At Community Leadership High School, a pseudonym, graduation rates have consistently ranged between 95% and 100%. However, 35% to 40% of graduates, who come from low income families of color, lack the college and career readiness skills required to succeed after high school. The aim of this improvement science study was to increase the percentage…

Research shows many new college students may be remedial in English language arts or mathematics (Jaggers & Bickerstaff, 2018). For faculty in journalism and mass communication (JMC) fields, teaching struggling student writers can be especially challenging as these students may not have the fundamental knowledge to build applied writing skills…

According to the content found on its website, AVID has conducted studies to evaluate the academic performance of AVID students when compared to their non-AVID peers. A distinct research endeavor was undertaken to evaluate the impact of introducing AVID Elementary within a small rural school district. This study focused on student academic…

The aim of this study was to determine why, although rigorous standards in English language arts (ELA) have been adopted in a northwestern state and were designed to build toward college readiness, high school students graduating from a college readiness curriculum are not college ready in the area of writing. The purpose of the research was to…

The study was designed to address how teachers' self-efficacy influenced student achievement through the use of a formative assessments in the classroom. Student achievement and learning outcomes are the primary focus for educators, and the constant quest to improve student learning is a common theme. The problem addressed was low levels of…

This qualitative comparative narrative study determined the perceptions of high school English language arts teachers regarding the impact of incorporating Web 2.0 tools upon student college readiness. This study also examined whether teachers should persist in incorporating Web 2.0 tools in educational experiences as they seek to support students…

"College readiness" has become a national buzzword in light of efforts to improve high school students' ability to successfully transition into postsecondary settings. One component of this transition that has long been an area of concern is students' readiness for college writing. Numerous stakeholders have weighed in on the question of…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to identify how PLCs influence the high school English teachers' practice in response to key instructional shifts within teaching standards in the Southwest United States. Legislation from the last two decades puts expectations in place that raise the bar for American students and their teachers…

The purpose of this study was to determine if students in identified Illinois high schools who were a part of a one-to-one (1:1) laptop program achieved higher results on the computer-based Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment than students in identified Illinois high schools that did not…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the concept of the ninth grade academy structure in Texas high schools affects a variety of variables indicative of student achievement. Data representative of performance by students served in 30 schools with a separately structured ninth grade academy were compared to data representative of…

This research examined the effects of the new English/Language Arts standards, brought about by the Tennessee Diploma Project, on the ACT Reading test scores of high school seniors. The effects on student achievement, perceptions of secondary and postsecondary educators, as well as the effects on the test scores of at-risk students were measured.…

This study assessed the relationship of an Arts Summer Learning Program (Arts Program) to student academic performance and college readiness. A North Texas school district collaborated with a research-based Arts Program in 2010, and a new approach was implemented in the summer school program for low-performing students who had failed courses in…

The study evaluates the relationship between middle school principals' leadership characteristics and academic achievement of African American male students in grades 6, 7, and 8 in a large urban school district. Academic achievement is typically defined as the cognitive knowledge, skills, and abilities that are measured by achievement tests. The…

This dissertation describes and analyzes the academic language socialization of culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents through a multi-case ethnographic study of high school writing instruction in California. I argue that there is a significant gap between the norms for writing in English language development classes and those in the…