Doors to other educational opportunities and future professions are closed when students have a low motivational profile in mathematics starting in elementary school and continue with an unchanged profile into high school (Lazarides et al., 2020). Students must learn how to increase their mathematical self-efficacy in order to increase their…

The purpose of this program evaluation was to evaluate the impact of CORE District's Breakthrough Success Community (BTSC) Program at an urban Title I high school located in Southern California. BTSC aims to improve the ninth-grade experience through a focus on five key change drivers and the implementation of improvement science. Through teacher…

The varied academic needs of students with learning disabilities throughout the U.S. and in Southern California, specifically, have driven demand for private learning centers. For the purposes of this study, a learning center refers to a private business that teaches primary and secondary school students with learning disabilities outside of the…

The debate on charter schools is attributed to doubts that such schools are improving the performance of their students. While proponents of charter schools praise their flexibility and creativity, opponents of charter schools posited that charter schools increased segregation, and skimmed the cream of the crop from traditional schools (Miron,…

During conferences to decide whether or not to retain a child, usually two questions are asked. The first is, "Will retention bring success in school?" The other is, "If we retain him, will he perform better in school than if we don't retain him?" The goal of this research was to see if retained students would make enough…

As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to grow in schools, so does the concern for their lack of academic progress and the possible inequitable representation of this culturally and linguistically diverse population in special education (Artiles, Rueda, Salazar, & Higareda, 2005; Guiberson, 2009; Mac Swan &…

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation greatly enhanced the school accountability movement in the US and resulted in pervasive influence, mandating student achievement outcomes in low-income school communities. Of particular challenge has been the NCLB requirement to advance student achievement each year according to designated…

The most recent data available from the National Center for Educational Statistics (2004) estimate that 60% of community college freshmen and 25% of freshmen at 4-year public institutions nationwide complete at least one remedial course. Nationally, fewer than 40% of students who are referred to developmental education actually enroll in…

This case study examined a multi-college community college district in northern California in a primarily rural area, to understand how their practices compared to management best practices designed to improve student success, barriers that may exist in implementing best practices, and how the institution may improve its own practices. The problem…