Education Policy Commons^™

How Hb 1222 Would Save Arkansas Money, Patrick J. Wolf, Julie R. Trivitt, Corey A. Deangelis

School Choice Demonstration Project

Private school choice programs have a positive fiscal impact on states because the amount of state money spent on a child in the program, or the amount of state revenue foregone in the case of tax-credit funding, is less than the state would pay if the student attended a public school.

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2016, Charlene A. Reid, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights high-performing Middle schools across the state based on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire examinations in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2016.

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2016, Charlene A. Reid, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights high-achieving junior high schools across Arkansas based on the ACT Aspire Math, ELA (which includes Reading, Writing and English exams) and Science examinations of the 2015-16 academic year.

Media Coverage On Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students Of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo And Its Surrounding Community, Melissa Eraclea Nuñez

Journalism

The following study focused on media coverage of the socioeconomically disadvantaged student population at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA and its immediate surrounding community. Specifically, this study pointed out the gaps in the existing coverage and it looked for ways to fill in those gaps. In additional to filling the gaps, the study emphasized the agenda-setting theory, to bring more awareness and understanding of the struggles and existence of the mentioned student demographic in a city most commonly known as an affluent and not so diverse area of California. To bring this awareness and understanding, four interviews were …

Funding The Arts And Humanities Is Worth Fighting For, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

There’s an old story about Winston Churchill that is not true but is worth repeating. When approached about cutting funding for the arts so the money could go to the war effort during World War II, Churchill supposedly replied: “Then what are we fighting for?”

As far as we can tell Churchill never actually said this, but you can be forgiven for being taken by the sentiment. This apocryphal quote still makes the rounds because it suggests that even in times of war art can help us realize what it is, exactly, that’s worth defending. [excerpt]

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2016, Charlene A. Reid, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights high-performing elementary schools across the state based on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2016 in Math, ELA courses (which includes English, Writing and Reading) and Science.

Maybe It's Time To Put Betsy Devos In 'Receive Mode', Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

By now you have probably heard about Betsy DeVos' big day out recently. She tried to visit a middle school in Washington but found the front door blocked when she showed up. This led, of course, to the publication of an already-infamous cartoon suggesting that DeVos is actually a modern-day Civil Rights warrior, and to the suggestion that protesters blocking DeVos at the schoolhouse door was the functional (if not moral) equivalent of preventing black children from attending segregated schools in the 1950s and '60s. It's an argument that is morally wrong, historically stupid, and patently offensive. [excerpt]

Betsy Devos Is No Ruby Bridges, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

So maybe you saw this cartoon that was drawn by Glenn McCoy for the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat under the headline "Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos." If you didn't, take a look.

In the cartoon, of course, you see little Betsy DeVos walking to school, book in hand, surrounded by faceless men who are there to protect her. It seems to barely be working: there is profanity scrawled on the wall ("NEA"!; "Conservative"!; an anarchy symbol) and what appears to be a really juicy, nasty tomato thrown against the wall. For context, you might also be interested in looking at this …

And What If Devos Is Confirmed?, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

So today is the big day: the Senate is expected to finally vote on Betsy DeVos's nomination to become the next U.S. Secretary of Education, and Vice President Mike Pence is poised to break an expected tie in her favor. I doubt very much that aything other than the expected result is going to happen. After all, we live in an age when too many politicians pick their voters, not the other way around. My bet is that Collins and Murkowski were allowed to announce their votes against DeVos because the leadership had already conducted a tight whip count …

Implementation, Cost, And Funding Of Bilingual Education In Texas: Lessons For Local And State Policymakers, David S. Knight, Elena Izquierdo, David E. Dematthews

Policy Briefs

Despite the rapid increase in enrollment of students who speak a language other than English at home, little prior research examines the resources required to implemented instructional programs for emergent bilinguals and whether school districts receive adequate funding for these programs. This policy brief (a) synthesizes research on implementation of bilingual education, (b) describes research on the cost of bilingual education programs, and (c) reports the findings of a study showing that bilingual education programs are severely underfunding in Texas and nationally.

