Historically, de jure systemic racism in the United States and the California housing market resulted in a lack of Black family access to housing in affluent neighborhoods, generating a Black-White wealth and income gap still observed today. Even after eliminating much of this outright discrimination, these economic gaps caused de facto…

Is the achievement gap real? Using a mixed-methods approach, this study reframed standardized testing through a Quantitative Critical and Black Critical lens. It interrogated the deficit framing of Black student achievement by asking the following questions: (1) To what extent do the aggregated standardized test scores for Black students in…

The authors sought to identify the prevalence of food insecurity in a community college district during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team also investigated the association food insecurity had with academic performance. A sample of 238 individuals completed the survey, including a demographic questionnaire and the Adult Food Security Survey Module, a…

While America is becoming increasingly diverse, educational stakeholders seek programs that address varied language and cultural needs, which is reflected by the growing popularity of dual language immersion (DLI) programs in recent decades. The problem is an extensively persistent academic achievement gap between students with native English and…

Advocates for marginalized students have worked to understand the equity implications of public policy and its application on educational performance gaps. This study investigated equity policies in a southern California community college intervention program: the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS). EOPS is an equity program created…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational systems, leading to significant learning loss and credit deficiencies among high school students, particularly in California's comprehensive high schools. This research addressed these challenges by exploring innovative strategies through a social-ecological model and ecological systems theory to improve…

Many factors contribute to the achievement gap in the U.S. As an intervention to help narrow the gap, tutoring presents a potentially powerful solution. Decades of research suggest that tutoring is an effective, evidence-based approach to improve student success, with effect sizes ranging from 0.4. to 2.0. As many school systems in the U.S. move…

Educational inequality due to family socioeconomic status (SES) has been the focus of both public dialogue and education research in the United States for many years. The current study aims to understand how educational inequality due to family SES has changed in the United States. Specifically, the study focuses on the changes in achievement gaps…

The California State University's Graduation Initiative 2025 has strengthened and renewed campuses' commitment toward supporting students on their educational journey to ensure they meet their ultimate goal of graduation. Of equal importance is the elimination of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic equity gaps in graduation completion, especially for…

Using panel data from three successive collective bargaining (CBA) negotiation cycles from 277 California school districts in a difference-in-differences framework, I investigate the relationship between changes in CBA restrictiveness and racial and economic achievement gaps over time. I find that achievement gaps in California are smaller where…

The American School Counselor Association Closing-the-Gap Action Plan template is a tool created to help school counselors identify educational gaps and track interventions. We applied a transcendental, phenomenological qualitative research method to explore school counselors' use of the template to advocate for students. Our findings demonstrate…

Improving baccalaureate degree attainment for transfer students continues to be a key topic across the nation. The Associate Degree for Transfer is the latest attempt to improve outcomes. This quantitative study examines the effectiveness of the Associate Degree for Transfer pathway program as compared to other transfer pathway programs over a…

This study addresses the important yet underexplored question of whether the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics, which emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving, as well as the computer-based assessments aligned with the Common Core, have facilitated or hindered learning for students with disabilities. By analyzing administrative…

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with historical inequities, resulted in a widening of the achievement gap between underserved populations and more advantaged students. In response to this issue, California took action by allocating additional funds to public school districts for out-of-school-time services through the Expanded Learning Opportunities…

Higher education institutions across the country have examined equity in education outcomes through disaggregating student demographic data. However, it is not as common for academic institutions to also examine student learning outcomes for inequities in student learning. The current study explores what the greatest contributors are for the lack…