Career and technical education (CTE) has become increasingly popular in U.S. secondary schools, but equity has not always been a focus of federal legislation or state and local policies and programs. This literature review of trends in CTE research between 1998 and 2019 uses a novel equity framework to examine whether and how secondary CTE programs affect educational equity. A total of 123 sources were reviewed. Findings revealed that CTE research most commonly addresses access and participation, measured by high school graduation rates and GPA. Few studies disaggregate outcome measures by student subgroups to better assess equity. Furthermore, a dearth of large-scale, comparative, and longitudinal research limits generalizability. Most extant research on secondary CTE programs in the United States examines a single state, district, or school. This article identifies promising policies and practices for enhancing equity in CTE conveyed by extant literature and recommends important directions for future research.

Dual Language (DL), a bilingual program has expanded at a rapid rate in New York City. This qualitative study explores choice in three public schools (n = 42) with strand Spanish DL programs to determine the role it plays in middle- and higher-income families’ decision making. Factors such as location, pedagogical style, environment, and peer group were considered. DL was most often chosen as a default when families’ first choices were not successful. Thus, it has come to be seen as a more viable option for parents navigating the complex choice process in the district.

Restorative justice is an increasingly common discipline policy, as schools grapple with historic inequities in traditional exclusionary discipline. This mixed-methods study examines the implementation of restorative justice in 28 intentionally diverse charter schools in five jurisdictions in the U.S. Qualitative findings suggest a range of factors at play during implementation including capacity, buy-in and how intent is interpreted. They are reflected in our quantitative results where we find that suspension rates in the sample schools are lower in only three out of five jurisdictions and that reductions may serve to decrease racial/ethnic gaps in only two out of five jurisdictions.

This qualitative study delved into the perceptions of “bilingualism” among 60 students in a teacher education program, drawing on survey responses at the outset of their training. Informed by the translanguaging framework, we analyzed teacher candidates’ responses to identify a range of views spanning from minimalist to maximalist and from monoglossic to heteroglossic perspectives of bilingualism. Our analysis revealed many teacher candidates had a strict and narrow definition of bilingualism based on minimalist and monoglossic standards, especially when considering their own bilingual identities, legitimizing only speakers with native-like proficiency in all language domains in two languages as true bilinguals. Interestingly, their conceptions of bilingualism, as future educators, tended to be more maximalist and heteroglossic when they considered the bilingual potential of their future students. These findings will contribute and challenge the discourses that favor and idealize perfect balanced bilingualism. Implications for research and practice for teachers and teacher educators in bilingual settings are discussed.

As a result of the increasing demands and the changing multi-cultural and socio-economic profile of schools, shortages of quality education leaders are a global issue. In the United States, this is particularly pernicious in urban areas, and traditional pathways to leadership positions pose an array of barriers. There is a growing need for culturally-responsive, critically self-aware social justice-oriented (CR/CSA/SJ) leaders who are better able to retain diverse teachers, more likely to stay in urban schools, contribute to higher achievement of marginalized students, and create inclusive environments. This qualitative study uses interviews to examine the leadership pathways of 72 education leaders at 28 intentionally diverse charter schools across five U.S. locations. Findings suggest that a range of motivations and experiences facilitated their pathways into leadership positions. Implications are relevant globally, at this time of increased awareness of historic societal inequities that schools can help combat.