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The three terms comprising the Obama and Trump presidencies provide an opportunity to understand the evolution of race-conscious education policy in an increasingly multiracial, unequal, and divided society. Through document review and interviews with civil rights lawyers, government officials, congressional staffers, and intermediary organization personnel, we sought to understand how Obama officials envisioned and changed the role of the federal government in fostering K-12 race-conscious educational policies and what mechanisms they used to advance priorities. We also explored changes Trump administration officials made to federal civil rights policies and through which institutional means. Our findings reveal through-lines between past and present political agendas and the methods for enactment. Obama's interagency efforts to reinvigorate civil rights oversight and enforcement in education harkened back to the mid-1960s era of bipartisan cooperation around school desegregation. Yet the decades-long legal and policy retrenchment against civil rights advances made in the 1960s constrained further progress. Trump's administration advocated for the privatization of public education through increased choice and opposed race-consciousness in education law and policy. The reshaping of the federal judiciary under Trump presents challenges for race-consciousness in the law for years to come. Recognizing these consistent through-lines and constraints will be essential for advocates and policymakers going forward.

Recent trends in education reform have brought renewed attention to performance character strengths such as grit, growth mindsets, and self-control. In this article, we explore how secondary teachers (Grades 5-12) in a variety of school types understood character education generally, and performance character education specifically. Research questions included how teachers defined the components of character (i.e., what strengths, values, and habits were emphasized), why they were important, and how they taught them. The findings reveal diverse understandings of character. Study participants varied in the extent to which they highlighted moral, civic, or performance character strengths and whether they viewed character primarily as an intrinsic or instrumental good. While participants generally agreed on the importance of teaching strengths like grit and growth mindsets, they brought markedly different levels of enthusiasm to this work and expressed different ideas about the role of behavioral controls in supporting or undermining performance character goals. Reflecting on our findings, we consider how definitions of character map onto beliefs about behavioral control, explore theoretical and practical tensions between character development and behavioral control, and raise questions for further research in character education and teacher education.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education made grants to eleven school districts under the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans (TASAP) program. The impetus for the program came from the Council of Great City Schools, which was concerned that school districts would respond to a recent Supreme Court decision by dismantling policies with integrative aims. We analyze the design of the TASAP program, its implementation by the USED, and how the grantee districts used the funds, and find that TASAP's effects were mixed. Five districts represented examples of "successful" implementation, using the grant funds in ways that prioritized diversity. Six demonstrated "subverted" implementation, using funds in ways that met local needs but moved away from the diversity goal.

In 2013, the Boston Public Schools (BPS) adopted the Home-Based Student Assignment Policy (HBSAP), which replaced elementary and middle-school choice within three large geographic zones with an algorithm that generates a choice basket of schools for each address based on proximity to the student's home and a guarantee that all baskets will include at least four schools in the top two state test-score quartiles of BPS. Adoption of HBSAP broke a long political stalemate. BPS invited broad public participation in the process but also shaped the agenda to favor what middle-class neighborhood participants wanted. The process obscured the zero-sum politics of student assignment by permitting current students and their younger siblings to continue in their schools after adoption of HBSAP and because the algorithm does not produce winners and losers as obviously as geographically defined student assignment policies do. BPS has not produced a comprehensive evaluation of HBSAP's effects, but early evidence suggests that it is making enclave schools more white.

Increasing numbers of states have incorporated measures of students' academic growth into their data and accountability policies. Measuring growth is a statistically complicated task and complex growth measures can be easy to misinterpret. This paper reports on a survey of 317 Massachusetts principals' understanding of the Student Growth Percentile (SGP), a popular growth model. The survey was designed to produce information about how Massachusetts principals use and interpret the SGP and the extent to which they have misconceptions about what SGPs mean. The survey reveals some common misconceptions, often based on confusion about the differences between the norm-referenced SGP and the state's criterion-referenced assessments. We conclude that there is a risk that principals will make inappropriate decisions based on SGPs. Because of their central role in school improvement, principals need better opportunities to learn about how to use SGP and other growth model data.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of diversity, most of which were race-neutral. Some districts enacted policies deemphasizing their original diversity goals. Even in Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans (TASAP) districts, whose leaders presumably value diversity, diversity was not always a compelling goal when competing with priorities such as fiscal austerity, school improvement, and neighborhood school demands. Future federal efforts to increase students' exposure to diverse peers should recognize that local conditions might create contrary political pressures for local policymakers.

