The enduring misperception that rural places are homogeneously White may contribute to the underrepresentation of Black students in rural gifted education programs. In this study, we sought to understand this relationship by examining the underrepresentation of Black students in rural gifted education programs through a theoretical framework of…

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on K-12 education. Most schools transitioned to remote instruction, and some used remote testing to assess student learning. Remote testing, however, is less controlled than in-school testing, leading to concerns regarding test-taking engagement. This study compared the disengagement of…

There is growing evidence that school starting age impacts children's likelihood of receiving special education services, but less is known about variations in this effect. Using a regression discontinuity design, I found that the youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < 0.001) to be placed in special education than…

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of school background and school process in closing achievement gaps between White and non-White students in science. To answer the research questions, a series of two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) was performed on the fourth-grade U.S. portion of the 2015 Trends in International…

School-based screening instruments have traditionally focused on assessing within-child factors, such as a student's academic, social, emotional, behavioral, or physical development. This emphasis in school-based screening may be a missed opportunity to assess and ameliorate contextual factors (i.e., social determinants of health) influencing…

Science achievement gaps exhibit racial disparities starting in primary grades and have been shown to persist through middle and high school. In turn, increasing positive attitudes toward science have been shown as one factor that affects academic achievement and motivation among K-12 students. Exploring novel ways that technology can influence…

Literacy significantly impacts access to education, economic development, and life outcomes. However, far too many students pass through elementary school without acquiring the necessary literacy foundation to be successful readers. While students in general demonstrate difficulty in reaching reading proficiency, some groups of students struggle…

School disciplinary practices affect student academic and life outcomes. Many schools have recently shifted towards the prevention of behavioral disorders rather than the punishment of such disorders, but disciplinary actions are still disproportionately meted out to Black students. We took advantage of a natural experiment in a large school…

What role does schooling play in the development of racial/ethnic inequalities in academic skills? Seasonal learning studies, which allow researchers to compare the growth of achievement gaps when school is in versus out of session, provide important evidence regarding whether schools reduce, reproduce, or exacerbate educational inequalities. Most…

Few studies have explored the moderating effects of race on children's physical activity (PA) and psychosocial beliefs, particularly in physical education (PE) setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether children's PA behaviors and PA-related psychosocial beliefs differed as a function of race, as well as to explore any racial…

The Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC), in collaboration with 10 public school districts in the Greater Houston area, set out to better understand the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of student mobility on Houston area students and schools. This brief explores the informal networks of elementary school student mobility in the…

Exclusionary discipline is a consequence of behavior for students who break the student code of conduct. Extensive research about the effects that exclusionary discipline can have on secondary students, as evidenced by reduced graduation rates, has been conducted; but, research studies investigating the potential impact that exclusionary…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and to describe more fully the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, "Student achievement in 2021-22: Cause for hope and continued urgency." The authors investigated two main research questions in this brief: (1) How do achievement gains…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has lo//ng reported on public and private school enrollments. But it is only since the late 1990s that NCES has collected information on homeschooling, after the expansion of its National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) to address this topic. The past two decades have also seen growth…

Background: Schools are increasingly measuring school climate and social emotional learning, yet few measures conduct invariance testing by race, gender, or language despite known differences in perceptions of these constructs based on these identities. Objective: This study reports on the validation process of a school climate and social…