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Social emotional learning (SEL) aims to promote student well-being, including healthy relationships that are free from harm like gender-based-violence (GBV). We investigated U.S. SEL policy through the lens of GBV, and how policy in the New York State (NYS) context operates to actualize or constrain SEL aims. To do so, we developed and applied a novel feminist critical policy analysis (FCPA) heuristic. Key findings revealed that the NYS policy neglected to address GBV experienced by adolescent girls, and the overall absent presence of gender within the policy underscores concern for implementable SEL best practices. We conclude with implications for research, policy, and practice.

Despite its significance as a policy issue, there is a paucity of knowledge about trafficking within educational policy and leadership research. The lack of research in this area and the contemporary spike in displaced youth populations necessitates examining those policies that aim to prevent trafficking through educational mediums. This study examined Texas House Bill 1272 (HB 1272, 2013), new state-level policy that brings educational leaders, teachers, and counselors into the fold of comprehensive prevention efforts. Trafficking dynamics, policies, and findings on the political and normative factors that shaped HB 1272 are presented. Recommendations for research and practice also are offered.

The well-documented global economic disinvestment in schooling necessitates critical examination of policy discourses that influence educational systems and student learning. Situated within the critical policy studies tradition, the present study conducted a critical discourse analysis of the Donaldson Report (2015), a proposed comprehensive Welsh learning and accountability system. We begin with a brief discussion of research focused on global accountability reform within the new economy. To situate the Donaldson Report within this research, we review literature on reforms within the United Kingdom, with special attention to the Welsh educational policy context, which also includes incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into national policy. Findings highlight a limited Report focus on core educational rights embodied within the UNCRC and recommendations for a new system that leans toward a more technocratic and performance orientation. We conclude with implications for the exercise of children's rights within Welsh schooling.

A growing body of interdisciplinary research examines the dynamics of, policies concerning, and implications of large-scale contemporary displacement in the United States. Yet less of this research explores the intersections of policies concerned with and normative understandings of displacement as both relate to U.S. schooling. This article discusses distinctive features of global displacement also highlighting concerns about student experience within the current political climate. It then synthesizes key U.S. policies and interdisciplinary literature that address aspects of displacement, including immigration, human trafficking, and asylum. In doing so, it illuminates how laws designed to protect vulnerable youth populations often conflict with the goals and normative politics of immigration enforcement. It concludes with implications for educational policy research and practice within U.S. schools serving high percentages of displaced populations.

Although anyone can become a victim, commercial exploitation and human trafficking disproportionately affect women, girls, and communities of color within the United States. Despite its prevalence, misinformation and a widespread lack of understanding on this issue create barriers to identifying and supporting trafficking victims. School staff are critically positioned to both identify and support the needs of trafficked youth. This article offers a fact-based case example of human trafficking in a small town in New York State, including one principal's challenges and opportunities in addressing human trafficking in her school. Programming and practice frameworks that utilize trauma-informed care, cultural and linguistic responsiveness, and human rights approaches are offered as strategies for engagement with this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research examines the role of elite networks, power, and race in the advocacy for market-based reforms and their ultimate effects on students, teachers, and communities of color. Yet, less research explores how such reforms interact with gender in the workplace, especially how policies such as school choice, competition, and incentive-based pay impact female actors within K-12 schools (e.g., teachers, school leaders). The current research on marketization and privatization in education has largely overlooked the potential impact on women in schools. We review the literature on women in K-12 education and in the economy more generally, and organize it conceptually to identify areas for future inquiry. After synthesizing and summarizing themes across diverse bodies of literature, we contend that as schools privatize, we may see greater gender disparities in education leadership and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from a systematic literature review that examined various forms of adolescent sexting, and as relevant to educator responsibilities in the support of prosocial behavior and teen dating violence (TDV) prevention within the United States. Proceeding in three parts, part one documents study methodology and offers an overview of adolescent sexting. This section also discusses tensions between sexting as adolescent empowerment and as a form of dating violence. This is followed by a deeper examination of how adolescent sexting is connected to other forms of sexual violence documented to disproportionately affect heterosexual females. Though laws on sexting are minimal, part three discusses U.S. federal and Supreme Court guidance having particular significance for this issue. This section also presents the case of New York State (NYS) to consider the connection between localized policies and schooling practices. Concerned with sexting as a form of consensual adolescent behavior, this article concludes with considerations for educational research, policy, and practice. This article contributes to established research literature weighing the prosocial aspects of sexting against those factors that contribute to and make it difficult to leave a violent relationship. Though empirical research was limited, it also highlights existent research on sexting as relevant to underserved and marginalized adolescent subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]