When either privileged or under-resourced families navigate gray areas in the law, including federal laws related to students with disabilities such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, inequities are revealed. Research and emerging trends have raised increasing concerns about unfairness and abuses of disability policies, particularly with…

This article is part of an illustrative study of federal leadership in special education based on interviews with persons who served as Assistant Secretaries in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Directors of the Office of Special Education Programs. The perspectives cover the time period…

In Fall 2022, the U.S. Education Department unveiled a drastic overhaul of federal student loan policies. The new rules serve as a key vehicle to advance the Biden administration's higher education agenda. However, some of the final regulations look quite different from the policy proposals initially outlined in President Joe Biden's campaign…

Education tax credits provide federal financial aid to a wide expanse of American taxpayers; however, little research or analysis has been done on these costly programs. There has been little evidence of its link to college enrollment growth. This descriptive paper outlines the establishment of education tax credits, their original intent, and the…

Forty years after its opening, Americans must reconsider the efficacy of a federal, Cabinet-level Department of Education. Rescinding agency status, eliminating duplicative, ineffective, and inappropriate programs, and re-organizing remaining programs under a restored Office of Education within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities are growing at a faster rate than any other racial group in the United States. The opportunity to address significant inequities impacting this community is hiding in our country's postsecondary data. Collections of data at the U.S. Department of Education and our institutions of higher…

In 1978, the University of Phoenix was among the first for-profit universities to receive accreditation from a prestigious regional agency: the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Its accreditation marked a turning point in broader acceptance for the for-profit model in higher education and gave the…

The Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA, Title I of P.L. 107-279) established the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) as an independent research arm of the Department of Education (ED). The IES Director, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, serves a six-year term and is advised by a technical panel composed…

In this essay, Jack Schneider and Andrew Saultz offer a new perspective on state and federal power through their analysis of authority and control. Due to limitations inherent to centralized governance, state and federal offices of education exercised little control over schools across much of the twentieth century, even as they acquired…

National reports have raised concerns about the physical accessibility of public school facilities for people with disabilities. These facilities serve important roles as schools, voting locations, and emergency shelters, among other things. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine the physical accessibility of public school…

Historically, accreditation in higher education developed as a part of the evolution of the American higher education system, at a time when it was becoming problematic that no single point of control or central body existed to set educational standards. In the late 19th century, there was no consensus on the content of the educational programs…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education that was held to discuss addressing the impact of COVID-19 on students with disabilities. For students with disabilities the problem is of equal education opportunity, and Federal law is grounded in a basic guarantee:…

This overview highlights that the U.S. Department of Education's Title IX regulations recognize that sexual harassment, including sexual assault, is unlawful sex discrimination. The Department previously addressed sexual harassment only through guidance documents, which are not legally binding and do not have the force and effect of law. Now, the…

In this foundational book, Frederick M. Hess and Max Eden bring together a cross-section of respected academics and journalists to examine key aspects of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This volume provides a thematic and in-depth analysis of the central provisions of this landmark legislation, presenting a range of perspectives. The…

For this first "History of Education Quarterly Policy Forum," we invited participants in the special Plenary Session at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society (HES) in St. Louis to publish their remarks on the historical significance of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) at fifty. Organized and…