As standardized testing becomes more prevalent, the urgency of allocating a designated time for children to play has diminished. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the amount of play children receive and standardized test scores in conjunction with the variable of anxiety. The population used consisted of…

Minnesota has one of the highest student-to-school counselor ratios in the nation. Not only are there racial and economic gaps in student achievement, but there are also racial and economic disparities in access to a licensed school counselor. This dissertation utilizes hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine if not only the…

As the American economy has moved from a manufacturing emphasis to the digital age, its students have been found to be lacking academic skills necessary to compete in the current global job market. Education analysts have proposed various remedies to this, including the types of educational reforms outlined in documents such as "A Nation at…

High-stakes testing has grown in scope and impact in recent years, as accountability decisions regarding funding, school sanctions, and teacher evaluations often depend on standardized test results. The shift toward more stringent and punitive testing mandates has not gone unchallenged however, as pockets of resistance have emerged among teachers,…

This qualitative case study addressed instructional practices used by third-grade teachers teaching at Title I schools to provide strategies to teach higher-order thinking skills in reading comprehension. In Texas, third-grade students were required to take the reconstructed STAAR assessment at the end the 2022-2023 school year. The teachers…

This dissertation focused on comparing the academic achievement and language proficiency in both English and Spanish of students at risk for language and learning difficulties, with bilingual typically developing students in two bilingual educational contexts: English as a Second Language program and Spanish two-way immersion program. Data was…

Black women have been making successful strides in mathematics for decades; however, they continue to be underrepresented in mathematics and other STEM fields. According to Young et al. (2017), Black girls and women perform lower in mathematics than all other racial gender groups except for Black males. Considering the stakes for Black girls and…

The study's purpose was to determine the effectiveness of charter school programs in increasing academic achievement in students with disabilities who received special education services within one charter management organization. The study reviewed student achievement on a state standardized assessment in ELA and Mathematics. Relationships…

Adolescents across the United States, in general, do not get enough sleep. This is often the result of early school start times. When children reach adolescence, a biological change occurs, causing their circadian cycle to delay and resisting the build-up of homeostatic pressure. Consequently, adolescents have difficulties falling asleep earlier…

Since the implementation of the federal government initiative called No Child Left Behind schools have become faced with the problem of meeting the demands of the state assessments. To overcome some of the problems that the schools are facing in mathematics, this Action Research Program utilized a schedule of both teacher and student directed…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore English high school teachers' perceptions regarding standardized testing and college readiness. This study provided a thorough investigation of the lived experiences and perceptions of English high school teachers' ability to prepare students for standardized testing, and their ability to…

The number of students receiving special education services have steadily increased in the United States over the past decade. Students with disabilities (SWD) historically score lower on high stakes tests, and they require considerations beyond academic achievement for promotion. The growing number of SWD and accountability measures included in…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a significant relationship between school-wide academic outcomes and the instructional modalities utilized by public schools during the 2019-2022 school years. This study also determined if there was a significant difference in assessment scores earned by public school students…

This dissertation examines the different aspects of education policies and their socioeconomic implications through three distinct research papers. The first chapter investigates the causal impact of grade retention in primary school on juvenile crime in Chile and it was written jointly with Juan Diaz, Nicolas Grau, and Jorge Rivera. Utilizing a…

In July 2022, the University of California (UC) permanently eliminated the standardized tests requirement for its freshman admissions in order to alleviate the severed socioeconomic gap and college access barriers that were heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. This critical policy analysis research explored the immediate effects of UC's policy…