Policy capacity in music education can be enhanced through understanding the policy-making process and state governmental policy. Three examples of engagement in state-level policy action are used to explore agency, negotiation, and visioning as important dispositions for advancing music education policy goals. First, influencing state-level…

This paper offers a critical review of a report published in March by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan titled "Improving Oversight of Michigan Charter Schools and Their Authorizers." The report argues that charter schools and charter school authorizers need more oversight. Making the case for this position might include…

With school campuses shuttered due to COVID-19, the rate and level of quality of student instruction varies across the nation, states, regions and even from neighborhood to neighborhood. As the 2019-20 school year comes to a close, state leaders are considering important questions: (1) When and how should schools reopen (after it's safe from a…

Listening and speaking are active language skills and need special attention in English language pedagogy, especially in ESL/EFL contexts. English in India is taught as a second language in almost all the states, and the secondary education boards stipulate the teaching of all the four language skills as the objective of teaching English, yet the…

Counties, districts, and schools have had to respond to ever-shifting issues related to COVID-19. This brief describes the complex challenges that district superintendents faced, which often required expertise in areas beyond traditional expectations for the role, particularly in public health. The brief gives examples of crisis management…

To best train and support school leaders in their evolving roles, they require high-quality preparation and in-service pipelines that both address the changing demands on their positions and acknowledge the cascading effects that well-prepared leaders have on both student outcomes and in school culture and retention. Including school leaders in…

In this article, we extend and complement previous studies on self-descriptions of superintendents' administrative work by examining the influential role of a relatively new actor in charter schools: the charter school district superintendent. In particular, we examine the influence of a charter district superintendent's leadership on…

Recognizing the essential value of the arts, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) included the arts as an indicator of school quality and student success in the state's Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, which the U.S. Department of Education approved in August 2017. The indicator currently has no weight in Illinois's accountability…

In order to have a public education system that caters to the cultural, policy, and pedagogical preferences of communities, more citizens need to participate in local school board elections. This report discusses why school board elections should be moved on cycle (i.e., held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of an even…

Black students are disproportionately represented in special education, especially in categories that are subjectively determined by educators. Also, Black students with disabilities experience disproportionate rates of exclusionary discipline in schools and have disproportionately higher dropout rates and lower graduation rates. Research has…

Despite increasing animal prevalence in public spaces, few districts have proactively developed policies to integrate assistance, therapy, service, and emotional support animals that are both legally sound and support the needs of individual students. Federal legislation defines a variety of animals that could accompany students, but only those…

Political scientists have largely overlooked the democratic challenges inherent in the governance of U.S. public education--despite profound implications for educational delivery and, ultimately, social mobility and economic growth. In this study, we consider whether the interests of adult voters who elect school boards in each community are…

Drawing on case-study data, this inquiry explores the lived experiences of four universal pre-kindergarten teachers to address the question: How do practitioners narratively interpret a local school district policy directive of child autonomy, use their professional capacities to reconstruct the directive to address diverse students' needs, and…

In 2019, almost all governors spoke on education concerns in their "state of the state addresses," including school funding, career and technical education, postsecondary funding and financial aid, early childhood education, and teacher pay. According to this National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) analysis, in…

Public comments offered by citizens at local school board meetings play an important role in shaping the educational policy process. However, educational researchers have underexamined them in debates about educational policy change. Drawing from critical discourse analysis, this study examines the public comments offered at a school board meeting…