The Inadequate Right to Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-83
Author(s):  
Kristine L. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Courts ◽  
National Context ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
State Reform ◽  
State Education ◽  
Opportunity Gaps

In this chapter, Kristine Bowman continues this volume’s exploration of why a federal right to education would be beneficial. She explores state-level obstacles to closing educational opportunity gaps that explain why the United States should not solely rely on state courts or legislatures to remedy inequitable and inadequate state education systems. At the state level, weak or unenforceable rights to education, limited fiscal capacity, and the absence of sufficient political will too often intersect in ways that undermine educational opportunity and leave many schoolchildren without an effective avenue for relief. Bowman focuses on Michigan as a case study to understand these dynamics and also situates Michigan’s experience in a national context that sheds light on the limitations of state reform.

How Courts Structure State-Level Representation

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Kastellec
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Structure State ◽  
The Relationship

I examine how courts condition the relationship between state-level public opinion and policy. The system of federalism in the United States allows federal and state courts to establish the types of policies that states are constitutionally allowed to implement. In particular, federal courts can set “federal floors” for policy, below which no states can go. State courts, in turn, can raise the level of this floor. Thus, both federal and state courts shape whether state policy can match the preferences of the median voter in a given state. Analyzing data on public opinion, judicial decisions, and state-level policy on the issue of abortion, from 1973 to 2012, I show that changes in the set of allowable abortion restrictions, according to the combined decisions of state and federal courts, significantly affect whether states implement majority-preferred policies. I also show that ignoring the influence of courts on the policymaking environment significantly affects the estimated level of policy congruence and thus conclusions about the scope of representation. These results demonstrate the importance of placing courts in the larger study of state-level representation.

Modeling the Effects of Educational Resources on Student Achievement

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Della Sala ◽  
Robert C. Knoeppel ◽  
Russ Marion
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Allocation Policy

The convergence of standards, accountability, and school finance policies necessitates a systematic rethinking about how state-level resource allocation policies can be created to distribute resources in a manner that provides equal educational opportunities for all students. Given the demand for policymakers to distribute adequate resources to improve schools’ capacities to increase student learning, there is a need for evidence detailing the effects of those educational resources on student achievement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to discern the effects of educational resources on student achievement using structural equation modeling. Using data from a southeastern state in the United States, the authors offer resource allocation policy recommendations that align with the state’s constitutional obligation to provide equality of educational opportunity, particularly for students living in poverty.

Evaluating Technical Assistance to State Agencies: The Case Study Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-22
Author(s):  
Anne Rogers Poliakoff ◽  
Keith M. Sturges
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
State Education ◽  
Study Component

The United States Department of Education funds comprehensive centers to deliver technical assistance to state education agencies to strengthen their capacity to perform their responsibilities. One of these centers, the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC), delivers technical assistance to agencies in four states. Annually, the ARCC conducts a comprehensive evaluation, into which a case study component was introduced in the third year. A multiple case study approach offered to enhance the evaluation's capacity to encompass and describe the complexity of the ARCC program. We identified one case initiative per agency, selecting those with the most potential to shed light on the practice of capacity building. Across the four cases, we eventually detected five issues: capacity building, staffing, communication, defining the work, and sustainability. Their identification enhanced our understanding of the ways that capacity building technical assistance (TA) operated in different contexts, enabling us to offer feedback to staff and leadership that could improve the design of TA.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Kimberly Jenkins Robinson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Independent School District ◽  
School Finance Litigation ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
The Right

In this introduction, Kimberly Jenkins Robinson explains that despite some gains from state school finance litigation, educational opportunity and achievement gaps remain prevalent throughout the United States. To address these enduring gaps, many scholars have argued that the United States should recognize a federal right to education, despite the United States Supreme Court’s refusal to recognize this right in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez. It also is important to note that after decades in state court litigation, advocates have recently returned to federal court to argue for a federal right to education. Therefore, this introduction outlines that the book takes up three timely and essential questions regarding a federal right to education: Should the United States consider recognizing a federal right to education? How could the United States recognize such a right? And what should the right guarantee? The introduction concludes with a summary of each chapter.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 327-338
Author(s):  
Kimberly Jenkins Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
High Quality ◽  
High Quality Education ◽  
State Education ◽  
Public Commitment ◽  
Just Society

In this chapter, Kimberly Jenkins Robinson concludes this volume by highlighting many of the lessons that emerge from the chapters. She acknowledges the consensus among the authors regarding the urgent need for new and impactful reforms that close opportunity and achievement gaps. She highlights the compelling justifications for a renewed federal commitment to equity and excellence given the failure of states to sustain commitments to equity and excellence for all students. She notes that several authors emphasize the importance of federal reforms that move beyond tinkering at the margins of educational opportunity and achievement. The authors in the volume also concur that a just society demands access to a high-quality education. Robinson explains that the collective insights of this volume establish that among the array of potential reforms, a federal right to education warrants serious consideration. She concludes by explaining how to forge a path toward a federal right to education, including building on a recent unprecedented public commitment by state education chiefs to advance educational equity.

