Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to school meal programs, putting children and adolescents at greater risk for food and nutrition insecurity. In response, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) waived restrictions on where free meal sites (FMS) operating through its summer meal programs could locate. This study assesses whether…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the demographic characteristics of middle school students on their mathematics performance on the STAAR examination. More specifically, this study examined the effect of the variables gender, ethnicity, and at-risk status, separate and collectively, on the four mathematics components…

The extent to which differences were present for African American girls as a function of their economic status in their performance on the Texas state-mandated Algebra I End-of-Course exam was examined. Specifically addressed was the extent to which African American girls differed in their performance on three Grade Level performance standards:…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of selected demographic factors on the academic achievement of high school students. More specifically, this study was concerned with the effects of the variables gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores in Mathematics,…

This dissertation consists of two chapters that examine the impact of educational and positive youth development programs on students' academic and behavioral outcomes. In the first chapter, I evaluate the effect of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, a school meal provision allowing schools meeting the eligibility requirements to…

The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is the most widely used norm-referenced creativity test used in gifted identification. Although commonly used for identifying talent, little is known about how creativity tests, like the TTCT-Figural, contribute to the probability of being identified as gifted especially with underrepresented…

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications.…

States and districts allocate hundreds of billions of dollars annually to fund K-12 schools, and this allocation is largely driven by one calculation: how states count student enrollment. They do this in one of five ways: (1) A single count on a single day; (2) Two counts twice per year; (3) Multiple counts over a period of time; (4) An attendance…