Since at least the 1960s, federal and state policymakers have debated how best to hold public schools accountable for producing graduates who are prepared to fully participate in our democratic society. Since that time, reform efforts have led to Texas' current test-based A-F accountability system. This qualitative case study explored how one…

Principals play a critical role in improving schools, but high rates of principal turnover threaten improvement gains. In this study we used a mixed-methods design to examine school, district, and community factors associated with greater principal turnover, and explore how these factors differ for rural schools. We found that rural districts tend…

To promote racial and gender equity in the field of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computing (STEM+C), we investigated prominent influences on historically underrepresented minority (HURM) women's persistence in undergraduate education. With the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic women in the computing workforce, this…

Over the last forty years, schools' use of exclusionary discipline tactics, such as suspension and expulsion, increased by nearly 50% (Office for Civil Rights 2014). Research suggests that the suspension and expulsion of students may negatively affect future educational attainment, interaction with the criminal justice system, and other indicators…

Background: While the Texas infant mortality rate (IMR) is below the Healthy People 2020 objective (5.7 per 1,000 live births), stark differences in IMR are seen across Texas communities. Health indicators for the state suggest important missed opportunities for improving maternal and infant outcomes. The Healthy Families initiative was a…

A person who is considered deaf-blind is someone who is deaf or hard-of-hearing in combination with a visual impairment or blindness. The range of capabilities and support needs of individuals with deaf-blindness varies substantially from person to person because of differences in the extent of partial vision or hearing, if any, or the presence of…

To examine how neighborhood characteristics influence academic achievement, data were drawn from a community survey of low-income neighborhoods and linked with data on performance on standardized testing for third-grade students attending elementary schools in those communities. Results of multilevel logistic regressions indicated that probability…

Student responses were elicited in classroom discussions about alcohol use in their own rural community. Teachers and parents responded to questionnaires and interviews concerning various aspects of alcohol consumption as part of the local lifestyle. Students gave reasons for drinking such as ethnic and religious acceptance in the local community,…

Value orientations measured through status orientations were analyzed in an attempt to predict which participants in a training relocation program stay in the receiving community and on the job in an aircraft industry. Data were taken from a study of the occupational and personal adjustment of retrained-relocated workers and their families.…

The purpose of this study is to measure community and student perceptions regarding College of the Mainland (COM). A survey of the literature provides background on sociopolitical forces in the community, the distribution of power and influence in the community, the relationship of the community to the larger society, the relationship of the…

This emergent theory describes the relationships and factors within the context of home, school, and community that enabled six Hispanic students to participate in an advanced diploma program. The research is in keeping with the mandates from several federal initiatives to develop "asset-based" paradigms for educating Hispanic youth.…

A questionnaire survey of 180 Texas school district superintendents sought to determine both their perceptions of how community power structures influenced school board decisions and their techniques for communicating with their local power structure. The study analyzed four power structure types--monopolistic, multigroup noncompetitive,…

This newsletter includes three articles on the theme of leadership development, particularly in relation to high-risk students or Mexican American communities. "Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program: 'Because All Children Are Valuable'" (Linda Cantu) shares some success stories from the program, which recruits high-risk students to be tutors of…

This report focuses on Hispanic American culture in the schools of the lower Rio Bravo Valley (Texas) through impressions and descriptions of the interrelationship of school and community. School culture is defined as reflecting the shared characteristics and uniqueness of the community cultures around the school. The school cultures of the Valley…