The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of gender and ELL Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in a teacher-created mathematics benchmark test in one public charter school district in Northeast Georgia. DIF occurs when an item behaves differently in different subgroups, rather than measuring a test taker's true ability. The geometry…

Previous research has shown that adolescent peer groups play a role in maintaining and exacerbating demographic differences in achievement. However, there is still limited knowledge about the malleable factors that contribute to these achievement disparities. This short-term longitudinal study examined one such malleable factor--namely, perceived…

The District conducts two kinds of dropout analyses every year in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The "cross-sectional" analysis of student dropouts examines dropout rates among students enrolled in various grades at one point in time. A "longitudinal" analysis, also conducted annually, tracks a group of students in the same…

Sleep is a complex behavior with numerous health implications. Identifying sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics of sleep is important for determining those at greatest risk for sleep-related health disparities. In this cross-sectional study, general linear models were used to examine sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics…

Previous studies have shown the impact of parental involvement on a number of student achievement, motivation, and engagement outcomes, but the extent to which parental involvement influences high school completion and postsecondary attendance has received less attention in the literature. Filling that gap, this study replicates and extends…

Youth suicide is a serious public health issue in the United States. It is currently the third leading cause of death for youth aged 10 to 19. School-based prevention programs may be an effective method of educating youth and enhancing their help-seeking. Most school-based suicide prevention programs have not been rigorously evaluated for their…

Graduation and dropout rates are important indicators of K-12 education in Washington State. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) prepares an annual report that provides a review of graduation and dropout statistics for schools and districts in Washington. This report includes information for all students as well as the…

Adolescents' expectations about school and work may be key antecedents of adult attainment and this relationship may vary by specific racial, ethnic, and gender groups. This article examines how educational and occupational expectations change in adolescence and how expectations predict corresponding attainment in adulthood. Participants included…

The 2013 North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey (NCYRBS) was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and adapted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) to monitor health-risk behaviors and to measure progress toward achieving Healthy North Carolina 2020 objectives. The survey, administered in…

This study examines the extent of developmental education participation among Oregon high school graduates students who attend community college and the relationship between high school experiences and subsequent developmental education course-taking. An analysis of state and national data from more than 101,000 Oregon public high school graduates…

Since 1986, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) has conducted an annual attrition study to track the number and percent of students in Texas who are lost from public secondary school enrollment prior to graduation. The study builds on the series of studies that began when IDRA conducted the first comprehensive study of school…

National education data indicate that young men of color and students living in poverty are not experiencing the same academic success as their female, White, or higher socioeconomic status peers, as evidenced by low reading achievement levels and high dropout rates. Of particular concern is the underachievement of Latino males, who currently have…

Examines the longitudinal effects of parent involvement on tenth-grade students' learning and whether the same pattern of influences exists for boys and girls and for students from different ethnic groups. Results suggest that parent involvement has an effect on students' grade point average and that the same influences hold across gender but were…

The relationships between course work taken, educational needs and plans, high school attended, and PLAN test scores of high school sophomores were examined. The PLAN tests are higher-order thinking skills tests that are used in educational planning for individuals and in program and curriculum evaluation. The relationships between ethnicity of…

This report is the seventh in a series of annual reports on students who drop out of grades 9-12 in Nevada's public schools during a particular school year. During the 1994-95 school year, 6,694 students dropped out of Nevada's public high schools for an overall dropout rate of 10 percent, up 0.4 percent from the previous year--the third…