While U.S. voters delivered a significant change in the 2024 federal elections, they opted for steady leadership at the state level. No state board of education shifted in partisan control, and only five seats saw a shift in political party out of 27 races that were contested in the general election. This policy update looks at the results of…

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) during the summer of 2021 for a firm to support the redesign of Utah's School Accountability System so that it's more aligned with Personalized, Competency-Based Learning and Utah's Portrait of a Graduate, but still simple and transparent. The current Utah School…

Civic and character education are both essential pillars that support the mission of public schools. As defined in statute, civic education means the cultivation of informed, responsible participation in political life by competent citizens committed to the fundamental values and principles of representative democracy. Character education means…

In this article, we argue that ESSA provides a unique policy window for district-level leaders to advance an equity agenda by working closely with local community advocates. Drawing from a larger qualitative, multiple case study on the role of school boards in three U.S. Mountain West school districts, we focus on community advocacy committed to…

Background/Context: Mayoral control of large city school districts has become the newest form of school district reorganization. Researchers have documented how real and perceived crises have propelled mayors in Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington DC, amongst others, to redefine the role of board governance by situating the operations of districts…

Fingertip Facts is a compendium of some of the most frequently requested data sets from the Utah State Board of Education. This year's Fingertip Facts includes the following data sets: (1) SAGE Testing, 2016-17; (2) 2016-17 ACT Scores; (3) 2016-17 CTE Career Pathways; (4) 2017 Public Education General Fund; (5) 2017 Public School Enrollment…

Discusses Utah's competency-based education bill (S.B. 154). Includes graduation requirements, role of local boards, task force charge, alternative teacher certification, state education summit, state board of education role in the bill's implementation. (PKP)

Analysis of minutes of board of education meetings in all 31 rural Utah school districts found that rural boards tended to micromanage their districts, generally ignoring the larger leadership function of building consensus and fostering a sense of community. Discussions of educational reform movements and unstructured discussion with patrons…

Many states have begun to use independent or outside hearing officers in public educator termination efforts, curtailing the exclusive role of local school boards as fact finders and judges. This paper reports the findings of a two-part study that: (1) investigated the statutory codes of all 50 states to determine the current procedural methods…

This report suggests that state boards of education are best able to make budgetary cuts after consulting professional staff, identifying basic educational objectives and goals, and determining which programs contribute most to the largest number of students. A board's decisions are facilitated by such legislation as Utah's Special Purpose…

Some board members may not have considered whether e-mail is subject to state statutes ensuring that public business is done publicly. E-mail has great potential for exposing a district to liability. Sample open-meeting and/or public-record laws from several states, including California, Florida, and Virginia, are discussed. (MLH)

Conducted by the State Office of Education in cooperation with IBM Corporation, this study was designed to examine the uses of technology in Utah schools and how the implementation of technology could greatly assist the educational process. Six objectives are specified in Section I: (1) design state-of-the-art technological models to be offered by…

After recognizing the failures of the educational system to meet student needs, the Utah State Board of Education mandated annually reviewed individual education plans, modeled on those required under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, for all students. This article reviews this program, its implementation, and its accomplishments.…

This report analyzes the content and development of the 45 school district career ladder plans submitted in 1984 to the Utah State Office of Education. Descriptive commentary and data tables are used to examine (1) the structure and composition of planning committees; (2) teacher evaluation provisions, including changes in evaluation methods, the…

As part of a foundation for a multilevel analysis of career ladder reform among educational employees in Utah, this paper focuses on policymaking from the state perspective. Career ladder policy decisions are determined primarily through state legislative action, which are executed by the state board of education. This paper describes policy…