Many school districts have recently revised, or tried to revise, their policies for assigning students to schools, because the legal and political status of racial and other kinds of diversity is uncertain, and the districts are facing fiscal austerity. This article presents case studies of politics and student assignment policy in three large school districts: Boston, Massachusetts; Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina; and Jefferson County (Louisville), Kentucky. In all three districts, there has been pressure to change student-assignment policies in ways that respond to the priorities of White and middle-class populations, with the potential to worsen the options available to students of color. Our case studies reinforce the criticisms of race-neutral politics and policy that have been made by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and others. Race-neutral politics during fiscal retrenchment tends to reframe privilege as common sense and to obscure some students' structural disadvantages.

Objective: Two approaches may shift attention from short‐term rewards to longer‐term weight‐loss goals: focusing on long‐term consequences of unhealthy choices (prevention) or benefits of healthy choices (promotion). This randomized controlled trial tested the impact of prevention‐ versus promotion‐focused strategies in an internet‐delivered behavioral weight‐loss intervention (iBWL). Methods: A total of 95 participants with overweight/obesity were randomized to one of three 12‐week iBWLs: (1) STANDARD (n = 31), (2) PREVENT (standard iBWL+prevention‐focused training; n = 32), or (3) PROMOTE (standard iBWL+promotion‐focused training; n = 32). Participants in the two enhanced arms were trained in their assigned strategy, and lessons and weekly feedback featured arm‐specific content and reminders. Results: Intent‐to‐treat analysis revealed significant differences in weight loss and self‐control use at 12 weeks (weight loss p = 0.002, self‐control p = 0.0006). PREVENT was associated with 6.6% (±4.5%) weight loss and a 20.3% (±26.5%) increase in self‐control, STANDARD and PROMOTE were associated with 4.4% (±4.2%) and 3.1% (±3.1%) weight losses, respectively, and neither STANDARD nor PROMOTE participants exhibited significant changes in self‐control. Across arms, increased self‐control was associated with greater weight loss (p = 0.0005). Conclusions: Cognitive strategies to focus on preventing negative consequences of unhealthy choices led to greater weight loss and self‐control compared with both standard iBWL and promotion‐focused iBWL. Prevention strategies should be given further attention for overweight/obesity treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) research study was a randomized trial comparing the effects of an intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) versus a diabetes support and education (DSE) control group in adults with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to determine whether neural food cue reactivity differed for these groups 10 years after randomization.Methods: A total of 232 participants (ILI, n = 125, 72% female; DSE, n = 107, 64% female) were recruited at three of the Look AHEAD sites for functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neural response to high-calorie foods compared with nonfoods was assessed in DSE versus ILI. Exploratory correlations were conducted within ILI to identify regions in which activity was associated with degree of weight loss.Results: Voxel-wise whole-brain comparisons revealed greater reward-processing activity in left caudate for DSE compared with ILI and greater activity in attention- and visual-processing regions for ILI than DSE (P < 0.05, family-wise error corrected). Exploratory analyses revealed that greater weight loss among ILI participants from baseline was associated with brain activation indicative of increased cognitive control and attention and visual processing in response to high-calorie food cues (P < 0.001, uncorrected).Conclusions: These findings suggest there may be legacy effects of participation in a behavioral weight loss intervention, with reduced reward-related activity and enhanced attention or visual processing in response to high-calorie foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To assess whether randomization to 10 years of lifestyle intervention to induce and maintain weight loss improves cognitive function. Design Randomized controlled clinical trial. Setting Data obtained as part of the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) trial ( NCT00017953) and Look AHEAD Continuation study (U01 DK057136-15). Participants Overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged 45 to 76 (N = 3,751). Intervention Intensive lifestyle intervention ( ILI) for weight loss through reduced caloric intake and increased physical activity compared with a control condition of diabetes support and education ( DSE). Measurements Certified examiners who were masked to intervention