As educators, we know students from all sections of the population who are bright, but do not do well academically (Grade Power Learning, 2018). This is particularly true with students from underrepresented populations or whose parents are not college graduates. Significant reasons for this are because they do not know how to study effectively,…

Current literature has identified a growing achievement gap experienced by students raised in poverty. However, some students from poverty can defeat the odds and succeed academically with advanced degrees. Nine graduate students self-identified as being raised in poverty participated in this study. The home-related experiences that led to their…

Previous research demonstrates that collective efficacy positively predicts students' academic achievement (e.g., Bandura, 1993; Goddard et al., 2000). However, unaddressed by the current literature is whether collective efficacy also works to reduce inequity by closing achievement gaps. To learn about the operation of collective efficacy, we…

Concerns over the United States' global standing have spurred a national focus on improving postsecondary attainment. At the same time, many sectors of the economy find they have difficulty recruiting highly trained individuals to fill the good jobs that exist; jobs like nursing, respiratory care, dental hygiene, and various mid-level management…

In 2007, the Kettering Foundation launched a nationwide, two-year research project to learn what people in communities across the nation think about the achievement gap--and what roles they see for themselves in helping young people succeed academically. The community forums, which drew more than 3,200 participants nationwide, spotlighted elements…

This paper first examines the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 on the academic performance of Latino students in the U.S. Although the purpose behind NCLB is to help improve academic proficiency in the areas of reading, language arts, and mathematics, research demonstrates that there is still an achievement gap between…