The performance of White students and Hispanic students from California, Texas, and Arizona on the advanced placement (AP) biology exam was compared using archival data from the College Board from 2016 through 2019. Pearson Chi-square tests yielded statistically significant differences in all 4 year comparisons of white and Hispanic students in…

This research investigates whether teachers' unions influence student academic achievement in Southern states that prohibit collective bargaining. Our data are from the School and Staffing Survey and the Stanford Education Data Archive. We measure the strength of teachers' unions by union membership rate and meet-and-confer status of a district…

The study tested the effects of priming culture on academic self-concept (ASC) and ethnocentrism, and the relationship between prior intergroup contact (PIC) and familial ethnic socialization (FES) and those two outcomes. The study asked: Does priming culture affect achievement outcomes and manifestations of social identity? Do immigrant…

The purpose of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Family Involvement Questionnaire-Short Form (FIQ-SF) for use with Spanish-speaking families of children enrolled in early childhood education programs. This study examined the factor structure of the FIQ-SF and established criterion validity for the resulting FIQ-SF dimension…

This research tested a mediation model, examining whether individual differences in mothers' school readiness beliefs influenced home literacy practices and children's later academic achievement among African American (n = 114) and primarily Mexican origin Latina mothers (n = 164) and their children. Mothers of children ages 3-4 years reported…

The present study explored the psychometric properties of ratings made using the Scales for Assessing Emotional Disturbance--Third Edition: Rating Scale (SAED-3 RS), a scale developed for use in identifying school-age students with emotional and behavioral problems. The purposes of the study were to assess differential item functioning (DIF) for…

Validity studies of college admissions tests have found that, on average, students who are Black or Hispanic earn lower freshman grade-point averages (FGPAs) than predicted by these test scores. This differential prediction is used as a measure of bias. These studies, however, conflate student and school characteristics. The differential…

Retention and underrepresentation of diverse ethnic groups have been and continue to be problematic in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in the United States. One foundational course that is required for all STEM majors is general chemistry. One way to increase retention and diversity in STEM majors is by…

The impact of admissions process design on the racial diversity of schools and colleges has sparked heated debates. We study the pipeline into Boston's three public exam schools to understand racial gaps in enrollment. Admission to these schools has historically been based on a combination of grade point average (GPA) and a score on an optional…

Written expression curriculum-based measurement (WE-CBM) is a formative assessment approach for screening and progress monitoring. To extend evaluation of WE-CBM, we compared hand-calculated and automated scoring approaches in relation to the number of screening samples needed per student for valid scores, the long-term predictive validity and…

This quasi-experimental study investigates differences in the impact of school-based yoga interventions and mindfulness practices on psychological well-being impact factors in at-risk Hispanic adolescent high school students compared to similar students enrolled in traditional physical education classes. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic,…

Psychometric properties of measures of hope and meaning in life in Spanish among Latina/o college students were investigated. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate structural validity of instruments. Findings provided support for the reliability and validity of scores on the Disposition Hope Scale and Meaning in Life Questionnaire…

Improving reading performance among Hispanic students continues to be a national and state priority. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of literacy centers in first grade bilingual classrooms and its relation to students' Tejas LEE scores. This quasi-experimental study took place in two elementary schools in a South…

This study used covariate adjusted regression techniques to compare the third-grade outcomes of low-income Latinx children who attended Montessori pre-K programs (n = 161) with those who graduated from more conventional programs (n = 4975) in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Children who experienced one year of Montessori education demonstrated…

We use data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to describe district-level trends in average academic achievement between 2009 and 2019. Although on average school districts' test scores improved very modestly (by about 0.001 standard deviations per year), there is significant variation among districts. Moreover, we find that average test…