This article highlights McKinney-Vento awareness and implementation as experienced and understood by unaccompanied youth facing housing instability and the adults charged with its implementation in schools. A qualitative inquiry was used to capture the perspectives of youth experiencing housing instability as they navigated a large urban school…

This article focuses on the transformative academies policy in England. Based on an analysis of documentary evidence, we argue that the policy has resulted in the fragmentation of the state-funded school system and stark variation between academies, with those within multi-academy trusts (MATs) having no legal identity. We examine the variation…

Critics of standards-based reform often cite an accountability policy environment that disproportionately affects teachers compared with principals and district officials. We directly examine this disproportionality. In our three study states of Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky, we use survey analysis to understand how policy environments for district…

This document has been conceived to facilitate reflection and guide countries in optimizing the potential of their education policy dialogue and sector coordination mechanisms. It brings into focus the possible core functions of the local education group, the main challenges to realizing these functions and the key principles for ensuring…

At the core, budgeting is about distributing and redistributing limited financial resources for continuous improvement. Incremental budgeting is limited in achieving the goal due to lack of connection between outcomes and budget decisions. Zero-based budgeting fills the gap, but is cumbersome to implement, especially for large urban school…

In this article, we draw upon notions of occupational professionalism and organizational professionalism to interrogate the complex, and sometimes contradictory, teacher learning practices that characterize educational policy enactment. We apply these understandings to the Growing Success assessment and evaluation policy in Ontario, Canada, and in…

School accountability systems in the United States have been criticized on a number of fronts, mainly on grounds of completeness and fairness. This study examines an alternative school quality framework--one that seemingly responds to several core critiques of present accountability systems. Examining results from a pilot study in a diverse urban…

During the past decade, education leaders and policymakers have made significant investments to better align California's K-12 and postsecondary education systems and to address persistent disparities in educational attainment by race and socioeconomic status. This report distills important lessons emerging from these efforts, integrating the…

In this study we analyze Dewey's writings and related literature in order to explain and utilize his ethical principle of regard for one's self, others and social groups. His reflections about consequences, the common good, accountability and responsibility undergo scrutiny too. Moreover, we probe his understanding of affections, interest and…

The passage of ESSA in 2015 created a novel mandate for States to develop school accountability systems that use alternative measures of school quality beyond test scores. This created an opportunity for States to be innovative and make new forms of data available that could potentially lead to new strategies for improving schools. This study…

Accountability policies in education play a significant role for the principals tasked with facilitating the implementation of these reforms at the school-level. While these policies are most often intended to improve student outcomes, this is not always the case. In some instances, these policies can prove detrimental to schools, yet principals…

Data use is considered a key lever in school improvement processes, but the punitive pressure of high-stakes accountability can influence whether or not data use is enacted in ways which facilitate improvement. School leaders must learn to respond to high-stakes accountability in ways which lead teachers to feel safe, efficacious, and agentic with…

The violent police response to uprisings in response to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor unveiled who America is for our students. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic increased the politicization of schools and exacerbated inequality in schools already segregated by class and race. Throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, students…

California Senate Bill 74, Budget Act of 2020, required the California Department of Education (CDE) to conduct a study to examine the state's current governance and accountability structures that support California students with an individualized education program (IEP). The study was intended to focus on the end goals of improving outcomes for…

Inclusion rates for students with disabilities in general education settings have increased nationwide. To further extend this progress, schools, districts, and educational service agencies in rural areas have sought ways to improve their own inclusion metrics. This article describes a technical assistance arrangement that was initiated between a…