Despite the fact that adolescents benefit from caring adults that participate in their child's education, involvement of families decreases incrementally as students progress to higher grades. Through conversations and observations with students, I have examined how students' perceive these points within a poetry program that was developed for…

This study investigated convergent validity evidence for student growth scores with high school course grades. The Measures of Academic Progress and Educational Planning and Assessment System growth scores for approximately 1,800 ninth-grade students over 2 years were related to language, arts, and mathematics course grades for developmental,…

The goal of every school district is to help students succeed academically and personally. But does every district leverage its most valuable resource, its teachers, to meet that goal? At the Valley Stream Central High School District in Nassau County, New York, these authors know how important teacher commitment is to student success, so they…

The impact of an experimental, one-semester suspension of mathematics and English prerequisites from 12 courses is investigated. Data on enrollment, student performance, and instructor opinions are analyzed for the total group, and results concerning English versus mathematics prerequisites are compared. Implications for further research on the…

This study examines the participation of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with labels of Learning Disability (LD) in their English, Math, and Social Studies classes. The conceptualization of LD as a biological pathology in the dominant special education discourse has contributed to normative perceptions and reductionistic…

The author works as an academic adviser and adjunct instructor at a small, public, four-year university that provides the usual spread of bachelor's degree programs, as well as several master's degrees. He has done similar work at a private liberal arts college and at a branch campus of a large state school. He brings to this work not only a PhD…

Purpose, scope, and method of study. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of eighth-grade single-gender classes with coed classes across subject area, gender, at-risk status, and socioeconomic status (SES). The sample was drawn from one school, DeSoto West Junior High School, where enrollment averages 80% African American,…

This report summarizes analyses of whether results from Austin Independent School District's students' Spring 2008 state-mandated academic assessments are related to their results on a fitness assessment.

"Cheating" is a form of resistance in pedagogy for bilingual educators. Bilingual educators "cheat" in classes where English as the only language of instruction is strictly imposed by school or district officials, but these teachers "cheat" by using the native language of their English language learners because they know they must. But, for many…

The study examined the self-reported academic achievement, academic self-concept, and academic motivation of 573 immigrant and nonimmigrant adolescents in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) secondary schools. Descriptive Discriminant Analyses indicated that the immigrant adolescents had higher performance in mathematics, higher math and school…

What distinguishes high schools that "beat the odds" for students from traditionally lower-performing groups from schools that struggle to improve the achievement and graduation rates of these student populations? What types of programs, practices, and processes support better than expected outcomes for students at risk of failure? How…

This paper reports on how ten school districts and a state university system address a state-funded college readiness program for high school student achievement in mathematics and English. It addresses in qualitative and quantitative detail: (a) the school-university partnership designed to decrease the number of high school students that require…

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is engaged in a strategic planning process to improve performance beyond the goals in "Dateline 2009," the system's current vision and plan. A key objective is to encourage colleges to improve retention and academic success for students, particularly the substantial numbers who arrive…

The article reports a study of factors associated with different levels of examination performance among thirty secondary schools in a district of Kenya. There are very limited data on school effectiveness in developing countries but there is some evidence that resource levels and aspects of teacher quality may be important. The research found…

In 2005, the achievement gap between African-American and Caucasian students doubled in the state of Louisiana. Sixty-three percent of the public schools in an urban school district in southeastern Louisiana received an Academically Unacceptable Status (AUS) rating according to Louisiana accountability standards. In 2006, the Louisiana Board of…