The academic achievement gap between male and female students set in motion a flurry of initiatives to help address male underachievement. The amendments made to Title IX allowed single-gender education to become a viable option for addressing those gaps in achievement. After the adjustments made to Title IX, South Carolina led the nation in the…

English learners (ELs) represent one of the fastest growing groups among the school-aged population in the United States, yet the level of literacy achievement for ELs has lagged significantly behind that of their native English-speaking peers. Existing practices in schools tend to favor an asocial and decontextualized language learning approach…

This study compared student scientific reasoning and conceptual knowledge in argumentation-based and traditional instruction, taught in school regions with low and high socio-economic status (SES) respectively. Furthermore, concrete and formal reasoning students' scientific reasoning and conceptual knowledge were compared during both instructions…

Previous research demonstrates that collective efficacy positively predicts students' academic achievement (e.g., Bandura, 1993; Goddard et al., 2000). However, unaddressed by the current literature is whether collective efficacy also works to reduce inequity by closing achievement gaps. To learn about the operation of collective efficacy, we…

A founding ideal of American democracy is that merit, not accident of birth, should determine individuals' income and social status. Schools have assumed a major role in judging key elements of merit among young people--namely, academic skills, hard work, self-discipline, and cooperative behavior. Schools do so mainly by evaluating students in a…

As the gulfs between low-income and more affluent youth widen, researchers and practitioners continue to search for effective means of closing gaps in academic achievement, digital participation, and civic engagement. This article examines how youth organizing offers a bridge across these divides. We consider how one youth organizing group, The…

Student outcomes on attendance, discipline, STAAR scores, and GPA were compared between school years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 in Afterschool Centers on Education programs at AISD campuses.

This study assessed the civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes of Hispanic eighth grade students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), Florida. The participants consisted of 361 Hispanic students from 10 middle schools. Cuban, Colombian, or Nicaraguan participants did not demonstrate differences in civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes.…

Research on science achievement disparities by gender and race/ethnicity often neglects the beginning of the pipeline in the early grades. We address this limitation using nationally representative data following students from Grades 3 to 8. We find that the Black-White science test score gap (-1.07 SD in Grade 3) remains stable over these years,…

Social psychological interventions in schools have gained popularity in education research for their ability to often dramatically increase student academic performance through simple exercises. Many of these interventions are designed to address stereotype threat, which is defined as "being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a…

Purpose: The purpose of this directory was to identify, describe, and evaluate evidence that the education practices improve academic performance, close the achievement gap, and improve persistence towards graduation for low-income, first-generation, and historically-underrepresented 6th grade through college students. Method: The sample for the…

For decades, minority students have been falling behind non-minority students, and schools have been striving to bridge this gap. It has, indeed, been challenging for middle and high schools, especially when striving to increase reading achievement: Since most middle and high school teachers are non-English teachers, they lack reading instruction…

Middle schools are important because they launch students on trajectories that they are likely to follow throughout their formal educations. This study explored the relationship of first-generation segregation (elementary and middle school racial composition) and second-generation segregation (racially correlated academic tracks) to reading and…

Student's performance in science classrooms has continued to languish throughout the USA. Even though proficiency rates on national tests such as National Assessment of Educational Progress are higher for Caucasian students than African-Americans and Hispanics, all groups lack achieving desired proficiency rates. Further, the Next Generation…

This qualitative descriptive case study explored the perceptions of parents and teachers of the academic achievement gap in mathematics between African-American middle school males and their White counterparts. Ten parents, both African-American and White, with students attending middle school in the Cherokee County School District and 5 teachers…