assignment administered a standard battery of cognitive function tests (Modified Mini-Mental State Examination, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Digit Symbol Coding, Trail-Making Test, Modified Stroop Color-Word Test) to participants 10 to 13 years after enrollment. Results Assignment to lifestyle intervention was not associated with significantly different overall ( P = .10) or domain-specific (all P > .10) cognitive function than assignment to diabetes support and education. Results were fairly consistent across prespecified groups, but there was some evidence of trends for differential intervention effects showing modest harm in ILI in participants with greater body mass index and in individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease. Cognitive function was not associated with changes in weight or fitness (all P > .05). Conclusion A long-term behavioral weight loss intervention for overweight and obese adults with diabetes mellitus was not associated with cognitive benefit. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00017953. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Type 2 diabetes increases the accumulation of brain white matter hyperintensities and loss of brain tissue. Behavioral interventions to promote weight loss through dietary changes and increased physical activity may delay these adverse consequences. We assessed whether participation in a successful 10-year lifestyle intervention was associated with better profiles of brain structure.Research Design and Methods: At enrollment in the Action for Health in Diabetes clinical trial, participants had type 2 diabetes, were overweight or obese, and were aged 45-76 years. They were randomly assigned to receive 10 years of lifestyle intervention, which included group and individual counseling, or to a control group receiving diabetes support and education through group sessions on diet, physical activity, and social support. Following this intervention, 319 participants from three sites underwent standardized structural brain magnetic resonance imaging and tests of cognitive function 10-12 years after randomization.Results: Total brain and hippocampus volumes were similar between intervention groups. The mean (SE) white matter hyperintensity volume was 28% lower among lifestyle intervention participants compared with those receiving diabetes support and education: 1.59 (1.11) vs. 2.21 (1.11) cc (P = 0.02). The mean ventricle volume was 9% lower: 28.93 (1.03) vs. 31.72 (1.03) cc (P = 0.04). Assignment to lifestyle intervention was not associated with consistent differences in cognitive function compared with diabetes support and education.Conclusions: Long-term weight loss intervention may reduce the adverse impact of diabetes on brain structure. Determining whether this eventually delays cognitive decline and impairment requires further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study sought to determine whether 10 years of assignment to intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) relative to diabetes support and education leads to better cognition. We examine intervention effects overall and among clinical subgroups, and report correlations between computer-administered and interviewer-administered cognitive batteries., Methods: The Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) was a 16-site randomized controlled trial with overweight/obese individuals (aged 45-76) who had type 2 diabetes. The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery tests developed to measure cognition across the lifespan were used to evaluate cognition. Results were compared with standard paper-and-pencil tests. The Toolbox and paper-and-pencil tests were administered an average of 10.9 years after randomization to 1002 participants., Results: Toolbox measures significantly correlated with interviewer-administered measures, with the strongest correlations between the Toolbox Fluid Cognition Composite and Trails B ( r  = -0.64, P  < .0001) and Digit Symbol Coding ( r  = 0.63, P  < .0001), and between the Toolbox Dimensional Change Card Sort ( r  = 0.55, P  < .0001) and the Digit Symbol Coding test. Overall, ILI and diabetes support and education groups had similar adjusted mean cognitive outcomes ( P  > .05 for all). Subgroup analyses identified different intervention effects within baseline body mass index groups for Picture Sequence Memory ( P  = .01), within baseline cardiovascular disease groups for Picture Vocabulary ( P  = .01) and Fluid Cognition Composite ( P  = .02) measures, and within baseline age groups for Picture Vocabulary ( P  = .02)., Discussion: Correlations between Toolbox and interviewer-administered outcomes provide a measure of internal validity. Findings suggest no overall effect of the intervention on cognition and that an ILI resulting in weight loss may have negative implications for cognition in individuals aged ≥60, with previous history of cardiovascular disease, and those with body mass index ≥40.