The purpose of the National Conference was for attendees to: (1) Review research and policy recommendations and goals identified at the November 2015 "Environmental Health at School: Ignored Too Long" panel and facilitated workshop; (2) Hear about risks and exposures at schools and their impact on children; (3) Understand the Centers for…

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary impact of the Create Healthy Futures program, a self-paced, 6-lesson, web-based intervention on promoting healthy eating for Early Care and Education (ECE) providers, using a group-randomized controlled trial design with 3 repeated measurements. Methods: Nine ECE…

State policy plays a critical role in determining whether and how well local education improvement strategies can be implemented. As states rework their education policies under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state and local leaders need a way to assess their current policy environment and identify the changes needed to encourage local…

The charter school movement in the United States began in Minnesota in 1991 and spread rapidly in nearly every state within the United States in an attempt to provide competition for the traditional public schools. Since the passage of the first charter school laws, and the most recent legislative passage in Alabama, forty-two state legislatures…

Established in the year 2000, the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education is a multidisciplinary center located at a school of social work that engages in collaborative, community-based research and evaluation that spans multiple systems and disciplines. The Center currently occupies 4,200 sq. ft. with multiple offices and…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers state leaders the opportunity to refocus their education systems on improving opportunity and outcomes for young people who have been underserved for far too long. The law includes a number of important requirements to focus on equity in school accountability, but it also leaves many key decisions up to…

In 1997, the Buckeye State embraced a new approach to public-education delivery, launching a pilot program of community (charter) schools. Since then, the state's community schools sector has grown tremendously. During the 2013-14 school year, 390 schools served approximately 124,000 students--seven percent of students statewide. Despite its…

Nature education is an important part of early childhood education. As young children develop, the natural world offers concrete and authentic learning experiences. Activities focused on nature support learning in all developmental domains. Children develop physically through hiking in natural terrain, climbing hills and trees, balancing on logs,…

Two years after the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the $110 million center, opened with exhibits on how enslaved African-Americans risked their lives to make the northward trek to freedom. Today, however, the center is shifting its focus while serving as an educational focal point, research asset and change agent.…

School choice is increasingly the new normal in urban education. But in cities with multiple public school options, how can civic leaders create a choice system that works for all families, whether they choose a charter or district public school? To answer this question, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) researchers surveyed 4,000…

In Ohio's Licking County, the Career and Technology Education Centers (C-TEC) is a leader in the green movement. This eco-friendly school incorporates environmental sustainability in all aspects of its programming and is the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified public building in the state. While eco-friendly…

Purpose: A factor largely overlooked amid the press for greater security in schools is the extent to which law enforcement participates in search and seizure and the implications such actions carry for student civil liberties. As case law suggests, police engaged in school searches may be held to the probable cause standard or the more flexible…

Just 18 minutes before the midnight signing deadline on May 15, 2010, Minnesota state legislators breathed a sigh of relief. Their bipartisan pension reform legislation, which passed both chambers by large margins and aimed to help shore up a potentially failing pension system, had just escaped a veto threat. Under pressure from his Republican…

The 2012 presidential election and many state and local races are only a few weeks away, but schools are not doing much to promote student interest in the elections or provide civic education more broadly, new research suggests. A report last week from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), at Tufts…

In 2002, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) adopted a policy committing itself to develop all schools in the district as community learning centers. In Pleasant Ridge, one of Cincinnati's most racially and socio-economically diverse neighborhoods, the community set itself to the task of rebuilding what had been a failing school that reflected little…