Hispanics comprise the fastest-growing ethnicity in the United States. One in five college students is Hispanic. While Hispanics are gaining access to higher education, their college completion rate is dismal, compared to Whites and other ethnicities. Hispanics face unique academic and social challenges in college. This phenomenological study was…

This paper summarizes a three-year quasi-experimental evaluation with school-level assignment of a social-emotional learning (SEL) program for high school students who are at-risk of dropping out before college graduation. The field-initiated program aimed to increase students' social and emotional skills, develop their character, and increase…

College and career readiness is important for the future of students (Conley, 2010). Texas leads the nation in the number of public policies aimed at improving college and career readiness, however, not all policies have been effective (Blume & Zumeta, 2013). This quantitative causal-comparative study examines the effect of House Bill (HB) 5…

Going to college is an expectation for many students, but this is not always the norm for many minority families. The decision to leave the comfort of home for college includes many family discussions and literacy practices that greatly affect a student. Studying family literacy practices such as storytelling and "cuentos y consejos"…

The University-Model school incorporates private school and homeschool methods within a Christian school experience. Parents receive the title of "co-instructors" as they partner with teachers in educating their child. This phenomenological study explored the elements that influenced parents' choice when selecting a school. Simon's 1955…

Texas House Bill 3 established a college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus, which provides extra funding to districts for each annual graduate demonstrating CCMR under the state accountability system. Some small district and rural district leaders expressed concern about the ability of their graduates to meet the career…

The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to examine the relationship among student achievement factors, gifted and talented status and post-secondary readiness. The study included a review of archived data obtained from a large district in the southeastern region of Texas consisting of a purposeful sample of AP students' who took an…

The purpose of this study was to understand how high schools in Texas were implementing the new graduation requirements that were enacted under House Bill 5 during the 2013 Texas Legislature. The study included interviews and survey data collected from 50 randomly selected public high schools in Texas during the 2018-19 school year. The study team…

This report describes SAT test results for AISD's graduating seniors, Class of 2019, who took the SAT any time during high school.

Current context for educational reform in the United States is codified in revisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Periodic reauthorizations reflect changing national and educational landscapes (Klein, 2015). The most recent reauthorization, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 (USDE, 2015), is currently…

This study identifies seven major trends in how states and districts are implementing college- and career-ready standards for general education students and for two special populations often the target of education policy--English language learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities (SWDs). We draw on state-representative teacher, principal,…

The goal of the College of Arts & Sciences Community-aid (CASC-aid) project, a National Science Foundation grant funded study (2016-2021), is to develop, implement, and evaluate a program that fosters a community of academic success for Hispanic STEM students. This Hispanic Serving Institute continues to provide a variety of supports to…

This study identifies seven major trends in how states and districts are implementing college- and career-ready standards for general education students and for two special populations often the target of education policy--English language learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities (SWDs). We draw on state-representative teacher, principal,…

While many in the field of teaching grapple with the revisions that come with a growing decentralization of standards-based reform, teacher learning and understanding of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards and revisions is critical to successful implementation. Even when fully supported and focused on implementing standards in the…

Substantial disparities in college enrollment rates exist across racial and socioeconomic groups in the United States. A key goal of education policy is to help remediate this inequity by providing equal opportunity and access to all students. However, to develop better policy, one needs to understand the underlying causes of these disparities.…