In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law, replacing No Child Left Behind as the statutory education policy of the federal government of the United States (US). Building on prior shifts in accountability policy at the state level, ESSA focused attention and resources on building school leadership capacities. Five years on,…

This document records testimony from a hearing held to examine how SCOTUS's decision on race-based admissions is shaping university policies. Member statements were presented by: (1) Honorable Burgess Owens, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development; and (2) Honorable Robert C. Scott, Ranking Member, Committee on Education and the…

Since the signing of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008, veteran enrollment in college has increased to numbers not seen since the end of World War II. This most recent iteration of the GI Bill provides education benefits for thirty-six months at a great cost to the taxpayers. Student veterans are a unique class of non-traditional students due to their…

Technology integration in higher education (HE) has brought immense innovation. While research is investigating the benefits of leveraging, through learning analytics, the data created by the greater presence of technology in HE, it is also analysing the privacy implications of vast universes of data now at the fingertips of HE administrators.…

An array of federal, state, and local laws and policies come into play when situations arise that could compromise student safety. These laws and district policies combine to form an intricate and sometimes inconsistent patchwork of protocols that schools must follow. Robert Kim discusses the interplay between federal, state, and local laws…

"Civil Rights and Federal Higher Education" offers a renewed vision for higher education policy making, presenting an incisive analysis of the connections between educational politics and educational inequality. With a view toward the future, the editors assert that the thoughtful application of evidence-based solutions to complex policy…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 requires that K-12 educational agencies invest federal education funds in evidence-based practices. We estimated what percentage of Title I funds at a large school district are invested in practices supported by a single study meeting one of the top three tiers of evidence as defined by ESSA. Over 95%…

Overall, there has been limited guidance from the federal government on how K-12 schools should implement their policies and practices to comply with Title IX and special education law. The lack of clear directives leaves K-12 schools with the task of identifying policies and processes that are the best practices in navigating the rights afforded…

This study aims to illustrate how states include an improvement science approach to educational improvement in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan. Through a qualitative content analysis of 52 state ESSA plans, we propose an introductory organizational typology to categorize states based on their explicit inclusion of improvement…

In this essay, I draw on the socio-historical context of free speech and hate speech in U.S. public higher education and the concepts of color-evasiveness and free speech ideology to conceptualize a "color-evasive free speech ideology." The ideology I conceptualize is characterized by a prevailing belief that protecting and defending…

Next generation accountability systems can empower states, districts, communities, and schools with timely, relevant information and provide the capacity to analyze and continuously improve instruction and learning. After 21 years of the current accountability framework in federal and state policy in the United States, there is growing recognition…

The purpose of this study was to compare the Title IX guidance from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights from the 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter and the 2020 "Final Rule," and then to interview university Title IX coordinators about their experiences responding to the substantial changes under each…

The Education Scholarship Account (ESA) Act allows parents to use the funds that would have been allocated to their child at their resident school district for an education program of the parents' choosing. The Act identifies student eligibility as well as approved educational expenses. The Act establishes procedures for parents to apply to the…

The participation of students with significant cognitive disabilities in accountability assessments aligned with general education standards is a heavily debated topic in the field of special education. Attempts to understand the impact of these assessments have generally been limited to correlational methods. We employed a…

Practicing environmental stewardship in basic education institutions is likely to model young people to adopt sustainability knowledge, skills and attitudes. To ensure a well-coordinated approach towards stewardship in public institutions of learning, laws and/or policies are expected to play a crucial role. This study thus sought to interrogate…