Charter schools are publicly-funded educational entities that operate independently from local school districts and are exempt from certain state and local requirements, particularly with regard to teacher personnel policy. In exchange for this flexibility, charter schools are held more accountable for results and may be shut down if they fail to…

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 and, more recently, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 required all school districts participating in the federal Child Nutrition Programs (e.g., National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Afterschool Snack Program) to adopt and implement a local…

This dissertation explored the constitutionality of a Georgia law, under both the Georgia Constitution and the United States Constitution, which allows for the removal of elected school board members based on threatened loss of district accreditation. The problem is that elected board members are being removed from office based on district…

Background: A quarter of U.S. children are bullied annually. State legislatures have responded to high profile media exposure of bullying and increased public concern by passing legislation aimed at preventing bullying among school children. Methods: The RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) framework was used to…

Bullying is a problem in our schools. Bullying behavior was easier to curtail when it was face-to-face, but now, through the Internet, Bullying has transmogriphied into a form that one cannot escape. Hurtful and hate-filled messages printed "in perpetuity." The messages torment victims twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Many…

The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights' bullying prevention initiative, RFK Project SEATBELT (RFKC) was contracted by the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR), in June 2013, to provide resources and support for DC public and public charter schools' bullying prevention efforts. This contract moved to Child Trends in August 2014. From…

The Indiana State Board of Education (ISBE) has not been shy about exercising its authority to intervene in chronically underperforming schools. Under the state's Public Law 221, the Indiana Board can mandate specific interventions for any school that has received six consecutive failing grades under the state's accountability system--up to a…

In June 2013, former Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law House Bill (HB) 5, 83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, which established a new high school graduation program--the Foundation High School Program--for students entering Grade 9 in 2014-15 and reduced the number of state assessments required for graduation. The legislation gave the…

Effective professional development for school principals is crucial to the successful administration of schools, especially during periods of change resulting from policy mandates. The Louisiana Legislature has passed legislation in an attempt to reform education in the state. During this same period, the Board of Elementary and Secondary…

Scant information exists regarding the status of students with disabilities in the charter sector. With the release of the most recent U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools (NCSECS) embraced the opportunity to examine these issues across the universe of…

Scant information exists regarding the status of students with disabilities in the charter sector. While there is some understanding of several high-profile issues (e.g., enrollment gaps, counseling out, the provision of special education services, and growth of specialized charter schools), to date, little has been published to verify or disprove…

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…

It's not unusual for lawmakers to debate aspects of the American political system, but a recent discussion in Utah's House of Representatives wasn't merely theoretical. The bill under consideration, since signed into law, requires public schools to teach that the United States is a "compound constitutional republic." The curriculum also…

This paper is an exploratory study about sexting, the sending of sexually explicit or illicit photos or video between cell phones, in Kansas public schools. An on-line survey asked superintendents to report if they have had an occurrence of sexting in their district. They were also asked if they felt sexting is currently a problem in their…