State and national school accountability policies situate preventing chronic absenteeism on par with meeting state standardized test benchmarks. We question relying on school attendance as both a component of accountability policies and a means of enhancing equity in schools. Our research suggests out-of-school factors unrelated to missed…

Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers (n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal "Whitaker" ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local…

Understanding how educational practitioners make sense of and subsequently implement policy has been an increasingly important objective of the K-12 research community. This study extends this research into higher education via an in-depth case study of an urban public 2-year technical college. Drawing on sensemaking theory and critical policy…

Using critical policy analysis focused on racial-ethnic equity, this study analyses state policy documents and accountability instruments governing transfer from 2-year colleges to 4-year institutions in the following states: California, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Based on data collected in 2009, the findings…

This article analyzes the findings from a three-state study of teacher induction policy. It looks within and across Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin to explore the landscape and experience of teacher induction. Although the orientation and conception of each state's policy is similar, the states represent three different structural approaches to…