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Utah’s dual language education (DL) initiative, officially introduced in 2007 and backed by unique state-level planning, is touted as a new “mainstreaming” of DL and is sparking interest across the U.S. Using a critical language policy lens and a mixed method approach, we asked which student groups were positioned discursively and materially to benefit the most from this policy across three types of privilege: white racial privilege, wealth, and English privilege. A critical discourse analysis conducted of five main Utah DL policy texts pointed toward already privileged student groups being discursively targeted for DL participation. Analysis of the demographics of schools housing DL programs between 2005 and 2014 showed a statistically significant drop in access for those without the three forms of privilege under study. We argue these findings are consistent with a larger trend toward the metaphorical gentrification of DL by students of more privilege than those it historically served. We discuss our concerns that as the Utah model spreads nationwide, the gentrification process threatens to position DL as the next wave in a broad pattern of inequitably distributed enrichment education within U.S. schools. We recommend steps toward avoiding this inequitable outcome.

Attracting and retaining teachers can be an important ingredient in improving low-performing schools. In this study, we estimate the expressed preferences for teachers who have worked in low-performing schools in Tennessee. Using adaptive conjoint analysis survey design, we examine three types of school attributes that may influence teachers’ employment decisions: fixed school characteristics, structural features of employment, and malleable school processes. We find that teachers express a strong preference for two malleable school processes, administrative support and discipline enforcement, along with a higher salary, a structural feature. Estimates indicate these attributes are 2 to 3 times more important to teachers than fixed school characteristics like prior achievement. We validate our results using administrative data on teachers’ revealed preferences.

With the proliferation of social indicator databases, the need for powerful techniques to study patterns of change has grown. In this paper, the utility of spatial data analytical methods such as exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) is suggested as a means to leverage the information contained in social indicator databases. The principles underlying ESDA are illustrated using a study of clusters and outliers based on data for a child risk scale computed for countries in the state of Virginia. Evidence of spatial clusters of high child risks is obtained along the Southern region of Virginia. The utility of spatial methods for state agencies in monitoring social indicators at various localities is discussed. A six-step framework that integrates spatial analysis of key indicators within a monitoring framework is presented; we argue that such a framework could be useful in enhancing communication between State and local planners.

As spaces for researchers and practitioners to engage in long-term, mutual collaborations aimed at addressing problems of practice in education, research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer rich contexts for research use. Our study examines how interactions between researchers and practitioners shape opportunities for research use in a professional association engaged in RPP activities focused on fostering change in statewide K–12 science education. Drawing on a conceptualization of RPPs as joint work at boundaries, we show how both researchers and practitioners facilitated research use. Furthermore, research use was facilitated by brokers’ engagement in RPP activities and with shared pieces of research. Findings affirm the role that brokers play in connecting research and practice and identify specific activities that may be useful in facilitating research use in RPPs.

Despite substantial federal, state, and local investments in improving early care and education (ECE), we know little about whether ECE program quality has improved over time. The lack of data tracking the quality of publicly funded ECE programs at scale creates a substantial evidence gap for policymakers attempting to weigh the returns on, and future of, quality improvement policies. Data from Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) provide a promising opportunity to address this problem. Using 4 years of data from a mandatory, statewide QRIS covering subsidized child care, Head Start, and state prekindergarten, we document systemwide quality and improvement trends over a period of targeted investment in quality improvement statewide. We find improvements in quality overall, across sectors and communities over this period. Results also reveal differential growth across sectors such that quality gaps diminished. This study highlights the potential of statewide ECE data for informing quality improvement efforts.

Three years after the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Patrick McGuinn reviews how the U.S. Department of Education has managed the approval process for state accountability plans, how state plans are shaping up as a result of their newfound flexibility, and what implementation challenges have emerged. States have required multiple iterations to submit plans that the Department of Education would approve, and state plans have met with criticism from multiple quarters and across the political spectrum. Some states have adopted new practices related to testing and which measures to use to assess schools. However, it is not yet clear what the long-term effects that the giving of greater flexibility to the states will have.

