Since the inception of a "Nation at Risk" (1983) and the gradual growth of the school reform movement over the following several decades, the social and political milieu that exist today under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) can be best described as an era in which public education is fending itself from extinction and takeover, often from…

A solution to the problem of preparing non-college ready students has been to offer developmental/remedial courses in community colleges. Studies have shown that students who begin and persist in these courses do just as well, if not better, than non-developmental education students. The majority of studies, however, have not examined the…

Many educational Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) collect baseline versions of outcome measures (pretests) to be used in the estimation of impacts at posttest. Although pretest measures are not necessary for unbiased impact estimates in well executed experimental studies, using them increases the precision of impact estimates and reduces sample…

In 2009, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published a technical report titled "Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003," (ED503830). NCES also published a corresponding online tool (http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/index.aspx) that allows users to…

Web-based communication technologies that enable collaboration and sharing of information among users - such as podcasts, wikis, blogs, message boards, and others--are used commonly in contemporary organizations to increase and manage employee learning. In this investigation, we identify which of these collaborative communication technologies are…

This paper exploits a major, unanticipated reform of the California teachers' pension to provide quasi-experimental evidence on the link between pension generosity and retirement timing. Using two large administrative datasets, the author conducts a reduced-form analysis of the pension reform and estimates a structural model of retirement timing.…

Building on G. A. Kelly's (1991a, 1991b) personal construct theory, this study introduced concepts of threat and guilt as different manifestations of internalized antilesbian and gay prejudice. Results with 102 lesbian and gay participants indicated that internalized threat and guilt each accounted for unique variance in global internalized…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to investigate relationships between grade levels, personal factors of teachers, and instructional variety used by 4th-12th grade teachers in Kern County, California. The population under investigation included 2,844 teachers. 235 elementary, middle school/junior high, and secondary teachers…

The relationship between consistency of hand preference, left hemispheric specialization, and cognitive functioning was examined in an ongoing longitudinal investigation. Children were classified as consistent or inconsistent in their hand preference across 5 assessments from ages 18 to 42 months. Findings demonstrated that (a) this early…

Objective: To explore the sexual and reproductive health behaviors of students from 13 community college campuses in California. Participants: Heterosexual college students, ages 18 to 24, who have had sexual intercourse (N = 4,487). Methods: The American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) survey was…

The purpose of the 7-year longitudinal study was to examine the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), a student services intervention, to determine its impact on migrant student achievement in the California State University (CSU) system. Participants included 336 migrant students who were enrolled as first-time, full-time freshmen in fall…

A high school education, which includes access to advanced math courses, has a positive effect on students. Math classes taken in high school show a relationship to higher salaries and college graduation rates. However, the high-stakes accountability system in California, redesigned in 2003 to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine what research-based and federally recommended practices in the area of school crisis response planning and management were being implemented in K-8 school districts in Northern California, as well as the degree with which the recommended practices were being implemented. Finally, the study…

This paper examined whether year round schooling (YRS) in California had an effect upon the outcome and growth of schools' Academic Performance Index (API) scores. While many previous studies had examined the connection between YRS and academic achievement, most had lacked the statistical rigour required to provide reliable interpretations. As a…

The purpose of this study was to add to the literature on college student satisfaction. More specifically, expanding research of empirical studies set in multi-campus systems. This was accomplished by examining the influences of academic engagement factors and comparing demographic group differences related to college student satisfaction. Factor…