Volunteers have always been essential to the success of 4-H youth development programs. However, the number of available volunteers has declined. Although this decline is not new, it is imperative to recruit and retain adult volunteers for youth programming. Researchers sought to describe characteristics of current Texas volunteers and identify…

The superintendent is one of the most important positions within public school districts because they have the capacity to influence policies, practices, and perceptions among school staff while simultaneously holding sway over the public. Yet, few Latinx administrators are hired into the superintendency -- even fewer are Latinas. Consequently,…

School leaders and teachers need to be prepared to maximize the potential and meet the diverse needs of the changing student demographics in K-12 schools. This qualitative inquiry of one district's elementary campus examined a principal's leadership efforts to support refugee students' educational experiences. To achieve the purpose of this study,…

Clerical staff in the campus office (secretaries and registrars) perform critical functions essential to the operation of schools, yet do not receive research attention regarding their contributions. This study describes turnover rates of K-12 campus clerical employees in order to establish base information in the field. Eight years of employment…

Dual enrollment (DE)--where students earn college credits during high school--is expanding rapidly. To facilitate DE, institutional actors across K-12 schools and colleges must build or repurpose structures across separate organizations to determine course offerings, assignments, modality, and composition. Yet the organization and implications of…

Findings from experimental studies have increasingly been used to inform policy in school settings. Thus far, the populations in many of these studies are typically defined in a cross-sectional context; namely, the populations are defined in the same academic year in which the study took place or the population is defined at a fixed time point.…

Each year, the federal government provides billions of dollars in support for low-income families in their acquisition of housing. In this analysis, we examine how several of these subsidized housing programs, public housing and Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) financed housing, relate to patterns of school segregation for children. We use…

The purpose of this collective case study was to examine elementary music teachers' mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research questions were: 1) What factors influenced music teachers' mental health and well-being during COVID-19; 2) How did music teachers support their own mental health and well-being during…

The purpose of this research is to examine the prevalence of racially diverse high schools in order to understand the conditions that create or inhibit the existence of diverse and equitable schools. We analyzed Texas state demographic data for schools in order to understand the scarcity of racially diverse campuses. We then utilized mapping and…

Given that principals stand at the precipice between policy, the student body, and the community, this article examines the relationship between demographic shocks and principal turnover. In observing more than seven thousand schools in Texas over a seventeen-year period, hazard model results demonstrate that short-term demographic changes are…

The purpose of the study was to examine the features of Texas's Alternative Route to Certification (ARC) programs in music education, the demographics and prior experiences of program completers, and the employment of ARC completers in K-12 public schools. Data were collected from the State Board of Educator Certification about demographics and…

The research described in this paper expands on attempts to conceptualize, measure, and evaluate the degree to which states have aligned their finance systems with their respective accountability policies. State education finance and accountability policies serve as levers to provide equal educational opportunities for all students--scholars have…

To support the nation's college completion goals, early college high school (ECHS) reform creates opportunities for interested students to earn up to two years of free college credit during high school. ECHSs also have an equity objective: to target and enroll students who are historically underrepresented and/or might not otherwise go to college.…

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

This article provides a review of current and future demographic trends for Texas and the nation including the ongoing discrepancy between enrollment and retention/completion. Students entering postsecondary education embody America's growing diversity in language, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ability, and socioeconomic…