Maintaining a fleet of buses to transport students to school is a major expense for school districts. An efficient bus routing system can greatly reduce the time and cost associated with transportation, while also ensuring the safety and comfort of students. Optimizing large-scale school bus routing problems (SBRP) is challenging due to the huge…

Wisconsin has seen a 17.7% drop in licensed school bus drivers over the past 15 years, creating challenges for school districts and the families they serve. This problem may get worse before it gets better, as more than onefifth of licensed school bus drivers are 65 and over. Transit systems across the state are facing a similar problem, with the…

School transportation may increase student outcomes by providing a reliable and safe means of getting to and from school. Little evidence of the effects of such policies exists. In this paper, I provide some of the first causal evidence of transportation impacts on student attendance and achievement using a rich panel of student-level enrollment…

A research report on the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) student assignment policy, which was designed to help with school choice to reverse the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school, and to provide equitable access to programs offered in the district.

Transportation, or the lack thereof, can be a huge barrier to families exercising choice. Simply because a state authorizes the creation of charter schools or grants vouchers to families looking to send their children to private schools doesn't mean that those children will actually be able to attend those schools. They have to be able to get…

The author, a teacher and substitute bus driver, explains the pivotal role that bus drivers play in the education process by proving safe transport and getting students off to a good start each day. Reducing bus transportation budgets, or charging families for using it, reduces student access to education.

The distance to school, commute time, student safety, and the cost and availability of transportation are all critical elements that determine the degree of real "choice" present in any school system, and more information is needed regarding family experiences, preferences, and challenges related to school transportation across school…

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a means to proactively address student behavior in all school settings. Misbehavior on the school bus can lead to issues with safety, carry over to school and home, and hinder at-risk students' academic success. Students' behavior can be supported on the bus through the implementation of a…

Designing a mobile makerspace, the MakerBus, originated from our goal of bringing maker education to "all" students in K-12 schools, thus empowering students to believe they could create things and make social changes. This design case was guided by the human-centered design principles and the rapid prototyping instructional design…

In Michigan's lower-income urban communities, where educational options are most heavily in demand, accessing the most suitable and desired schools is often limited by the availability and affordability of convenient transportation. Michigan could support low-income families' efforts to transport their children to better schools and boost these…

In 2018 the Rhode Island (RI) Regulations Governing the Education of Children with Disabilities were revised to comply with the 2016 amendments to the RI Administrative Procedures Act. In this process members of the community requested that the RI Department of Education develop a companion document that maintained the relevant sections of the…

This multiple-case qualitative study was conducted to examine the perceptions of community members, students, and staff regarding school crisis management following a 2006 tornado and 2010 bus accident in a small rural school district in Missouri. Online surveys were collected from 66 participants, and 10 follow-up interviews were completed with…

Hard-to-grasp dollar amounts are forcing real cuts in K-12 education at a time when the cost of fueling buses and providing school lunches is increasing and the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind Act still loom larger over states and districts. "One of the real challenges is to continue progress in light of the economy," said…

As a supplement to "What You Need To Know About Riding The School Bus," this booklet answers some of the most common questions concerning transportation for students with special needs. Using a simple question/answer format, the booklet addresses 22 issues regarding scheduling, the duties and responsibilities of the driver/aide, parent…

The manual is intended to recommend policy guidelines for special educators and transporters of handicapped students. Beginning with a review of the requirements of P.L. 94-142 (The Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and a discussion of transportation as a related service provided to handicapped students, the manual proceeds to…