"Making the Grade 2021" analyzes the condition of public school funding in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Using the most recently available data from the 2018-19 school year, the report ranks and grades each state on three measures to answer the key question: How fair is school funding in your state? The three fairness…

"Making the Grade" provides an annual overview of the condition of school finance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data in this edition gives a picture of states' investment in their public school systems in the 2019-20 school year, the historic moment when public education, and society at large, experienced the massive…

This report evaluates the condition of public school funding in the states preceding the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. It draws upon data from 2018, the most recent year available. This analysis demonstrates the alarming condition of school funding in most states, leaving school districts, especially those segregated by poverty,…

"Making the Grade analyzes the condition of public school funding in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The current report presents a picture of school funding in 2020-2021, the first full school year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent data available. The report ranks and grades each state on three measures to answer the…

This report provides key insights into the difficult working conditions endured by teachers in Arizona and across the nation. Arizona provides just $8,569 in per pupil funding, the lowest among all states. In fact, Arizona provides $5,477 "less" per pupil than the national average. Arizona also invests only 2.5% of its state wealth, as…

This case positions the reader as the superintendent of Jefferson City Public Schools (pseudonym). Like many urban school districts in the United States, Jefferson City faces a complex milieu of fiscal challenges attributed to inadequate state funding and declining student enrollment. Within this case, the superintendent must address the failing…

P.S. 52 Sheepshead Bay School in Brooklyn, New York, serves more than 850 students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. After scores on the 2014 New York State English language arts assessment were unsatisfactory, first-year principal Rafael Alvarez searched for a way to improve academic outcomes for his…

Despite the expressed need for high-quality science education, very little research has been conducted on what middle school science learning opportunities look like in practice. This study was conducted in support of "Strengthening Science Education in California", a research, policy, and communications initiative. Partners in this…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

This Practical Guide is intended to help educators and others interested in education promote the value of public education to the nation. Research and polling suggests that Americans share deeply held beliefs and values about public schools. Americans believe that one of the strengths of public schools is that they provide concrete benefits for…

In December 2002, the Department of Education launched the Office of Innovation and Improvement. That office was charged with promoting promising innovations in education and expanding parental options and information. Even in those early days of the "No Child Left Behind Act" the Department knew that the law had the potential to set in…

Universities, local school districts, intermediate schools, and state education departments can work together to create model collaboratives by redirecting existing resources, consolidating resources, and discovering mutually beneficial resources to improve teacher preparation, inservice education, and the quality of classroom instruction. Under…

After summarizing the philosophy behind the financing of public schools, this document reviews the division of legal responsibility for education between the state and federal governments; outlines the state's responsibility for providing an equal educational opportunity for its residents; and summarizes the use of federal revenues, state…

This book provides a picture of comprehensive children's services from a global, theoretical perspective, as well as a more practical guide to the potential roles for participating service providers and the structuring of such programs. Following an introduction, the volume is organized into 14 chapters: (1) "Moving from Cooperation to…

This comprehensive reference reviews court decisions affecting the operation, management, and governance of public schools. This edition analyzes all public school cases decided during the 1982 calendar years and reported in West's Regional, Federal, and Supreme Court Resports, through the December 1982 advance sheets. Included as well are 1981…