A quick look at the Native American academic achievement gap illustrates Native American students are more likely to live in areas of poverty, less likely to graduate from high school, and less likely to go on to college (Annie E. Casey Foundation 2017; 2018). The Next Generation Science Standards and others recommend that teachers trained in…

This study contributes to the literature by examining the evolution of socio-economic disparities in literacy skills between age 15 and 27. It uses combined cross-sectional data from the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies in 20 countries and adopts a synthetic…

This critical, integrative qualitative review explores how researchers approach, describe, and justify culturally relevant, culturally responsive, or culturally sustaining literacy instruction in prekindergarten through fifth-grade (P-5) classrooms. We reviewed 56 studies published between 1995 and 2018. We documented terms researchers use,…

Due in part to the challenges associated with learning a new language, English language learners (ELLs) typically begin school with lower achievement than their non-ELL peers, and those achievement gaps often close slowly if at all. A separate body of research shows that achievement is associated with social-emotional learning constructs like…

With the majority of children in the United Kingdom (UK) now learning from home as part of another national lockdown, addressing the digital divide is more important than ever. Without a device, an internet connection, or a suitable space to work, it is much harder for students to keep up with their learning from home, and the attainment gap…

In California, Black students have markedly lower academic achievement than their White peers and Black students are also more likely to experience exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions (Cano, 2020, Losen & Martinez, 2020). What can be done to mitigate these racial disparities in schools? In this brief, we investigate whether increasing…

The educational acts of the 21st century have affected public education for twenty years. Their roots historically go back to the 1960s. The original goal was to create an equitable education for children of color so that the achievement gap and dropout rate would be eliminated. Although well intended, these acts may have spawned many unintended…

This qualitative study will explore the educational beliefs and practices of elementary principals and teachers in inclusive schools. Nine elementary schools in a unit district are the focus of this study given the significant gains made in closing the achievement gap between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers. The research…

The purpose of this two-phased, mixed-method action research study was to investigate the impact of a professional learning community's collective teacher efficacy and their practice of collective inquiry in closing the achievement gap of eighth-grade social studies English language learners. The research questions guiding this research: 1. How…

Gender gaps in exam scores or final grades are common in introductory college science and engineering classrooms, with women underperforming relative to men with the same admission test scores or college grade point averages. After failing to close a historically documented gender gap in a large introductory biology course using interventions…

Promise Neighborhoods attempt to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone's "cradle to college pipeline" model of coordinated and continuous child and family services for a single neighborhood. We analyze the 46 planning and 18 implementation grants to determine which factors these neighborhoods plan to address and compare these efforts with…

Despite encouraging findings that show that interventions can improve students' math understanding, achievement gaps in math often persist or even widen for students who struggle. Practitioners play a significant role in closing these achievement gaps because they have the responsibility to select or design interventions. Practitioners may wish to…

This report is a continuation of work that examined the progress being made by districts to close the achievement gap in Kentucky (Butler and Poquette, 2019) and aims to further investigate the context in which districts are closing the achievement gap. Districts' achievement gap issues vary significantly: the size of districts' achievement gaps…

Following a 2007 Supreme Court decision restricting the use of race for school assignments, school boards desiring greater diversity turned to economic integration, meaning equalizing the proportion of low-income students in each school in a district. Among other claimed benefits, most advocates believe economic integration will reduce the…

The paper documents the initiative of two African American women educators who have utilized these theoretical approaches to solve the educational challenges in their respective communities. Marva Collins and Corla Hawkins decided to build schools in their own communities after realizing that the public schools were not equipped to educate…