With the increased use of technology in the world today, the realm of education has not been immune. Schools around the country have implemented expensive one-to-one device programs with little research-based evidence that they are beneficial for student achievement. With an increased focus on student achievement for federal and state…

Students who have dropped out of high school--and those at risk of doing so--are at greater risk of lifelong poverty, involvement with the criminal justice system, dependence on government welfare programs, and even premature death. In the last few years, however, the problems at high schools have compounded, as pandemic-era school closures led to…

Locally and nationally, English Learners (ELs) struggle to achieve parity with their monolingual peers in reading. In addition to second language-related considerations, ELs' efforts to succeed in reading may be thwarted by poverty, trauma, interrupted education, barriers to effective instruction and parental engagement, limited parental…

Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, there has been a notable increase in the enrollment of students receiving special education services (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2022). However, despite advancements in special education programming and service delivery, academic…

This quantitative quasi-experimental study was completed to identify the impact the Success for All: Reading Edge (SFA) program had on student achievement at a Title I middle school. To improve literacy and student achievement in schools, scripted reading programs were created. With the popularity of these programs, research needs to be completed…

The achievement gap, or opportunity gap, in education is when one group of students outperforms another group of students in statistical category. For decades, these gaps been analyzed in an attempt to support students and close these differences in categorical scores. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to focus on closing the…

This study reports on the feasibility and acceptability of a social justice infused service-learning (S-L) program to promote Black adolescent mental health and educational equity. We convened a community advisory board to help adapt and pilot test, via open trial mixed method design, an evidence-based service-learning program for Black middle…

The share of at-risk students has increased post pandemic requiring a response that matches the magnitude of the impact. High dosage tutoring has been one strategy to address the needs. If implemented effectively and at the proper scale, accelerated academic growth is possible. This brief reviews the collection of research on high dosage tutoring,…

Advocates for marginalized students have worked to understand the equity implications of public policy and its application on educational performance gaps. This study investigated equity policies in a southern California community college intervention program: the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS). EOPS is an equity program created…

Many factors contribute to the achievement gap in the U.S. As an intervention to help narrow the gap, tutoring presents a potentially powerful solution. Decades of research suggest that tutoring is an effective, evidence-based approach to improve student success, with effect sizes ranging from 0.4. to 2.0. As many school systems in the U.S. move…

Research illustrates that student affairs are critical in decreasing inequity on college campuses (Schuh, 2010). The ever-growing complexities of students' lives and their struggles, when enrolled in college, further illustrates the need for student affairs professionals to provide support outside of the classroom (McClellan & Stringer, 2016).…

Social media has increased students' cultural awareness today, pivoting a need to implement cultural responsiveness in the classroom climate. Twenty-first-century learners need effective teachers who create meaningful experiences and optimize student learning by intentionally working to connect with students, adapting to diverse cultures, and…

At all educational levels, the number of English learners continues to increase; their academic and linguistic success are growing concerns. The problem is that middle school English learners struggle to reach English proficiency in literacy and language. Closing the achievement gap is a challenge for both English learners and middle school…

The purpose of this mixed method study is to determine the effectiveness of the corequisite model on collegiate mathematics developmental education. Corequisite models are designed to allow students who place into pre-college level courses to complete the prerequisite material and college-level coursework simultaneously in their first semester.…

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to determine the effectiveness of the selection criteria of the middle school Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program by examining the perceptions of the middle school AVID site team regarding the alignment of the AVID mission statement and the student selection process,…