Educators in K-12 school systems are increasingly acknowledging the importance of serving the "whole person" as an essential foundation for achieving equitable outcomes. The guide is based on the idea that equitable outcomes are more likely to result when whole-person initiatives are implemented in an aligned and coherent way. If…

With their increased autonomy and flexibility, charter schools can be a promising educational option for students with disabilities. However, during the inception of the charter movement, very few people were focused on ensuring that charter school policies addressed the needs of students with disabilities. Since its creation in 2013, the Center…

This qualitative, narrative study highlighted the perspectives of novice teachers regarding their preparation to educate and work with students with ADHD equitably. The problem addressed in the study was the need to understand how novice teachers are prepared to work equitably with students with ADHD. The purpose of the study was to explore the…

May 17, 2024 marks the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled segregated schools were "inherently unequal." At the time, North Carolina was one of 17 states that enforced de jure segregation, that is, segregation by law. The state of North Carolina and the school districts within…

This is the executive summary for the full report, "Crossing the Line: Segregation and Resource Inequality between America's School Districts." School funding debates in the United States tend to center on how much money school districts should receive, and through what policies and formulas. But they almost never focus on the district…

This case was written for practitioners and researchers to help educators engage in the important work of providing culturally responsive instructional supervision within the U.S. education system. Through the intersection of culturally responsive teaching and culturally responsive school leadership, formative feedback about instruction can focus…

Adult student transition programs (also known as 18+ programs, 18-21 programs, adult transition programs, and community transition programs) are educational programs that provide instruction in age-appropriate community environments to adult students who have met the state credit and assessment guidelines for graduation but who still require…

This qualitative study examined what middle school and high school suburban and urban principals learned about equity and educating low socioeconomic status students during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this study asked: What issues of equity were revealed, exacerbated, diminished, or resolved as a result of the pandemic? What key…

For a traditionally marginalized group of Black and Latinx students participating in an interdistrict transfer program to a suburban school district, one teacher leader advocated for and created more equitable conditions.

This paper examines the relationship between teacher pay and students' academic achievement, using nationally representative, district-level linked data between districts' performance on standardized tests and average teacher base salary. By employing state fixed effects and multilevel mixed effects models, we find that both mathematics and…

This study examined the impact of the racial justice movement that emerged in the United States after the murder of George Floyd and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic on the discussion around equity and diversity initiatives in a predominantly White school district. We conducted thematic analyses of public communications of school…

Superintendents as decision-makers in public school systems, in their roles of both leader and manager, have been the topic of studies for many decades (Waters, J. T., & Marzano, R. J., 2006; McClellan, R. L., Hyle, A. E., & Ivory, G. (2010). However, there is little research regarding superintendents' decision-making related to resource…

There is a gap in the empirical and conceptual literature that connects transformational leaders to relevant frameworks assisting with within-district racial and socioeconomic integration. Current studies focus on the collective decisions taken by district personnel to ease the process of integration but not through the lens of the superintendent…

Despite a growing recognition of the significance of student transportation for promoting equitable school choice, to date, there has been limited understanding of the implementation of school transportation policies, particularly in choice-heavy settings. Moreover, little is known about the challenges associated with managing student…

A growing number of school districts are engaging in systems-level, equity-based reform to redress persistent disparities, and many are hiring Equity Directors to lead the way. This qualitative study explores the role of Equity Directors, asking, "What are the leadership practices of Equity Directors?" and "What are the purposes…