Quality high-school advising is essential to ensuring access to higher education. However, while efforts are being made in a number of areas to improve access to higher education, there has not yet been enough work done to assess the impact of DEI initiatives on post-secondary advising and, in turn, on college access for underserved students.…

As his district's director of equity and strategic engagement, Shomari Jones often hears the stories of the racism Black students and their families experience in schools. As a Black man representing a culturally white district, he is continually reminded of how the suffering of the past has persisted into the present. Jones and Paul Sutton…

On January 19, 2021, the author of this letter sent the final "Frequently Asked Questions: Impact of COVID-19 on Accountability Systems Required under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)," and accompanying "State Plan Addendum template," that provide responses to questions that States have raised regarding…

In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or…

With this study we explored financial risk management practices in public schools in selected quintile (1, 2 & 3) township schools in the Tshwane South district in Gauteng. The schools involved were previously disadvantaged schools and learners were from the same area as the schools. We adopted a qualitative research approach and thematic…

This qualitative, phenomenological case study was to determine the impact the state accountability system has on school improvement practices for schools that have been designated under the statewide system of support. Nine district and school level leaders were interviewed from one suburban school district designated as…

The Cowen Institute has published the "State of Public Education in New Orleans" ("SPENO") annually since 2007, with a pause for two years after the March 2020 report because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022-2023 has marked a return to a more familiar school environment. This report works to capture some of the changes,…

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry study examined principal perceptions of self-efficacy and EB's student achievement. This study collected interview data from a purposeful sample of six elementary, six middle school, and six high school principals from the Region 4 Education Service Center, Harris County area, in the state of Texas utilizing…

In its four years of life, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has blazed new pathways for policy and funding in K-12 arts education. Many states acted early to take advantage of these federal opportunities to expand students' access to the arts. Through its definitional language, suggested actions, and funding mechanisms, ESSA provides states…

This report summarizes the deliberations and recommendations of the California Advisory Task Force on Alternative Schools (Task Force). The Task Force is a public service project of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities at Stanford University and is convened in collaboration with the California Department of Education (CDE). A…

In changing accountability contexts, policymakers are engaging in international dialogue and collaborative efforts with new opportunities to reframe conversations about how to measure teacher quality and to (re) design and implement evaluation systems accordingly to ensure that they are fair, useable, feasible, and accurate. This study examined…

The role of principal supervisor has been shifting from a focus on management to one that emphasizes support for principals. External partners can sometimes help with redesigning the role and other aspects of district organization. However, most research focuses on large urban districts with role conceptions and organizational structures that are…

Authors William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, who work with high-poverty schools and have researched their success, share key elements of such schools' "transformational journeys." Even during the pandemic and its aftermath, some high-poverty schools have kept building their staff's capacity and confidence and gradually lifted…

This report summarizes the findings of MA DESE's 2020 review of the Boston Public Schools, highlighting key findings around the teaching and learning, operational, financial, and enrollment challenges the state identified. It also describes why, according to the report, BPS persistently struggles in these areas and how its struggles negatively…

Many school districts face the empirical challenge of monitoring program quality to assure that all children experience pre-K environments that foster early learning and development. Factors that are exogenous to classrooms (such as evaluation timing) may play a role in estimates of program quality and yet are not fully understood. This paper…