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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.

The opportunity gap, or conditions and barriers that impede the academic performance and school experience of minoritized students, may be exacerbated by educators' implicit biases. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand preservice educators' awareness of individual, structural, and systemic racism with regard to implicit bias. Our sample included 154 preservice educators, enrolled in an anti-bullying/harassment/discrimination training, which is required for any New York State (NYS) educator certification. Educators responded to questions about group generalizations, factors contributing to these biases, and how biases may affect their behavior toward students. Our content analysis revealed several themes, most notably that frequent biases existed toward Asian/Asian Americans, Black/African Americans, males, and people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Although participant responses reflect an open-minded approach to discussing bias, many responses reflected no observable desire to change potentially biased interactions with students. Responses with racially held biases aligned with the tenets of critical race theory (CRT), particularly racism as permanent and racism as normalized. Implications for practice, with an emphasis on anti-bias training and professional development, are discussed.

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.

High school counsellors serve as role models and mentors for students as they negotiate academic challenges, develop future career and educational plans, and explore their identities. Though research exists on the gendered experiences of high school administrators, there is a dearth of scholarship on school counsellors. To provide a framework for understanding gender dynamics within school counselling, we combined the feminist critical scholarship on K-12 educational leadership, with the sociological research on gendered experiences within women-dominated professions. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 20 school counsellors, we examined the role of gender in leadership aspirations and experiences. We found that although women and men did not want to pursue leadership positions, men discussed internal and external pressure to take on leadership, while women received little encouragement. These findings confirm evidence of the glass escalator within the school counselling field and offer insights into the continued existence of traditional gender identity roles.

Utilizing critical geography, critical history, and critical educational studies as guideposts, this article examines community organizing and school district partnerships as relevant to improving urban public education reform efforts and schooling practices within the United States. Proceeding in four parts, part one discusses the kinds of external multi-sector entities working with school districts in a continued era of accountability-driven educational reform. Understanding community activism as a lever to address urban geospatial obstacles to equity-oriented educational practices, this is followed by a historical overview of community-based organizations (CBOs) as tied to sociopolitical, economic, and schooling transformation throughout the U.S. Part three helps to illustrate this position through discussion of the Buffalo-Niagara Region and the case of one urban school district context--Buffalo Public Schools (BPS). Specifically, it considers how regional history, demographic shifts, urban development, racial spatialization, and CBOs affect district practices. It concludes with a discussion of the significance of CBO partnerships with urban schools toward the end of improving educational opportunities for traditionally underserved, low income, and minoritized student populations.

Little research explores factors shaping those policies and actors involved in state-level sex and labor trafficking prevention. This study examined the organizational, political, and normative dynamics that influenced implementation of Texas House Bill 1272 (HB 1272, 2013), which included educators in trafficking prevention. Part of a larger study that used feminist critical policy analysis and multifocal theory as overarching guideposts, findings highlight important factors bound up with policy actor enactment and normative roadblocks to successful long-term curriculum and training implementation. This study fills a gap in the educational research literature both in its unpacking of the normative politics involved in eliminating youth commercial and sexual violence experienced and thick qualitative research findings, neither of which would be possible through one theoretical or methodological device. Implications of and recommendations for educational research and practice are offered.

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.

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.

A growing corpus of interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on migration, particularly the increasing intensity of forced migration, or displacement, and the sociocultural, political, and symbolic dimensions of global resettlement. Yet, there are limited empirical studies on how U.S. educators in urban contexts address these processes, including but not limited to displacement-based trauma and associated student needs. While educational scholarship has examined structural issues affecting increased educator burnout, a research paucity also exists regarding how educators experience relevant stress related to these dynamics. This article presents findings from a multi-method qualitative case study that examined how high school educators leveraged available educational policy and practice supports to address refugee and hurricane displaced student needs. Our research underscores multi-level system complexity that influences school-related resettlement processes, and specifically as relevant to supporting student mental health and mitigating educator stress. Utilizing a critical and social ecological theoretical approach, our findings offer a framework for anti-deficit, cultural and linguistically responsive, and trauma-informed student practices, who in rebuilding a new home in the U.S., can experience continued and new forms of marginalization. Implications for educational research and leadership practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

Objective: This study sought to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a tool designed to assess social work students' knowledge of and perceptions and attitudes toward human trafficking. To achieve this aim, the Perceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes toward Human Trafficking Questionnaire (PKA-HTQ) was developed and its psychometric properties were evaluated. Specifically, the factor structure and the internal consistency of the PKA-HTQ were evaluated. Methods: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a replication EFA were conducted on two independent samples of university students, an initial validation (n ¼ 325), and cross-validation (n = 212) sample. Findings: The EFA revealed a three-factor structure, that is, self-appraisal of knowledge/skills (a = 0.89), worldview (a = 0.78), and help-seeking behavior (a = 0.66); this three-factor structure was supported by replication EFA. Conclusion: The PKA-HTQ questionnaire shows promise as a meaningful, potentially reliable and valid measure.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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. [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]

Objective: This study sought to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a tool designed to assess social work students’ knowledge of and perceptions and attitudes toward human trafficking. To achieve this aim, the Perceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes toward Human Trafficking Questionnaire (PKA-HTQ) was developed and its psychometric properties were evaluated. Specifically, the factor structure and the internal consistency of the PKA-HTQ were evaluated. Methods: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a replication EFA were conducted on two independent samples of university students, an initial validation (n = 325), and cross-validation (n = 212) sample. Findings: The EFA revealed a three-factor structure, that is, self-appraisal of knowledge/skills (α = .89), worldview (α =.78), and help-seeking behavior (α =.66); this three-factor structure was supported by replication EFA. Conclusion: The PKA-HTQ questionnaire shows promise as a meaningful, potentially reliable and valid measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]