This article examines how three relatively recent decisions enacted and upheld by Pennsylvania lawmakers have increased racial disparities in education funding and are helping to explode what Ladson-Billings has termed the educational debt. We find that districts with the highest concentrations of Black and Latinx students are profoundly…

As America's prekindergarten through 12th grade population becomes increasingly diverse, educator preparation programs (EPPs) are tasked with attracting, admitting, supporting, and graduating more teacher candidates from underrepresented groups. The research reported here was designed to improve our understanding of strategies that some EPPs have…

In September 2011, the Association of American Universities launched a major initiative to improve undergraduate STEM education. The overall objective was to influence the culture of STEM departments at AAU institutions so that faculty members are encouraged and supported to use teaching practices proven by research to be effective in engaging…

Mayoral control and accountability is one of very few major education reforms that aim at governance coherence in this nation's highly fragmented urban school systems. A primary feature of mayoral governance is that it holds the office of the mayor accountable for school performance. As an institutional redesign, mayoral governance integrates…

According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) press release, in which the Governor outlined his budget priorities for 2014-2015, the Governor's plan includes the Expanding Excellence Program. If enacted and funded, this initiative would "provide competitive funding to schools that have attained a 90 or higher on the School…

The "Race to the Top" competitive grant program initiated a wave of teacher evaluation reform, which scholars and policymakers have long identified as critical to improving teacher quality and student performance. State boards of education (SBEs) and state education agencies (SEAs) took different approaches to these reforms, and as a…

The goal of the Intensive Partnership (IP) initiative is to improve student success by transforming how teachers are recruited, developed, assigned, rewarded, and retained. RAND and American Institutes for Research (AIR) have been studying the seven IP sites (including three districts and four charter management organizations--CMOs) since the…

On March 25-26, 2010, a cadre of urban education leaders gathered in Baltimore, Maryland for the "Fair Student Funding Summit," a conference that brought together districts that use weighted student funding (WSF) as an approach for allocating dollars to schools. Convened by Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and hosted by Baltimore City…

Explores the association of district enrollment, minority enrollment, wealth, poverty level, fiscal capacity, and tax effort with changes in the distribution of Pennsylvania's federal aid due to implementation of Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. Examines the law's effect on paperwork, local control, and encouragement…

In June 1993, revisions to the Pennsylvania School Code changed requirements for high school graduation from time spent in the classroom to mastery of 53 student learning outcomes. Districts were mandated to develop a strategic plan that included active community participation in implementing these new regulations. This study examined 17 districts…

Through a Pennsylvania statewide curriculum integration project involving 11 school districts, this research examines the curriculum reform process and determines which factors, or combination of factors, are absolutely essential for successful curriculum reform. Comparing programs and their respective levels of success makes it clear that only a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems and issues that emerged as school districts in Pennsylvania tried to implement a strategic planning mandate at the local level. In June 1993, revisions to the Pennsylvania school code changed requirements for graduation from time spent in the classroom to the mastery of 53 state-designated…

This report analyzes the special education funding reforms that were implemented in Pennsylvania for the 1991-1992 school year. The new funding mechanism was designed to reduce incentives for special education placements and to shift greater control over special education program and funding decisions to local school districts. After an…