South Carolina's public education system is broken. For the past several years, the State of South Carolina and the nation have somehow managed to do the nearly impossible. Both have produced more English Language Learning (ELL) students to be proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) (i.e., reading, writing, and usage) than native English…

"Teacher Diversity and Student Success" makes a powerful case for diversifying the teaching force as an important policy lever for closing achievement gaps and moving schools closer to equity goals. Written by three leading scholars, the book provides nuanced solutions on how to diversify the teaching force, increase student exposures to…

This quantitative study examined the achievement gap in mathematics through the analysis of standardized test scores from a suburban school district in Saint Louis County. The problem this study addressed is that students of color in Missouri continue to score well below their peers on mathematics assessments (Bohrnstedt et al., 2015; Kotok, 2017;…

This action research investigated the impact that culturally responsive read-aloud/text talk (a culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practice) has on student engagement, sense of belonging, and learning outcomes for elementary-age Black students at an inner-city elementary school. In Cycle 1 of this study, information pertaining to the topic of…

The extent to which differences were present for African American girls as a function of their economic status in their performance on the Texas state-mandated Algebra I End-of-Course exam was examined. Specifically addressed was the extent to which African American girls differed in their performance on three Grade Level performance standards:…

This doctoral dissertation investigates the effects of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy on educational equity in New Jersey, focusing on three primary research questions. Firstly, the study examines whether the implementation of NCLB mandates led to the closure of achievement gaps between black and white students, as evidenced by disparities…

African American males often struggle with reading motivation and reading achievement. The problem addressed in this research study was that low reading motivation in African American males is associated with low scoring on standardized and summative reading assessments. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the reading…

Research on the STEM educational pipeline has focused on degree attainment, finding that students who take STEM courses in high school are more likely to declare a STEM major later on (Gottfried & Bozick, "Education Finance and Policy" 11:177-202, 2016) and tend to perform better in college (Sadler & Tai, "Science…

The achievement gap between African American students is growing larger compared to other racial groups. Despite being cognizant of the alarming African American learning gap, there continues to be minimal research that explains and determines the impact of the classroom teacher. Moreover, as Black children continue to underperform on standardized…

High-stakes testing is currently the primary measure of student success in the United States. Based on this measure of student performance, closing the "achievement gap" in test scores between Black and Latinx students and their white peers has become the main indicator of success for schools serving Black and Latinx students. When…

Undergraduate first-generation Black male students enrolled in colleges nationwide are not graduating at rates comparable to their peers. Despite others' increased graduation rates, many undergraduate first-generation Black male students struggle to graduate. In the past decade, increasing research has focused on why first-generation Black male…

Although developing a positive relationship between teachers and students is important for students to thrive in school, white teachers frequently fail to do this with their Black students. The failure of white teachers to connect with their Black students contributes to inequities such as disparities in academic achievement, the…

Our purpose is to proffer QuantCrit methodological approaches to interrogate notions of statistical practice by convention. We present two approaches to meta-analysis and mean effect size calculations for student achievement. The first approach is the conventional approach which applies between-group differences to calculate effect sizes…

The problem addressed in this study was the current low retention and graduation rates of Black males at community colleges nationwide. The purpose of this causal-comparative quantitative study was to determine the effect of the Black Male Initiative (BMI) on Black males' academic self-efficacy and academic achievement scores. Academic…

A qualitative multiple-case study explored the perceptions of science teachers, administrators, and specialists on instructional strategies used in urban STEM schools to decrease the science achievement gap among African American students. The problem addressed in this study was the science achievement gap for African American students in urban…