Background/Context: Most research on "elite" schools has focused on the private sector. However, as a result of economic residential segregation, a number of public school districts exist which may plausibly be construed as socioeconomically elite. Districts of this sort remain relatively understudied. In particular, few researchers have…

One important question about school discipline is whether it helps or harms those being disciplined. But a second, equally important question is whether a push to reduce the number of suspensions is harmful to the rule-abiding majority. This study examines outcomes in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), which made dramatic changes to its…

This project focuses on the competitive pressure, or the threat of competitive pressure, generated by charter school policy. This paper uses longitudinal district-level data and multiple quasi-experimental designs to examine the relationship between two Ohio charter school policies and changes in public school district instructional resource…

Many districts are using content-focused coaching as a strategy to provide job-embedded support to teachers. However, the current coaching literature provides little guidance on what coaches need to know and be able to do to engage teachers in activities that will support their development of ambitious instructional practices. Furthermore, little…

Safety and school culture are both reinforced through a school's disciplinary system. However, when disciplinary action is decided, it would be remiss to assume that the choices made are always objective. A wide range of student needs and behaviors may present themselves in any given school classroom, and at times, the student or family…

Preschool special education students' lack of personal-social skills is affecting their kindergarten readiness and placing them at risk for exposure to school discipline in a large school district in the Southeastern United States. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the quality of school discipline…

This article evaluates a peer mentoring experience for school-based practitioners and its effect on collaborative consultation practices. Best practice and public school policy promote the use of collaborative consultation services but school-based practitioners report significant barriers in achieving effective collaborative consultation…

The purpose of this "Equity by Design" brief is to provide information to parents, community members, and school district leaders and teachers about the relationship between housing policy and school policy. Specifically, this brief provides a succinct history of U.S. housing policy, discusses some current educational policies that…

Decentralization and deregulation policies assume that local educational leaders make better resource decisions than state policy makers do. Conceptual models drawn from organizational theory, however, offer competing predictions about how district central office administrators are likely to leverage their professional expertise in devolved…

Background: Schools have increasing responsibility to address healthy eating, but physical barriers influence their ability to adopt and sustain recommended strategies. We took advantage of a natural experiment to investigate the role of the physical environment in shaping healthy eating attitudes and practices among school staff members. Methods:…

In January 2014, the Obama administration issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on school discipline. The DCL claimed that: (1) school districts rely excessively on suspensions; (2) black students are suspended at disproportionately high rates primarily because of educators' racial bias; (3) suspensions cause substantial long-term harm to students;…

This study explored the moral complexity of student drug and alcohol policies that are often disciplinary, punitive, and exclusionary in nature. The Ethic of the Profession and its Model for Students' Best Interests (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016; Stefkovich, 2013), a professional ethical construct for educational leadership and for school…

An estimated 1.2 million refugee students attend schools across the United States (U.S.). They represent between 35-40% of the total number of refugees in the U.S. Yet, we know little about how school districts work with refugee students, most of whom have had significant gaps in their formal education and for whom English is not their first…

Background: In this study, we describe state agency strategies to support weight-related policy implementation in schools, and examine the association among state support, obesity prevalence, and strength of state policies governing school nutrition and physical education. Methods: The 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study describes…

In less than 2 years, nine young people within one Minnesota school district committed suicide. As such, the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth in the Anoka-Hennepin School District continues to be an example of how embedded ideologies of some individuals can substantially impact the treatment of marginalized…