Graduating high school is an important key predictor of this nation's ability to remain globally competitive and a person's long-term financial and social success. At the macrolevel, graduation rates impact a nation's post-secondary education participation, which has been found to be a key indicator of its ability to compete in a global economy.…

English learners (ELs) are the fastest growing population of students in the United States and currently represent nearly 10% of public school enrollment; however, they also constitute less than 3% of gifted program enrollment in these schools. Although an increasing number of studies explore this underrepresentation, research that specifically…

English learners (ELs) are the fastest-growing population of students in the United States and currently represent nearly 10% of public school enrollment; however, they also constitute less than 3% of gifted program enrollment in these schools. Although an increasing number of studies explore this underrepresentation, research that specifically…

Background/Context: Many states, school districts, and third-party platforms report measures of school performance. Such school ratings are widely consulted by parents and educators alike. The ratings appear to affect families' choices of where to live and where to enroll students (Bergman and Hill, 2018; Hasan and Kumar, 2019), as well as…

Population projections indicate that Indiana is to become increasingly more diverse in upcoming years, and these demographic changes are already reflected in Indiana's high school graduate pipeline. For the purpose of this report, "equity" refers to the idea that a student's social circumstances should not dictate his or her chance of…

Background/Context: The problems that school district leaders identify and how they frame them have consequences--for both policy implementation and the ways that teachers respond. Although that is likely true in all community contexts (from rural to urban, inside and outside metropolitan centers), the influence of broader discourses associated…

Many school accountability programs are built on the premise that the sanctions attached to failure will produce higher future student achievement. Furthermore, such programs often include subgroup achievement rules that attempt to hold schools accountable for the performance of all demographic classes of students. This paper looks at two issues:…

Higher rates of school switching by students contribute to achievement disparities and are typically theorized as driven by attributes of individual pupils or families. In contrast the neoclassical-economic account postulates that switching is necessary for competition among schools. We argue that both frames fail to capture social-referential and…

Children of immigrants are the fastest-growing segment of the nation's children population. According to the U.S. Census (2007), approximately 16.4 million children, more than 1 in 5, are children of immigrants, most of whom are school-age population (aged 3-17 years). This large demographic shift is fundamentally changing the nation's schools and…

In 2011, a study by the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that the demographics of the teacher workforce had not kept up with student demographics and showed that students of color made up more than 40 percent of the school-age population. In contrast, teachers of color were only 17 percent of the teaching force. Since this time, the nation…

The purpose of this study was to identify significant differences in academic achievement among virtual students of various backgrounds, demographics, and virtual learning environments. The study also sought to identify factors that may predict the academic achievement, as defined by final course grade, of virtual students. This study examined…

This study examined the factors that have an effect on student scores on the Florida End-of-Course (EOC) Assessment in four secondary Algebra 1 classrooms using interactive whiteboard tools (IWTs). Four teachers and 335 students were observed in one public suburban school in central Florida during the second half of the spring term. Hierarchical…

Lead is a neurotoxin that has been shown to have a long and lasting impact on the brains, bodies, and behaviors of those who are poisoned. It also has a greater presence in communities with high levels of poverty and minority populations. Compounded over time, the effects of lead poisoning, even at low levels of exposure, impact a child's…

Children in communities across Colorado--whether large or small, rural or urban, on the Eastern Plains or the Western Slope--face opportunities and obstacles to reaching their full potential. While some challenges are similar, many are very different depending on the community environment and the resources available to support children and…

Georgia is one of seven states that currently allow tax credits for scholarships to private schools. Georgia's law was enacted in May 2008 in order to assist low income students to transfer out of low performing public schools. Operations under the new act began in late 2008. The law permits taxpayers in Georgia to reduce their annual state taxes…