Scholarship has provided some insight into inequities that exist within sorority and fraternity life (SFL), whereas members of culturally based sororities and fraternities within Multicultural Greek Councils (MGC) and National Pan-Hellenic Councils (NPHC) report being treated as inferior to those in historically white organizations. However, few…

Purpose: This study's purpose is to provide statewide evidence on the mobility patterns of instructional coaches (ICs) and teacher peer observers (TPOs). Research Methods/Approach: Using 5 years of administrative and survey data from Tennessee, we conduct descriptive and regression analyses to document the mobility of classroom teachers, ICs, and…

Social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD) is a holistic approach to supporting students' development and learning that is integral to ensuring positive outcomes in school and beyond. Schools must ensure students experience healthy development and rigorous learning. Unfortunately, students of color, students from low-income backgrounds,…

This paper provides an analysis of one state's Response to Intervention (RTI) model, bringing to light two predicaments that plague efforts to address disproportionality and support learning: (1) That RTI may continue to perpetuate disproportionality, both in the model's tiers of support as well as in the placement of students in special…

Our work aims to substantiate and extend earlier findings on the effects of student-teacher race matching on academic achievement using longitudinal data for students in Grades 3 through 8 in Tennessee. We examine heterogenous effects not only by racial subgroup and student preparedness, as explored in prior literature, but also by levels of…

All but seven U.S. states have laws that govern some aspects of dyslexia screening, intervention, or teacher training in public schools. However, in the three states that mandate child-level reporting, data indicate lower than expected rates of dyslexia identification when compared with commonly accepted dyslexia prevalence rates. To better…

Building a strong, diverse teacher workforce in sufficient numbers requires understanding of the points along the pathway into the teaching profession where aspiring teachers are most likely lost. Currently, policymakers, state education agencies, and teacher prep programs have limited insight into the obstacles along this pathway, largely due to…

The utility of teacher evaluation depends on meaningful teacher engagement with evaluation processes. However, critics of traditional tenure policies suggest that tenure nullifies teacher engagement with practices to improve performance. This study investigates whether tenured teachers exhibit perceptions that reflect disengagement with evaluation…

Education in the 21st century increasingly relies on strong, reliable access to the internet at school and at home. However, millions of students throughout the United States are unable to connect to the internet outside of school to complete coursework and actively participate in a modern education. This issue exists throughout educational…

Whether students of color are more or less likely to be identified as having disabilities than similarly situated students who are White in U.S. states with histories of de jure and de facto racial segregation is currently unknown. Unadjusted analyses of large samples of students attending elementary and middle schools in the U.S. South yielded…

To support state efforts to close postsecondary attainment equity gaps for students of color, Research for Action (RFA) developed a framework that describes three drivers behind efforts to place racial equity at the center of postsecondary policymaking and practice: awareness, inclusion, and integration. The framework is adapted from Equity in the…

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) adopted the Master Plan for Tennessee Postsecondary Education 2015-2025 in 2015. Published as Tennessee was launching the Drive to 55, the 2015-2025 Plan includes state and system-level projections of the necessary degree production to reach our state's ambitious attainment goal. As a complement to…

The racial interactions between teachers and students can influence student performance in several ways. For example, pupils may trust and respect someone with whom they share a salient characteristic, making learning come more easily. Likewise, a teacher of the same race may serve as a more effective role model, boosting students' confidence and…