For the last two decades, graduation rates have been one of the key metrics used to evaluate school effectiveness under federal law, with the goal of ensuring that all students receive a high-quality education. Researchers have found, however, that policies intended to optimize this accountability measure can have undesirable consequences for…

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program has become ubiquitous in terms of earning college credit during high school. Since the College Board incorporated it in 1956, the AP Program has grown to include 38 courses across seven subjects/categories. Recently, approximately half the states have passed legislation guaranteeing credit towards an…

While access to digital devices, the internet, and digital skills training has been uneven in the United States for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic magnified these disparities. More than ever, digital tools are central to performing daily tasks--from completing school assignments and applying for jobs, to reviewing personal health records, and…

Students classified as English learners (EL) are a protected class of students with core legal rights. There are clear opportunities to strengthen education policies and practices to improve opportunities and outcomes for EL-classified students. This dissertation is comprised of three studies examining key issues in EL education with the goal of…

ACT is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help people achieve education and workplace success. To help fulfill that mission, ACT offers school-day testing programs that provide all students with state- or district-funded access to its college readiness and admissions assessment, removing barriers to testing and opening doors to…

This article discusses the promises and complexities of culturally responsive leadership in schools. The study takes place in a rural secondary school in the Peruvian Andes using a participant voice methodology with 146 students and 50 parents. The goal of the study was to ascertain students' and parents' learning goals and aspirations to create…

This study examined the perspectives of teachers of immigrant youth in a high performing school, Gymnasium Baden (a pseudonym), in the southern region of Germany. Academic success in the region has been traditionally designated for ethnic Germans and non-natives who suppress their culture and assimilate into normative German culture. The…

A strong feature of the widening participation agenda is improving the aspirations of groups that are underrepresented in higher education. This paper seeks to reposition the utility of this as a focal point of educational interventions by showcasing the success of a mentoring program that takes a different approach. The Australian Indigenous…

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2016) and the American School Counselor Association (2016) require supervisors to have "relevant" training in supervision, but do not specify the type of training that should be acquired. This study determines if site supervisors who have had formal training in…

In September 2018, the National Literacy Trust launched its Words for Work: Women in Leadership programme, in partnership with Lancôme and their global Write Her Future literacy initiative, to challenge inequalities in employment opportunities for young women from disadvantaged communities. Words for Work: Women in Leadership gives girls and young…

Stagnation or promise? The third and final installment of "Quality Counts 2019" offers evidence for both in an annual summing up of the nation's K-12 system. The Education Week Research Center analyzed dozens of factors ranging from the academic to the socioeconomic in coming up with its all-inclusive state rankings and A-F grades. The…

With Africa holding 26% of the world's refugees, it is critical to understand the educational opportunities that are accessible for refugees, especially in the context of African women who are historically excluded as the primary target for education (UNHCR, 2018a). Despite the policies and institutional commitment to education for the refugee…

This study documents the aspirations and apprehensions of youth as they complete secondary schooling in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Navigating contradictory discourses about the value of education, school-leavers approach postsecondary opportunities with attention to social status hierarchies, economic viability, and collective expectations for…

This paper outlines the methodological framework of a discourse study of the Austrian school system and presents findings on the question of what underlying meanings and ideologies are mediated by practices of self-regulated learning and how this contributes to the reproduction of neoliberal societies. In the first section I will discuss how…

The Afterschool Alliance's fourth edition of "America after 3PM" provides a detailed accounting of the circumstances and conditions of U.S. children during the hours of 3 to 6 p.m. and compares afterschool program participation and unmet demand statistics for 2020 with results from 2004, 2009, and 2014. It identifies trends in…