In Indiana, higher education and postsecondary degrees are not accessible to all. Indiana is one of eight states with legislation specifically prohibiting offering in-state tuition rates and state financial aid to immigrant students not legally residing in the country. (U.S. 2023). This makes college unaffordable for thousands of undocumented…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impacts of a specific accelerated learning program on STAAR Algebra I End of Course exam scores for students who had previously failed the exam. The accelerated learning program, titled STAAR Acceleration, was intended to help students who had experienced school closures because of COVID-19 improve…

The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) has prepared this analysis in collaboration with the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (Workforce Board), and the Association of Washington Business, as part of a broad educational needs assessment outlined in RCW…

In some instances, a local school district may determine that it cannot provide free appropriate public education (FAPE) for a student with a disability within their district. In partnership with the student's family and teachers, the district may decide that the student would be best served in a private school or facility better suited to meet…

Tennessee passed voucher-style Education Savings Account (ESA) legislation in 2019. We analyze the roll call vote in the Tennessee House to better understand the role of constituent, legislator, and special interest influences on support for school choice. This is accomplished using a binary probit model with legislator vote as the dependent…

This dissertation discussed the impact of the North Carolina Tort Claims Act and the history of governmental immunity that has protected school districts and school employees in North Carolina. The research question addressed was: how have North Carolina state courts interpreted the North Carolina Tort Claims Act in litigation against North…

Despite increasing enrollment rates among Great Lakes state charter schools, a growing body of research acknowledged the disproportionate number of charter school closures experienced by a marginalized student population. The purpose of this qualitative comparison case study was to examine whether inequities existed in the contract renewal process…

2021 was a great year for charter school students and families across the country. Several states passed legislation to allow more schools to open and promote fiscal equity. In other states, charter school advocates were able to defeat a number of bills that would have imposed significant and unnecessary burdens on charter schools. In our 2021…

Although private school choice has historically been a Republican priority, education reform organizations often use strategies intended to appeal to Democratic lawmakers and interest groups. Among 70 votes held on final passage for private school choice legislation, Democrats provided only 381 "yes" votes compared to 2,844 Republican…

The federal McKinney-Vento Act broadly defines homelessness in an effort to provide protections and supports for students living in a variety of unstable housing situations. This ensures school stability and continued enrollment at a time when a student's nighttime residence may be constantly changing. In Washington, the number of children and…

The U.S. and West Virginia constitutions acknowledge the right to free speech, which must be protected at public colleges, but Senate Bill 657, which became law in 2021, requires that public colleges protect "any lawful verbal and nonverbal speech." Furthermore, many private colleges also promise free speech to their students. However a…

The 2021 Legislature tasked the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) with convening a workgroup to develop recommendations to support recruiting and retaining a multicultural and multilingual educator workforce with state salary allocations that are competitive and reflective of current economic conditions. The K-12 Basic…

Over the past decade, many states enacted substantial reforms to teacher-related laws and policies. In Michigan, the state legislature implemented requirements for teacher evaluation based partly on student achievement, reduced tenure protections, and restricted the scope of teacher collective bargaining. Some teacher advocates view such reform as…

California state-level policies are responsible for allocating nearly 80 percent of the revenue received by its K-12 school districts. In 2013-14, the state implemented the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which changed the allocation formula from one based primarily on equal revenue per pupil to an equity-focused allocation based primarily…

This mixed-methods case study examines the emergency financial management legislation enacted in Michigan from 2009 to 2018 as an education policy for governance reform in three local school districts: Detroit, Highland Park, and Muskegon Heights. From its inception, the emergency financial manager law was an intervention strategy for local…