This dissertation measured the impact of the integration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and historical inquiry on 10 and 11 year old 5th grade charter school students. By using Q methodology, a mixed methodology research tool, this study examined three hypotheses. These include the outcomes of holistic learning, the effect of…

In the late-2000s, Washington, DC achieved national notoriety for its embrace of market accountability in public schools and support for a steadily expanding charter sector. At the same time, the DC government pursued a concerted effort to attract new residents and investment to the city, a project that bore fruit in the form of some of the…

Public charter school boards and their superintendents have a responsibility to plan for the future, including for the next school superintendent. Superintendents serve as the Chief Executive Officer responsible for overseeing academic, financial, and operational performance of the school system. The job of school superintendent is very complex…

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…

Five groups rank state charter school environments according to their laws, regulations, funding, and other characteristics, but none rank states by charter student performances on a national test. We rank states by demographically adjusted math and reading performances of charter students in 4th and 8th grade for the period 2009 to 2019 on the…

"Brown v. Board of Education" held that the educational systems of seventeen states that mandated segregated schools violated the Constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The decision helped set off the civil rights revolution. However, after so many years of backlash, schools of the South are dramatically less segregated than what…

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…

Restorative justice practices are an increasingly popular approach to behavioral management, rooted in relationships rather than the behaviorist approach of many traditional forms of schooling. Research on restorative practice implementation demonstrates that schools rarely have time to consider cultural change, as they rush to reduce suspensions…

As students and teachers embrace more forms of multimodal composing, classroom power structures move from the more linear, hierarchical structures typically seen in education to more open, student-centered forms. However, these transitions are not always seamless. Using a multiliteracies framework, this article focuses on how a classroom teacher…

We exploit information about parental preference and a randomized component in the assignment of students to schools within a deferred acceptance (DA) mechanism to estimate the causal effect of enrolling in a charter school in Newark, New Jersey, on student test scores. The estimates incorporate variation from students attending about 70% of the…

Charter management organizations (CMOs) have increasingly had to respond to questions surrounding their organizations--particularly in the context of the broader social awakening around systemic injustices and evidence of their racially inequitable practices. This study investigated how CMOs counteracted criticisms and managed perception by…

This study asks: What is the relationship between principal turnover and school performance? We use data on all Colorado public schools for the years 2013 through 2018 to examine the relationship between turnover and school performance. Analyses included difference-in-difference and ordinary least squares regression after first differencing.…

The annual assignment of elementary students from one classroom to the next is a ubiquitous cycle in schools. Since student class assignment has an effect on students' educational trajectory, understanding how placement procedures impact student equity is an important area of research with benefits for all stakeholders. In this action research…

Instructional coaches are increasingly used to deliver job-embedded professional development for educators despite limited evidence-based models and assessment-driven resources to guide implementation. While researchers in vocational psychology have validated measures for job selection that can guide training; development and validation of…

Given the concerning lack of teachers of color in Minnesota, the positive outcomes of having a diverse educator workforce, and growing legislative action in this area with the Increase Teachers of Color Act, the Minnesota Department of Education with the assistance of the Wisconsin-Minnesota Comprehensive Center Region 10 (R10CC) sought to better…