Developing positive school climates and improving school discipline policies and practices are critical steps to raising academic achievement and supporting student success. However, there is no single formula for doing so. Rather, the growing body of research and best practices in the field should inform locally developed approaches to improving…

There is no evidence that physically restraining or putting children in unsupervised seclusion in the K-12 school system provides any educational or therapeutic benefit to a child. In fact, use of either seclusion or restraints in non-emergency situations poses significant physical and psychological danger to students. Yet the first round of data…

Corruption is at the core of weak governance. In the education sector, corruption is a threat to the quality of and access to education. Although the diagnosis is straightforward, effective reforms are more difficult to implement. The principles of good governance (transparency, participation, accountability, and integrity) provide us guidance,…

This article describes how different constituencies in a major research university tried to initiate change despite disagreements over common goals, norms and principles. The context was a culture war. The university administration wanted to impose a corporatising and privatising philosophy which it felt was crucial to preserving the…

College faculty teaching in the health professions work within a unionized, neoliberal system designed to produce competent graduates trained to work in the health care hierarchy. The workers trained include community care assistants, two levels of nurses (practical nurses and baccalaureate nurses, the latter in collaboration with university…

The Common Core State Standards initiative (CCSS) seeks to "provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn" at various grade levels. For some education observers, CCSS will finally clarify for students, parents, and educators what students need to know and be able to do if they are to be prepared for…

A clear, well defined policy can help empower school personnel to make informed decisions on how to handle cases of suspected child abuse. This article presents an analysis of (N = 64) school board child abuse reporting policies and procedures in Ontario and explored what training, resources, and support school boards state they will provide to…

In this article, I argue that a concentrated focus on everyday informal learning about unions is critical not only to re-thinking union education programs, but to the overall project of union renewal. The article offers, by way of example, an inquiry into the grievance system as a routine (and central) union practice and a key site of informal…

This article investigates the activities of teacher unions in some Gauteng secondary schools in South Africa. The methods used in collecting data were questionnaires, interviews and a literature study of appropriate educational and labour law journals, books and newspapers. An interpretive paradigm was used in analysing the data. In this article,…

This paper is a response to Academic Senate Resolution 19.05 F11, which called for an update of the 1990 Academic Senate Paper Guidelines for Developing a Faculty Evaluation Process. The current paper presents the position that faculty evaluations should be focused on professional development and on personal and professional growth and should…

About 12 percent of all charter schools have bargaining agreements. Why do charter schools unionize? What is in these charter school contracts? Can they be considered innovative or models for union reform? And how do they compare to traditional district/union teacher contracts? Center on Reinventing Public Education legal analyst Mitch Price…

The purpose of the study was to examine categories of disabilities and disputes common to special education hearings in the State of Texas between 2006 and 2008, and to determine which party typically prevailed in these hearings. Special education disability was based on the 13 categories identified by the State of Texas. Chi square compared…

Each year, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) receives many inquiries about the legal status of faculty handbooks. To respond to some common inquiries, the Association's legal office prepared this overview of faculty handbook decisions. It is arranged by state and includes decisions of which the Association is aware and that…

This document provides answers to frequently asked questions on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the education rights of children and youth in homeless situations. The answers are general responses based on federal statutes, regulations, and guidance; relevant case law; and best practices from across the country. While the National…

Authorizers must decide whether a proposed school should be allowed to open and whether it should be required to close. To enable authorizers to serve as quality gatekeepers for the sector, state policy must give authorizers clear power to deny low-quality charter school applications and to close charter schools that fail to meet expectations. At…