Policy

Snapshot: Seeking to offer enrollment to students from a local urban center, suburban Eastport Public Schools faces pushback. Community members express concern for the safety of incoming students of color, citing a lack of explicit equity training for...

Snapshot: A teacher in a charter school must decide how to respond when she witnesses a colleague harshly reprimanding a student in class; while her colleague’s behavior isn’t out of line with the school’s strict discipline code, she herself relies more...

Snapshot: At an independent boarding school, a development officer who also serves as a mentor in the dorm must balance competing values as she decides what to do after witnessing her mentee engaged in sexual activity with a classmate. School policy...

Snapshot: A principal in Australia considers how to approach an upcoming holiday commemorating a World War I battle, given the large number of both defence veterans and asylum seekers from war-torn nations in his community. How should schools celebrate...

Snapshot: In England, Tate Academy, part of a chain of schools in a Multi-Academy Trust serving a sizable Muslim population, faces growing Islamophobia among its largely White, non-Muslim student body. When graffiti inspired by the Charlie Hedbo cartoons...

Snapshot: As schools across the United States rely on virtual instruction for some—or even all—instructional time, they continue to grapple with dilemmas initially raised during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this fictional case, members of a fourth-grade...

Snapshot: In 2020, the Kenyan government declared that secondary school would be mandatory for all—effective immediately. In response to pushback about the impracticality of immediate 100% transition, the Cabinet Secretary for Education defiantly declared...

Snapshot: When national examinations in England were canceled during the Covid-19 pandemic, policy makers were tasked with deciding the fairest way to allocate student grades in their place. This case explores the ethical trade-offs involved in that...

Snapshot: In this case study, Arlington, VA, faced criticism from teachers and parents when the district announced a plan to make homework more equitable by eliminating deadlines and other requirements. How can schools address inequalities in the...

Snapshot: Should a student who skipped school be allowed to make up missing work? This case explores dilemmas that arise when academic consequences are linked to behavioral infractions. How can schools discourage dangerous behavior without endangering...