Educational researchers have been exploring academic outcomes for at-risk students for many years but somehow have not been successful in closing the achievement gap that exists for at-risk students of color. Acknowledging that gap and developing programs and practices that can be implemented within a shared vision can ensure that all students can…

A mixed-methods study was undertaken with 118 biology students in two urban high schools. A Student-Centered Adaptable Learning Environment (SCALE) was created to improve engagement from affective and cognitive perspectives using choice, creativity and technological allowances. Results demonstrated that fast and slow learners are generally…

Since the advent of democracy in 1994, access to quality and equitable education still remains a challenge in the Gauteng province. As an intervention to improve access and quality of learning in all schools, especially township schools, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) declared schools across Quintiles 1 to 3 throughout the province to…

Schools and education in general have made an implicit and, we would assert, explicit promise to society to educate all the children in their care. Unfortunately, there are achievement gaps that illustrate how schools have broken this promise. Teacher evaluation and other accountability measures have been heralded as the answer to this problem.…

This is the executive summary for the report, "A Teacher Who Looks Like Me: Examining Racial Diversity in Wisconsin's Teacher Workforce and the Student-to-Teacher Pipeline." Among the most urgent challenges confronting Wisconsin's K-12 education system are long-standing disparities in educational opportunity and achievement on the basis…

Even though school systems throughout the United States have developed a variety of programs to decrease the achievement gap between underrepresented groups and students classified as members of the majority group, data regarding their effectiveness are either scarce or inconclusive. Some research suggests an increasing number of public-school…

Data shows that kids are months or even years behind where they would be in a typical year. And a deepening educational divide between majority white schools and majority black schools, between wealthier school districts and higher poverty districts. The results of this year's statewide exams made abundantly clear what other data is showing as…

This research study explores a teacher pipeline program intent on developing critical educators among minoritized high school students aspiring to become teachers. Critical educators typically employ critical perspectives, foreground the notion of cariño, and possess agentive qualities to create transformative learning experiences for students of…

Although most studies have established the importance of individual-level influences on adolescent outcomes, studies are often limited in that they do not address the effects of broader community-level factors. To address this limitation, we examined the association between community-level poverty and adolescents' academic achievement, and the…

In tandem with the rise of popular, though problematic conceptions of the "achievement gap," some have similarly surmised that this gap, which points to the disparate academic outcomes between students from minoritized communities and their normative peers, is really a "literacy gap." This ethnographic study, which followed…

This study investigated Resiliency for Academic Success factors and their possible impact on student achievement among urban high school students, focusing on multiracial students (Trueba, 2002). Educational researchers have investigated reasons for underperformance in academics among students of color. The finding indicates that some students,…

Background: Large achievement and motivation gaps exist in science between students from higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Middle and high school are an important time to address these disparities, as science motivation typically declines for all students at this time, leading to particularly low science interest and…

Classroom teachers struggle to meet the needs of all students as the United States population continues to become more diverse. While preservice teacher training programs strive to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to complete this task effectively, opportunity gaps between minority students and their peers continue to grow. Through…

Students earning college credit while meeting the requirements of Washington's high school diploma are basic education students. Yet every year in Washington, students and their families pay out-of-pocket for the fees, books, and supplies that are required for participation in dual credit programs. This creates inequity by only allowing students…

Researchers have been studying the racial achievement gap for years but somehow closing it has not happened systemically. Many scholars have postulated that implicit bias and systemic racism have contributed in perpetuating the achievement gap between African American and White students. The purpose of this study was to determine if implicit bias…