This article examines the administrative and bureaucratic barriers faced by trans and nonbinary high-school students in the School District of Philadelphia. Despite strong gender-inclusive policies like the district's Policy 252, student interviews, first-hand observation, and document analysis reveal a variety of stress points that trans and…

Students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ) continue to experience bullying and harassment from their peers in K-12 education. LGBTQ students experience discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as intersecting identities that encompass race, disability status, ethnicity,…

Children's health is affected by physical activity (PA) opportunities throughout the school day. Schools are a central venue for children meeting physical activity recommendations, and multiple areas, such as recess, have been established to protect against childhood obesity and overweight. Senate Bill 1083 is a law that addresses recess policies…

Twenty percent of occupational therapists are employed in schools nationwide. Despite years of service since the Brown vs. U.S. Board of Education Law was enacted in 1954, school-based occupational therapists are restricted from advancing into formal Professional Educator License leadership roles. Due to state legislation and credentialing issues,…

The Innovation Schools Act of 2008, (§ 22-32.5-102, C.R.S. et.seq) was created in response to district and school leaders' interest in finding a way for districts to develop and implement innovative practices in a wide variety of areas for the purpose of improving student outcomes. The Act provides a formal process that allows schools to petition…

Texas has a large and growing population of adults who do not have a high school diploma or something equivalent. Recent changes to the national GED test and the introduction of additional exams in Texas have potentially exacerbated the problem. This report presents information derived from a community assessment of the Austin and San Antonio…

Minority students and students with disabilities are disciplined disproportionately from their peers. Discipline has led to many negative consequences in the lives of youth in the United States, including the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance encouraging school districts to develop policies that…

The Task Force to Study the Impact of Expanding Credit and Noncredit Courses for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities was formed in July 2013. Chapter 392, Acts of 2013, (House Bill 813) established the Task Force to Study the Impact of Expanding Credit and Noncredit Courses for Students with Intellectual and Developmental…

This article documents results of a survey of 73 school social workers regarding their record-keeping practices. These social workers indicated that time pressures are a major challenge to documentation; they struggle to know what to include, and they worry about privacy. More than half fail to consistently include assessment information, progress…

There is broad agreement that teacher quality is related to student achievement, but there is far less agreement about the degree to which school districts and administrators are constrained in making policies to improve teacher quality that might also affect teacher employment and working conditions. Conventional wisdom holds that state law and…

The California Voting Rights Act of 2001 had the effect, among others, of granting standing for "protected classes" disadvantaged by at-large school board elections to sue their school districts for lack of appropriate representation. This has generated increased legal action along these lines, particularly among Latino communities that…

This case study is part of a broader research project examining state policies and governance structures that span K-12 and postsecondary education. Oregon has been a leader in K-16 reform through its development of the Proficiency-based Admission Standards System (PASS), which articulated postsecondary expectations and linked them with K-12…