The brief offers recommendations for local and state policymakers. School leaders can use bilingual education models to support …

Research Informs Debate On Cuomo’S Excelsior Scholarship Proposal, John Yinger, Robert Bifulco, Ross Rubenstein

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

The Technocratic Politics Of The Common Core State Standards In History, Kate Duguid

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper shows that the explicit aims of the American educational standards for public schools, the Common Core State Standards to teach history to create “college and career ready” students, marks a shift from preparing students for political participation to preparing them for market participation. I trace the intellectual and pedagogical origins of the Common Core’s pretense of technocratic apolitical values back through the previous two major American curricular reform efforts. In the first section I discuss the origins and development of the National History Standards and show how Cold War anxiety prompted a shift in evaluating students as potential …

Overpopulation And The Impact On The Environment, Doris Baus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this research paper, the main focus is on the issue of overpopulation and its impact on the environment. The growing size of the global population is not an issue that appeared within the past couple of decades, but its origins come from the prehistoric time and extend to the very present day. Throughout the history, acknowledged scientists introduced the concept of “overpopulation” and predicted the future consequences if the world follows the same behavioral pattern. According to predictions, scientists invented the birth control pill and set population control through eugenics. Despite that, population continued to increase and fight with …

Educating Incarcerated Youth In Illinois: A Blended Learning Model, John Sonnenberg

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to better understand the reasons behind the apparent continued success of a blended learning educational model in place since 2012 in the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ). Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered and analyzed from a variety of records, reports, and other documentation that included: diplomas awarded, courses taken, course completion, enrollment trends, student mobility rates, GED testing information, and special education student enrollment and performance. Data were also gathered through classroom observations and individual and group interviews with the IDJJ district superintendent, principals, and teachers at six different …

What If Betsy Devos Is Not Confirmed?, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

After her disastrous turn in front of the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions last week, the odds of Betsy DeVos not being confirmed as secretary of education have to at least be a lot higher than they used to be. It seems like no stretch to say that she is no slam dunk, if she ever was. [excerpt]

Quality Counts 2017, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Education Week released their 21st Quality Counts report last month. In addition to the annual grades, this year’s report takes a comprehensive look at the steps states are taking to turn their blueprints for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act’s to a finished structure. Overall, Arkansas received a C– and was ranked 43rd among the 50 states. This policy brief examines Arkansas’ rank in each category of the report as well as the quality of the report itself.

Betsy Devos Fails The Test, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

Mitt Romney said: "Betsy DeVos is a smart choice for education secretary." The Wall Street Journal said DeVos "knows how to fight and how to make the moral case for reform." Andrew Rotherham called her "a pretty mainstream pick." Rick Hess, purveyor of "straight talk" on education issues, informs us that DeVos is a "solid pick" who is "smart, thoughtful, and committed to doing what she thinks is best." It's too bad none of that was on display yesterday when DeVos in the hearing yesterday to determine if she should become the next U.S. Secretary of Education. …

The Succeed Scholarship Progam: A Voucher For Arkansas' Students In Special Education, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The 2016-17 school year is the first year that Arkansas’ students with disabilities could use state education dollars as tuition at authorized private schools. In this brief we examine the Succeed Scholarship Program and consider the impacts for Arkansas schools and students.

Obama's Legacy For Education Policy, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

Last night Barack Obama delivered his farewell address to a raucous crowd in Chicago. This morning, Donald Trump delivered his first press conference as president-elect in front of a surprisingly raucous crowd at Trump Tower in New York. The difference between the two, in tone as well as substance, could not have been more stark. [excerpt]

Law-Based Arguments And Messages To Advocate For Later School Start Time Policies In The United States, Clark J. Lee, Dennis M. Nolan, Steven W. Lockley, Brent Pattison

Homeland Security Publications

The increasing scientific evidence that early school start times are harmful to the health and safety of teenagers has generated much recent debate about changing school start times policies for adolescent students. Although efforts to promote and implement such changes have proliferated in the United States in recent years, they have rarely been supported by law-based arguments and messages that leverage the existing legal infrastructure regulating public education and child welfare in the United States. Furthermore, the legal bases to support or resist such changes have not been explored in detail to date. This article provides an overview of how …