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…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

This autoethnographic narrative explores the challenges and successes of employing critical pedagogy in an eighth-grade history classroom. Using the threads of teacher, scholar, and individual, the author shares the intellectual and emotional progression through hope, frustration, humility, and growth that this endeavor demanded. Further, this…

For many years, the Catholic school system within the United States was considered the preeminent educational institution, particularly for poor and marginalized students that live in low income, inner city areas. Now, given the large number of school closures, the Catholic school system's long-standing goal of educating economically disadvantaged…

In conflict-affected societies, education is seen as a vital vehicle in promoting students' well-being and social cohesion. Little is known about students' learning experiences in conflict-affected countries in the Arab world where young people are facing violence, fragmentation and poverty. This paper draws on the perspectives of public school…

This article presents a case study of egalitarian educational practices evident in a rural school that served a large proportion (40%) of Amish students. The Amish are a pacifist Christian sect widely misunderstood as quaint and even backward; their traditional work is small-scale farming. In 1972 the Amish wrested the national right--via a US…

Data from the Second International Mathematics Study were examined using the course, rather than the country, as the unit of analysis. Findings from Grade 8 and Grade 12 did not support the conclusion that centralized control of curriculum is associated with more consistent and more equitable delivery of curricula. (SLD)

In spring 2000, the Southern Regional Education Board, through its Middle Grades Assessment, gathered information from 5,000 eighth-graders and 1,800 middle-grades teachers in 60 schools in 14 states. This brief report describes what that information revealed: a significant difference between the achievement scores of the highest performing 25…