Policy, systems, and environmental change are now widely accepted as critical to sustaining improvements in community health. Evidence suggests that such systems-level change is most effective when driven by community-based partnerships. Yet, after more than three decades of building community-based partnership work, health inequities have continued to deepen. To address health inequities, current and historical distributions of power are increasingly recognized as important considerations in efforts to ensure all individuals have the opportunity to attain their full health potential (i.e., achieving health equity). Building on social determinants of health literature, social injustice and powerlessness are put forth as fundamental causes of health inequities. Focusing on power as a root cause of health and health equity through application of Wolff and colleagues’ six principles requires substantial changes in contemporary public health practice. This case study uses document analysis of a single case, the Community Teams Program, to assess the evolution of a statewide public health leadership program’s efforts to build the capacity of coalition-based teams to catalyze community change in line with Wolff and colleagues’ principles. Deductive, selective coding of the materials surface four themes in the program adaptations: (1) the need to focus on power as a root cause, (2) shifting power through relationship building, (3) storytelling as a way to shift narrative, and (4) building mechanisms into the curriculum that hold coalitions accountable for applying and sustaining learned skills. The themes demonstrate philosophical, pedagogical, and organizational changes to center power building approaches in health promotion. Findings are triangulated by reflections from the program director and recorded reflections of participants captured in existing evaluation data.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the use of integrated campus sustainability plans at US institutions of higher education. The paper also offers a preliminary framework for the evaluation of these plans. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines 27 campus sustainability plans. It determines the types and characteristics of the institutions that have adopted these plans. It then uses content analysis techniques to determine their typical contents and emphases. Finally, the paper draws on literature pertaining to sustainability plans and plan evaluation to present a preliminary tool for evaluating campus sustainability planning efforts. Findings – Campus sustainability plans in the USA are extremely diverse. Environmental aspects are most prominent in these plans, and social equity aspects are least prominent. Campus operations receive more attention than do academic or administrative aspects. Most campuses have taken an inclusive, campus-wide approach to developing their sustainability plans. The evaluation of these plans should consider both their process and their substance and should account for circumstances unique to higher education. Research limitations/implications – The research is focused on US colleges and universities and may have overlooked some campus sustainability plans that have other titles. Nevertheless, it is a fairly comprehensive analysis of campus sustainability planning efforts to date in the USA. Practical implications – Campus sustainability plans are an important integrative tool. Understanding the details and potential evaluation of these plans can help determine their broader adoption and implementation. Originality/value – As an emerging tool for campus sustainability efforts, sustainability plans allow colleges and universities to examine operational, academic, and administrative functions in an integrated manner. To date, there has been very little scholarly attention to these plans, and no prior attempt to consider how they might be evaluated.

Papay (2011) noticed that teacher value-added measures (VAMs) from a statistical model using the most common pre/post testing timeframe–current-year spring relative to previous spring (SS)–are essentially unrelated to those same teachers’ VAMs when instead using next-fall relative to current-fall (FF). This is concerning since this choice–made solely as an artifact of the timing of statewide testing–produces an entirely different ranking of teachers’ effectiveness. Since subsequent studies (grades K/1) have not replicated these findings, we revisit and extend Papay’s analyses in another Grade 3–8 setting. We find similarly low correlations (.13–.15) that persist across value-added specifications. We delineate and apply a literature-based framework for considering the role of summer learning loss in producing these low correlations.

The passage of ESSA has ushered in a new era of educational governance and leadership, but questions remain regarding how well the new law will protect students’ rights to an equitable education. Lance Fusarelli and Jennifer Ayscue examine key provisions of the law, provide an update of states’ implementation, and speculate about whether ESSA will encourage states to create policies to reduce disparities or whether the return to state and local control will further exacerbate inequities. They encourage educators and policy makers to pay close attention to what is happening in their states and share examples of how states are and are not making equity part of their ESSA plans.