We analyze the relationship between residential populations, school attendance zone boundaries (AZBs), and school enrollments in two large, countywide suburban districts, Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, from 1990 to 2010. A steep decline in white, school-age children and an increase in black, Hispanic, and Asian children…

The American Community Survey (ACS), a nationwide study collected continuously every year in every county in the United States, is designed to provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data each year. These ACS estimates are not averages of monthly or annual values, but rather an aggregation of data…

Practical educational assessment tools for adolescents champion student voice, use technology to enhance engagement, highlight discrepancies in school experience, and provide actionable feedback. We report a series of studies that detail an iterative process for developing a new school climate assessment tool: (1) item generation that centres…

Unlike the ineffective generic approach often used for teacher professional development, NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC) Digital Badging offers access to a highly organized system of knowledge and personalized, online professional development (PD) through digital badging. This qualitative case study provided an…

Virginia law mandates the use of threat assessment in all public schools, yet there is little research on grade-level differences. This study investigated a statewide sample of 3,282 threats from 1,021 schools. Threats significantly differed across grade level in demographics, characteristics, and outcome. As grade increased, students were more…

This chartbook is the 14th version to be produced for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). The Chartbook describes the diversity of the Appalachian Region on a host of demographic and economic measures and provides an important annual view of the area and its people. The data contained in the…

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

The purpose of this study was to determine how K-12 public school teachers perceive the use of student performance data in teacher evaluations. The proprietary, utility, feasibility, and accuracy standards created by the Joint Committee on Standards for Education Evaluation served as a framework for the study. An online survey was deployed to a…

Mid-Atlantic urban consumers were surveyed on their fruit and vegetable purchasing behaviors and their knowledge of produce grown in the region. Consumers were generally unaware of what produce is grown in the mid-Atlantic and during what months they are harvested. Additionally, differences pertaining to number of produce items purchased were…

This study tested the association between school-wide measures of an authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates in a statewide sample of 315 high schools. Regression models at the school level of analysis used teacher and student measures of disciplinary structure, student support, and academic expectations to predict overall high…

The ability to evaluate and accurately articulate the outcomes associated with leadership development programs is critical to their continued financial and administrative support. With calls for outcome-based accountability, the need for rigorous evaluation is particularly relevant for those programs administered through the Cooperative Extension…

The purpose of this slide deck is to shine a spotlight on education in the American South with a focus on equity and to provide an understanding of the historical, social, political, and economic context in which the education sector operates. Any movement serious about improving education and life outcomes for underserved student groups --…

In every state in the South, the percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees or higher who were born outside the state exceed the percentage born in-state, reflecting their dependence on imported talent over building their own talent-development systems. In Virginia, the Southern state with the highest percentage of residents with a B.A. or…

The research project described herein was designed to measure teacher education students' epistemological beliefs. Teacher education students' epistemological beliefs were compared according to participants' academic and demographic characteristics as well as characteristics of the courses in which students are enrolled at the time of study data…

Using detailed administrative data from Virginia, this paper examines how and why the community college pathway to a baccalaureate influences students' degree attainment and short-term labor market performance. We find that the community college pathway sharply reduces the likelihood of earning a bachelor's degree but does not have a significant…