskin" settlement resulted from a class action lawsuit brought on the behalf of students with significant disabilities in Pennsylvania. With the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 and the "Gaskin" settlement, schools in Pennsylvania are mandated to increase the placement of…

From the beginning of the electronic computer era, corporate America fully embraced the new technology and became the primary customer for the myriad of hardware vendors. Eventually microcomputers, loaded with quality software, appeared on virtually every desk throughout all American corporations. However, Technology had a much more difficult time…

Under Pennsylvania's relatively decentralized system that has considerable autonomy for local school boards, state control and state mandates have become matters of real concern to local school officials. Even in those districts that supply 90 percent of their funds from local taxes, state mandates produce extra costs. (Author/IRT)

An Old Order Mennonite one-room school in Pennsylvania was selected for this case study, which describes the building, curriculum, methods of instruction in reading, students and teacher. The study conducted interviews of school and community members together with modification of Flander's (1974) interaction analysis to collect quantitative verbal…

This study explored possible gender differences between the career paths of incumbent educational administrators holding the positions of superintendent, assistant superintendent, secondary principal, and elementary principal. Study data had been obtained from an earlier comprehensive survey of 622 incumbent and aspiring Pennsylvania…

Despite a growing body of literature on the school superintendency, little is known about the role, influence, and satisfaction of district superintendents when school boards make compensation decisions for principals. This exploratory study, which reported findings from a sample of 215 Pennsylvania superintendents, attempted to identify and…

This paper results from the collaborative work of Research for Better Schools, Inc., with the state staffs of Pennsylvania and Maryland on the problem of students at risk. It highlights the ways in which the problem is being defined, the data sets that are being used to suggest the magnitude of the problem, and the studies that are being used to…

Three related studies sought to determine the overall job satisfaction of secondary school principals and the extent to which such satisfaction is affected by the collective bargaining process. One study was designed to illuminate the current role of principals in teacher-district collective bargaining in Pennsylvania and the relationship between…

The paper presents tables, charts, and narrative containing statistical data on special education hearings in Pennsylvania. Sections address the following: 1980 hearings by exceptionality, 1972-1981 hearings by exceptionality, issues covered at hearings, hearings concerning the extended school year program, occupations of hearing officers, hearing…

The purposes of this study were to determine if relationships existed between teachers' knowledge about, attitude toward, and willingness to use microcomputers for instruction; and to determine if differences existed in teachers' willingness to use microcomputers based on teaching experience and grade level and subjects taught. Results of the…