Middle school is one of the most important times during which students gain knowledge. However, a large proportion of adolescents have continued to complete middle school without mastering essential knowledge of, and skills in, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Adolescents who miss school in the 30-60 days leading up to high-stakes exams…

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) is commonly employed to examine measurement bias of test scores. Current approaches to DIF compare item functioning separately for select demographic identities such as gender, racial stratification, and economic status. Examining potential item bias fails to recognize and capture the intersecting configurations…

Education has wide-ranging benefits to both the individual and wider society. This article investigates the consequences of terrorist incidents on whether households can further their children's schooling. Using both the Global Terrorism Database and Pakistan's Social and Living Standards Measurement, we find that persistent exposure to terrorism…

In post-structurally informed research, the answer to the widely documented 'achievement gap' among ethnic minorities has been a critique of educational institutions' monocultural discourse and its exclusionary effects, thus highlighting a contingent, "discursive" conception of diversity. However, in this empirical article, 10- to…

Background/Context: Many states, school districts, and third-party platforms report measures of school performance. Such school ratings are widely consulted by parents and educators alike. The ratings appear to affect families' choices of where to live and where to enroll students (Bergman and Hill, 2018; Hasan and Kumar, 2019), as well as…

The present study sought to extend prior research in the Chinese context by examining the role of demographic and socioeconomic factors in middle school students' motivation, engagement, academic buoyancy, and adaptability. A total of 2,434 middle school students (aged 11-15 years) in China participated in the study. For demographic factors,…

Much of the literature estimating disproportionality in special education identification rates has focused on socioeconomic status, race, and gender. However, recent evidence suggests that a student's school starting age also impacts the likelihood they receive special education services, particularly in the early grades. I build on the evidence…

These maps represent a socioeconomic overview of Austin Independent School District (AISD) schools.

This report presents findings from separate surveys of 1,550 U.S. parents and 600 pre-K-8 teachers on whether, to what extent, and how U.S. children ages 3-12 are linking their learning experiences across home, school, and community settings. The inquiry paid particular attention to the ways in which caregivers and teachers support and, in some…

Demographic factors are among those that influence environmental literacy and, particularly, environmentally responsible behaviours, either directly or due to an aggregation effect dependent on other types of variables. Present study evaluates a set of demographic variables as predictors for environmental literacy among 9th grade students from…

Sleep is a complex behavior with numerous health implications. Identifying sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics of sleep is important for determining those at greatest risk for sleep-related health disparities. In this cross-sectional study, general linear models were used to examine sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics…

School Composition and the Black-White Achievement Gap explores public schools' demographic composition, in particular, the proportion of Black students enrolled in schools (also referred to "Black student density" in schools) and its relation to the Black-White achievement gap. This NCES study, the first of its kind, used the 2011 NAEP…

The key focus of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was to improve public education for all students in the United States, with an emphasis on closing the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students (Kantor & Lowe, 2006; Linn, Baker & Betebenner, 2002). The notion behind NCLB, to close the achievement gap, was praised,…

From the moment children are born, they begin a lifetime journey of learning about themselves and their surroundings. With the establishment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, it mandates that all children receive a high-quality education in a positive school climate. Regardless of the school the child attends or the neighborhood in which…

The purpose of the study was to develop a better understanding of the allocation of resources used to improve student learning outcomes in three middle schools within a Charter Management Organization (CMO). The three middle schools that participated in the study have similar demographics and serve students in low socio-economic areas of Los…