This qualitative study examined the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of eight twice-exceptional African American gifted students who attended the same K-12 urban school district in the Midwest. Four major themes emerged--academic supports, personal and social challenges, career worries, and experience with school counselors. Findings…

This is the latest in a series of case studies highlighting best practices High Schools That Work (HSTW) network schools and districts are implementing to prepare students better for further studies and careers. Fort Mill High School is in Fort Mill, South Carolina, an outlying suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. Fort Mill links high quality…

This report is part of a long-term collaboration of the Quality Teaching for English Learners initiative at WestEd with the Fort Worth Independent School District. The focus of this report is on comparisons between ninth grade newcomers and other groups of English language learners (ELLs). Analyses compare newcomers to 1) long-term ELLs who were…

More than five million U.S. students are English language learners (ELLs), or 57% more than a decade ago. If that growth continues, sooner or later, all teachers will teach ELLs. But many teachers are unprepared for this challenge. They might presume that "good teaching" helps ELLs learn content (de Jong and Harper 2008) or that an English-only…

School districts across the U.S. are experimenting with various reforms in an attempt to bridge the gap between secondary and postsecondary education and create greater access to postsecondary education for all students. One such reform initiative is the Early College High School (ECHS) model, which allows high school students to earn a diploma…

In 2017-2018, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) launched Achieve 180, a program centered upon a comprehensive action plan to increase student achievement at 45 schools, including the 27 schools that received the Texas Education Agency Campus Accountability rating of "Improvement Required" (IR) in 2016-2017 and 18 former IR…

Although policymakers generally appreciate the value of crafting policies that are responsive to teacher and principal voice, doing so in a systematic way is challenging. Educator voices in the room when policies are made are often those of teachers and principals closest to policymakers. In 2019, to broaden the range of educator voices available…

The present qualitative study was conducted in response to federal initiatives aimed at increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools in the United States; and to better understand STEM high school administrators', teachers', and students' perceptions of the characteristics of the curricular and…

It is beneficial to any institution of higher education to be able to understand why some students are able to persist to graduation and why some students leave college prematurely. Factors concerning retention and persistence of African American men have been a "hot topic" of discussion in higher education. The purpose of this…

In this longitudinal study, we investigated the role of word reading and mathematical difficulties measured in 9th grade as factors for receiving educational support for learning in upper secondary education in Grades 10 to 12 (from ages 16 to 19) and furthermore as predictors of dropout from upper secondary education within 5 years after…

Through a 5-year qualitative case study of an inclusive high school, we examined students' experiences of self-determination. We conducted analyses of multiple interviews with students, parents, teachers, guidance staff, and administrators using grounded theory methods and guided by self-determination conceptual frameworks. Explicit expectations…

This study explores whether students from low-income families and racial/ethnic minority groups have the opportunity to benefit in what is arguably the most rigorous type of credit-based transition program: the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). The analyses first describe national longitudinal trends in characteristics of…

Listening to and reflecting on the voices and personal stories of adolescent students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is critically important to developing more inclusive approaches to their education. This article considers the experiences of nine adolescents with an ASD on their inclusive education in a large urban secondary school in…

"Check & Connect" aims to help students stay in school by continually monitoring school performance and providing individualized attention through mentoring, case management, and other supports. In 2006, the WWC published a systematic review of all the studies that examined the impact of "Check & Connect" on high school…

The idea behind guided pathways is straightforward. College students are more likely to complete a degree in a timely fashion if they choose a program and develop an academic plan early on, have a clear road map of the courses they need to take to complete a credential, and receive guidance and support to help them stay on plan. However, most…