The issue of unfinished learning and achievement gaps in schools has been a persistent concern in recent years, particularly among underrepresented and disadvantaged student populations. AVID Elementary is a promising solution for ensuring students have the necessary knowledge and skills to be college and career ready, as it is based on proven…

We incorporated trauma-informed principles into the design of a synchronous, online Religion and Politics course and then evaluated impacts on student learning through qualitative methods. Using a novel approach, students self-evaluated their learning throughout the course in weekly reflections. Using content analysis and directed coding…

This paper provides a narrative account describing how a first-year teacher's empowering care in her mathematics classes in an inner-city high school in Southern California contributed to better student learning and helped raise district-wide test scores. The purpose of the article, chronicled from a practitioner's point of view, examines how…

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify and describe the impact of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) within Kern County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County in narrowing the achievement gap in underachieving populations identified as English Language Learners (ELL) and low socioeconomic…

The authors investigated cultural resourcefulness among seven Black middle-class families who proactively collaborated to ensure their children's academic excellence in a highly racialized suburban community in southern California. Their children achieved high grades and successfully entered and completed higher education at elite U.S.…

Students who are newcomers to the United States -- as English Learners (ELs) -- face barriers to learning, and their academic success often lags behind their native-English-speaking peers. Notably, there is paucity in the literature about Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) high school student newcomers' academic challenges as ELs and the…

Obstacles faced by African-American Males' present barriers to their academic success. The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program is successful in helping African-American Male students transcend barriers. Studies reveal that AVID's success is based on its ability to form successful relationships among participants.…

The Financial Empowerment for Student Success (FESS) Initiative was a two-year initiative focused on increasing student success through the provision of financial services. Achieving the Dream, Inc. and MDC, Inc. joined together, with funding from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, to support three Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges to…

This article documents narrative experiences from alumni who participated in the GEAR UP program. The San Jose State University GEAR UP program, based on an intensive counseling model, is grounded in social capital and resilience theories, and is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in…

This article features the Preuss School UCSD which is considered as unique in a number of ways, among them are its unusual name and requirements for admission. The school was named in recognition of a substantial bequest from the Preuss Family Foundation that was earmarked to establish a charter school on the campus of the University of…

In the wake of accreditation cycles stressing student outcomes, we believed the reflective and practitioner-centered philosophy of action research a perfect fit for effecting institutional improvements for a four-year grant-funded effort in our urban-suburban community colleges in California. We learned that things were both worse and better than…

This study examines the process of parent engagement at three community and school-based parent participation projects involving Latino immigrant families in California. Through the participants' "testimonios," the study investigates the motivations and interactions contextualizing their leadership development, participation, and…

Now, more so than in the past, children have been deprived of the opportunity to learn and exercise effective interpersonal communication skills. Interpersonal communication skills, for elementary students, are important in the development of a student's ability to self-advocate. The purpose of this study is to identify techniques in which…

Successful middle schools do not happen by accident--they happen through leadership. Principals promote a shared vision that empowers school staffs to set high standards and continuously improve student achievement. And these middle grade educators also try to help their adolescent students see the connection between their work in school and their…

Purpose: The purpose of this case study was to determine key strategies in the areas of instructional leadership, communication, and empowerment used by the principals of selected high-poverty elementary schools in two high-poverty San Bernardino County school districts that exceeded their Academic Performance Index growth target score by forty or…