The problem addressed in this study was high school students delaying their entrance into a General Education Development (GED) program after dropping out of high school in the United States. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to describe high school dropouts' perceptions of what circumstances delay their enrollment into a GED…

Florida's developmental education reform has benefitted most students directly impacted by the reform and has helped to reduce existing achievement gaps by race/ethnicity, English Language Learner status, and academic preparation in short-term outcomes like college course-taking and credit accumulation. Even though the reform was not specifically…

The COVID-19 global pandemic caused the education world to shift to distance learning. Before then, technology usage in the classroom showed minimal implementation and surfaced level approaches. The shift to distance learning caused students to rely on parents and their home environment to continue learning. For many students, this expands…

Higher education institutions and the actors therein are still grappling with disparities in student outcomes and disparate student experiences. Although diligent efforts have been made, institutions have yet to transform in any substantial way to overcome these issues. Rather than offering new student success practices, the focus of this chapter…

A recent Arkansas Department of Education analysis found highly rated early childhood programs serve many of the state's children. Yet 81,000 eligible children still lack access to publicly funded early learning experiences, particularly in rural areas, and enter kindergarten "not ready to learn." The LEARNS Act focuses on five key areas…

While there is an increase in racial and ethnic diversity on college campuses, the rate of degree completion remains uneven and disproportionate to the population (Aud et al., 2012; Williams, 2013). For Black and Latinx students at both two- and four-year institutions, degree completion issues remain persistent and have widened over time (Taylor…

Supporting student success and meeting college completion and equity goals requires institutions to do more than just work at the margins. Overcoming deep-seated challenges means that campuses need to transform. Successful transformation requires identifying, understanding, and navigating campus culture so initiatives can both implement new…

While assessment, curricular, and pedagogical reforms have improved overall success rates in college math courses, they have been less effective in closing racial equity gaps and fostering equitable classroom experiences for racially minoritized students. Following the insights of critical race math scholars, we argue that racial inequity persists…

In response to widening achievement gaps and increased demand for post-secondary education, local and federal governments across the US have enacted policies that have boosted high school graduation rates without an equivalent rise in student achievement, suggesting a decline in academic standards. To the extent that academic standards can shape…

Despite ongoing reform efforts, academic achievement in the U.S. educational system is declining both on internal measures as well as on international comparative assessments. While students from affluent backgrounds continue to do well academically, there is a growing achievement gap as underprivileged urban students fall further behind. This…

In a short essay, I will examine the issues that plague education (e.g., achievement gaps, lack of learning materials, and access to learning) and how the COVID-19 pandemic brought them to the public's attention. I will share my experience teaching during the pandemic and note the importance of seizing the opportunity to correct the inequities…

Education is crucial for the cultivation of successful individuals, healthy communities, robust societies, strong economies, and a healing planet. Yet, while most available education measures show impressive improvement in access in low- and middle-income countries over recent decades, there remains a heartbreaking gap in educational outcomes…

In the late 1990s, an extensive consolidation of schools in rural China led to the amalgamation of numerous primary and secondary schools into urban schools or their discontinuation. The study aimed to investigate whether China's school consolidation movement has influenced the educational attainment of rural students. The data are sourced from…

Measurement systems give colleges a structure for collecting, sharing, and acting on data. The guidebook and tools presented here help faculty, staff, college leadership, and policymakers understand and use measurement systems--and specifically use data to improve completion rates, close institutional performance gaps, and facilitate economic…

We add to a growing literature suggesting that demographic grade gaps should be attributed to biases embedded in the courses themselves. Changes in the structure of two different introductory physics classes were made while leaving the topics covered and the level of coverage unchanged. First, a class where conceptual issues were studied before…