Underachievement in education and the exploration of its factors have been in constant interest in educational research for years. According to McFarland et al., 2017) previously conducted research has found a relationship between family risk factors and negative educational outcomes which include low academic achievement, student retention, and…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions to teaching and learning. In March 2020, COVID-19 pandemic was recognized as a life-threatening virus, therefore, schools across the United States of America had an induced lockdown, which prevented the continuation of in-person learning. Adjustments, quickly, were made to the learning…

The purpose of this study was to understand how a school-based personalized learning approach can help improve literacy achievement among middle grades students in a rural area. This study followed two cohorts of schools serving students in grades 6-8 in northeast Tennessee for one year each (2018-19 and 2021-22), to assess student and school…

Poverty has been identified as a barrier for at-risk student achievement across America. Can personalized competence-based learning provide at-risk students the skills and knowledge needed to close the achievement gap on the state assessment in Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA) for students after a two-year treatment? The…

The overall purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the School Improvement Grant on student achievement in a rural elementary school in Mississippi. In an attempt to decrease the achievement gap that existed among socioeconomically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers, the United States Department of Education created…

This technical appendix supports the "New Mexico Charter School Study: Findings Report," providing detailed information on statistical methods and results. The document includes: (1) Overview of Study Design; (2) Charter School Lottery Study; and (3) Dual Language and Charter School Matching Study. The Charter School Lottery Study…

Conducted for Arnold Ventures by Abt Associates, the "New Mexico Charter School Study: Findings Report" collates the results of Abt's evaluation of numerous charter schools in the state, several of which employ a whole-school dual language model. The study also created multiple logic models for use by practitioners, policymakers, and…

In 2017 Georgia instituted a flexibility policy through which school districts enter into performance contracts with the state that grant districts waivers from state rules and allow schools and districts greater autonomy. In exchange, schools and districts must meet academic performance targets. The performance contracts are intended to…

Gifted students have been provided the opportunity to study three core subjects through an academically selective virtual high school in western NSW, Australia. At the same time they continue to attend their local public high school for their other subjects. This article presents the mechanisms that have provided this opportunity, and describes…

This study investigated the relationship between academic achievement scores for Hispanic and all students within Tennessee. The study compared the measurement of achievement scores by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) on standardized Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) evaluations for 5th-grade students and Gateway exams…

In 2007 Georgia instituted a flexibility policy through which school districts enter into performance contracts with the state, receiving waivers from state rules, provisions, and guidelines in exchange for agreeing to meet annual accountability targets. The performance contracts are intended to incentivize innovations that increase achievement…

These are the appendixes for the report, "District Changes in Student Achievement and Local Practice under Georgia's District and School Flexibility Policy." Five appendixes are included in the document: (1) About the study; (2) Data and methods; (3) Supporting analysis; (4) Survey instrument; and (5) Interview protocol. [For the full…

This study examined student achievement in Michigan public school districts to determine if rural school districts are demonstrating greater financial efficiency by producing higher levels of student achievement than school districts in other geographic locations with similar socioeconomics. Three models were developed using multiple regression…

The purpose of this study was two-fold in nature. First, this study sought to identify whether extracurricular participation for students in a rural, Grades 7-12 building created significant differences when examining academic performance, attendance, gender, lunch status, and student discipline compared to their non-participant peers. Secondly,…

Comparing a small, rural school with sometimes less than 100 students to a massive inner-city school with greater than 2,500 students is crude and untenable. There are simply too many variables. Nonetheless, the No Child Left Behind Act treats these two very different schools the same. When urban and rural schools cannot meet AYP or highly…