Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
This paper examines the financial resources allocated to Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in the United States. Our analyses demonstrate that CSI schools do receive additional funding and spend more than comparable non-CSI schools. However, we question whether the magnitude of this support is sufficient to promote meaningful improvement for these schools. Our research reveals that CSI schools receive and spend about $345 more per pupil compared with non-CSI schools, but to elevate low-performing schools to the average performance of non-CSI schools would require a significantly larger investment, between $8,000 and $21,000 per pupil yearly. The existing financial support associated with accountability designations is insufficient to support the improvement activities of low-performing schools. We argue for increased and sustained funding for low-performing schools, coupled with support in decision-making and accountability for resource allocation.

Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
This study investigates the impact of an extended school week in 30 primary schools on track recommendations, an achievement-related outcome, at the school level. The intervention is part of a major urban policy in one of the most disadvantaged areas in the Netherlands. Register data are used to examine changes in track recommendations between 2010 and 2020. Control schools are selected through genetic matching based on educational and demographic variables, after which comparative interrupted time series estimate the causal effect. The findings show that, on average, track recommendations in the intervention schools did not structurally increase compared to the control schools. We critically discuss how these results might relate to implementation barriers such as the partial top-down design, program quality and coordination, and teacher shortages. We contribute to the literature by showing how difficulties with program implementation are likely to produce null findings.

Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
Most college graduates in the United States earn excess credit hours (ECH) that do not apply to their degree. In response, multiple U.S. states and college systems have shifted the costs of ECH away from taxpayers and toward students—a response which implies ECH is primarily driven by students who engage in frivolous course-taking. To better understand how and why college students accrue ECH, this study uses detailed degree audits from a large public university in the Midwest to identify four unique types of graduates with ECH: Pioneers, Duplicators, Clean Slates, and Jump-Starters. Results suggest ECH is a complex product of multiple circumstances and behaviors which differ across types of students, and that in general, punitive student-facing policy measures are misguided. Instead, institutions and academic programs may need to address internal policies and practices that unintentionally generate ECH.

Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
College policies may support intentional cross-cultural interactions among peers. This study examines the impact of having an international roommate on the college outcomes of domestic U.S. students. Using institutional data on more than 6,600 U.S. students from a selective liberal arts college that serves low-income individuals, our analysis demonstrates the positive effects of being paired with an international roommate on U.S. students’ first-year GPA, subsequent GPAs, and second-year retention. However, our findings show no significant effects on graduation rates or retention rates beyond the second year. These findings point to the potential benefits of deliberate organizational and institutional policies to facilitate interactions among individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
Since 2020, legislators across the country have introduced bills aimed at banning instruction of Critical Race Theory in universities. This qualitative study examined 53 bills, most of which contained lists of “divisive concepts” that professors were prohibited from discussing in their classrooms. In addition, I analyzed 26 statements made by supporters of the bills that provided justification for the anti-CRT bans. The data exposed four Discourse Models upheld by these bills and their supporting statements using critical discourse analysis, tools developed by Gee, and legal analysis. The Discourse Models included Neoliberalism, Extreme Nationalism, Colorblindness, and Law as Morality.

Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
This study highlights the efforts of a Detroit-based community research group to understand chronic absenteeism in a way that acknowledges its underlying complexities. Employing Participatory Action Research, an intergenerational team of community members and university researchers examined the disconnect between educators’ strategies for addressing chronic absenteeism and students’ lived experiences with barriers to regular attendance. The findings reveal a school environment characterized by a punitive attendance framework that constrained teachers’ ability to address absences effectively and allowed school leaders to shift responsibility elsewhere. In contrast, students who experienced chronic absenteeism articulated a vision for improving attendance through specific structural pathways, school improvement, and social-emotional support. The discussion emphasizes the need for strategies that uphold students’ dignity and support educators’ capacity to move beyond punitive attendance policies.