Green Energy from Garbage? A Case Study of Municipal Solid Waste’s Contested Inclusion in Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ingrid Behrsin
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Renewable Portfolio Standard ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
The U.S

Renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) are powerful state-level climate policy tools that set minimum renewable energy targets. They have been adopted by 29 states, in the United States (U.S.) as well as Washington, D.C., and have fueled much of the growth in the U.S. renewable energy sector. However, because these policy tools are state-driven, the technologies and fuel types included in each state’s RPS vary. In this article, I discuss the inclusion of municipal solid waste in Maryland’s RPS, and a social movement for environmental justice that has emerged around this decision. Given the prominence of RPSs in both fueling renewable energy adoption in the U.S., as well as in encouraging particular technologies, it is increasingly important to interrogate the types of technologies and fuel sources that climate policies like RPSs incentivize, and how they are received by the communities for which they are proposed. Thus, this article’s objective is to inspire critical thought about the classification schemes that govern renewable energy production.

Under the Law: Weighing responsibility for providing equitable and adequate education

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (8) ◽  
pp. 74-75
Author(s):  
Julie Underwood
Keyword(s):  
School Funding ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Funding Equity ◽  
Adequate Education ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
Federal Case ◽  
And Control

Questions of responsibility for school funding often hinge on our definitions of community. Historically, in the United States, the community that is responsible for education is the local one, but over time, states have taken more responsibility, particularly in the area of funding. In this column, Julie Underwood considers how questions of responsibility and control have played out in the courts at the federal and state levels. There is no federal right to education, and so much of the litigation related to questions of funding equity has occurred at the state level, with different results in different states. A recent federal case, Cook v. Raimondo, however, seeks to establish that students have a right to an education that provides them with certain civic skills needed to participate in the democratic process.

Standing in the Gap: Theory and Practice Impacting Educational Opportunity and Achievement Gaps

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 668-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Stansberry Beard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Educational Administration ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Flow Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Template Analysis

This case study is the first known employing flow in educational administration in the United States. Using Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory and Dantley’s purpose-driven leadership, an administrator’s practices were examined with respect to two guiding questions: (a) is purposefulness integral to closing extant gaps in achievement, and (b) are the elements of flow found in successful educational administration? The recorded interview was subjected to template analysis developed from tenets of both theories. The results are that all nine elements of flow were found, as were the tenets of purpose-driven leadership in the work experience of an administrator’s success in closing the district’s achievement gap.

State variation in the drug felony lifetime ban on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Why the modified ban matters

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-460
Author(s):  
Brittany T Martin ◽  
Sarah KS Shannon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
State Reform ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Multinomial Modeling ◽  
Collateral Consequence ◽  
Modeling Strategy ◽  
Temporary Assistance

The drug felony lifetime ban on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) affects thousands of individuals with felony drug convictions in the United States. Federal law allows states to choose to opt out or modify the full ban. Prior research has treated the ban as a binary outcome, characterizing anything but a full ban as a sign of state reform of this harsh collateral consequence. We argue that modified versions of the ban, which simultaneously allow greater access to public aid while also monitoring and sanctioning recipient behavior, have been overlooked but pose important theoretical and empirical challenges to this narrative. To address this gap, we analyze state discretion in the implementation of the drug felony lifetime ban on TANF receipt between 1997 and 2010 utilizing a multilevel multinomial modeling strategy. Results reveal that distinct patterns of state-level factors are associated with each form of the ban, highlighting the need to treat modified bans as unique policy choices in their own right. Our study informs the understanding of state implementation of collateral consequences that straddle both the penal and welfare systems in the United States.

A Federal Right to Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Minow ◽  
Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rights Issue

This book brings together an array of leading scholars to engage three critical questions surrounding the current debate over a federal right to education. First, should the United States recognize such a right? The authors of part 1 collectively answer this question as they weigh the arguments for and against. They paint a picture of crippling inequality within our schools—sharing accounts of massive racial and socioeconomic disparities along the way—which compels them to form a nearly unanimous consensus that a federal right to education would reap important benefits for all students. But even assuming this is true, a second question remains as to how the United States could establish such a right. Accordingly, the authors of part 2 explore three different mechanisms for establishing a federal right: implying the right through the Constitution, enacting the right in federal law, or adopting it through a constitutional amendment. Finally, if a federal right to education is recognized, what should it guarantee? The authors of part 3 confront this critical substantive question by weaving novel policy solutions together with evidence-based reforms to present options for ensuring that a federal right to education encompasses the tools and policy levers that are necessary to accomplish the goals that reformers espouse. Their proposals also provide key insights for impactful reforms for state courts interpreting education rights as well state lawmakers seeking to improve educational opportunities and outcomes. In response to these and other fundamental questions about the vast opportunity and achievement gaps of American schoolchildren, this volume builds on the current dialogue—both political and scholarly—that contends that education is the critical civil rights issue of our time.

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