Local education agencies (LEAs) continue to use value-added models (VAMs) for teacher evaluation policies and purposes, often with consequences attached. Although the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides more flexibility to LEAs, few have discontinued VAM use, suggesting they interpret VAMs as a valid measure of teacher effectiveness. In…

School districts have increasingly adopted weighted student funding (WSF) formulas that allocate dollars, rather than staff positions, to schools in the name of equity and flexibility. While research to date has studied equity in some of these districts, there is no research that examines the entire cohort of WSF districts together. This paper…

Over the past 30 years, through multiple reauthorizations, both the Every Student Succeeds Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, lawmakers and researchers have consistently acknowledged the importance of fostering family-professional partnerships in schools. Yet research continues to document a number of challenges and…

The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a…

STEM education was a systematic teaching and/or learning process in the STEM fields and a positive correlation existed between STEM education, and the economic prosperity and power of a nation in the globalized world. In recent years, rising concerns have emerged about American STEM education. Many stakeholders wondered that whether the nation has…

The number of homeless children and youth in the United States is on the rise (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2016). Between 2016 and 2017 in the Los Angeles County Homeless Count, there was a 41% increase in the number of homeless minors (The Los Angeles Service Authority, 2017). Education is key to bringing people out of…

As the title suggests, the author provides a description of an international effort to develop an understanding of the present depth and priority of arts policies. As arts policy is not limited to education but formulated at all levels of community, including unions, individuals, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies, policy often…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires 95% participation in state achievement testing. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities participate in states' alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). A growing number of these students are also English learners (Christensen et al., 2018).…

This paper analyzes the history, current practice, and dangers associated with Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). With roots in American progressive education and particularly in the movements for Outcome-Based Education and Self-Esteem, SEL is now pushed onto state and local education systems by the federal government and even international…

Background/Context: The Race to the Top federal initiatives and requirements surrounding waivers of No Child Left Behind promoted expanded use of value-added models (VAMs) to evaluate teachers. Even after passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) relaxed these requirements, allowing more flexibility and local control, many states and…

Poverty as a cultural factor affects students' school success and outcomes. In the current literature review, we aimed at providing a comprehensive analysis of intervention research designed to support school outcomes of students aged 3 to 21 years with disabilities or at risk for developing disabilities in high-poverty contexts. Eighteen studies…

Inclusion, specifically inclusion of students with disabilities in the educational system, is not just compliance to standards, but also an attitude. Therefore, inclusive education can be implemented in various ways. This article will examine the educational systems of the United States and Japan, using a case study and literature review. The case…

This article introduces a special issue comprising research on efforts to personalize learning in different academic subjects. We first consider the emergence of personalized learning (PL) and the myriad of definitions that describe its essential features. Thereafter, we introduce the articles in the special issue by examining their alignment to…

The passage of the 2015, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), affords states funding for many new options to address the needs of learners. One of the prominent options is personalized learning (PL). This study sought to determine how states positioned PL in their state plans. This study used a qualitative research design to analyze state ESSA plans…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015) highlighted technology-based personalised learning (PL) as a means of providing equitable learning experiences for all students. Many states have put forward guidance in their ESSA plans to inform professional development (PD) that empowers educators with skills that maximize PL for students. This brief…