The problem addressed in this study was that many educational institutions have not fully integrated digital technology into online teaching strategies during the school shutdowns. Digital technology enables both synchronous and asynchronous communication between teachers and students, allowing access to learning materials and supporting…

Over the past 20 years, both charter schools and pre-kindergarten education have taken on increasingly prominent roles in the schooling of America's children. Charter schools in 43 states now serve more than 2.6 million students--roughly six percent of all students attending public schools. More than two-thirds of four-year-olds attend some form…

Publicly funded pre-K is often touted as a means to narrow achievement gaps, but this goal is less likely to be achieved if poor and/or minority children do not, at a minimum, attend equal quality pre-K as their non-poor, non-minority peers. In this paper, I find large "quality gaps" in public pre-K between poor, minority students and…

The significant growth of charter schools in the United States has brought both praise for the excellent results achieved by some schools and criticism that charter schools may not be serving the most disadvantaged students. In New York City and elsewhere, a significantly smaller proportion of students enrolled in charter schools are classified as…

Folk belief theory is suggested as a primary cause for the persistence of the achievement gap. In this research-supported theory, culturally specified folk beliefs about learning and teaching prompt educators to direct more rigorous curriculum to high-advantage students but not to low-advantage students, resulting in impoverished pedagogy in…

Poor academic outcomes and high dropout rates are major concerns of educators, policy makers, and parents alike--and poor health severely limits a child's motivation and ability to learn. Recent research confirms that "health disparities affect educational achievement". Improving students' health is integral to education reform.…

Data published on the official website of the NYC DOE indicated that slightly less than half (42%) of NYC students in grades three through eight are not proficient in ELA, and one quarter of them (25%) are not proficient in Math. School reform based on Hirsch's Cultural Literacy provided an additional dimension to exploring school reform and…