This study examines if gains in ethnic political representation and incorporation on local school boards result in policy responsiveness, as well as improved student achievement in a way that benefits minorities. By applying the political incorporation framework developed by Browning, Marshall, and Tabb (1984) to the education policy arena, gains…

The topic of this study was the way teachers of children with autism perceive the home-school collaboration and its impact on learning. This research addressed the gap in the literature on the topics of children with autism's performance gap in comparison to their age-equivalent peers. The research question was, "How do teachers of children…

This report provides an overview of Austin Independent School District students who were enrolled in a course with a teacher trained by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity in 2015-2016.

Background: Student attention is a stable predictor of academic performance, with lower levels of attention associated with poorer grades. Claims about students' attention may better reflect social processes than student deficits. School social workers may be especially situated to address the interaction of child and classroom factors impeding…

We have studied the impact of incoming preparation and demographic variables on student performance on the final exam in the standard introductory calculus-based mechanics course at three different institutions. Multivariable regression analysis was used to examine the extent to which exam scores can be predicted by a variety of variables that are…

This qualitative study explores the perspectives of 52 high school students on the meaning of caring in the school setting. Seven focus groups were utilized to collect data. Five groups were racially homogeneous and mixed-gender; one group comprised males of various races; and one group comprised females of various races. In the focus groups,…

Propensity score matching was used to compare third-grade test scores in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies for children who had and had not participated in Georgia's Pre-K 4 years earlier. After matching, each group included 46,262 children (mean age 8.36 years in third grade). In all subject areas, children who had…

This research draws on qualitative data collected in Aotearoa New Zealand over a sixmonth period to examine the ways in which participants in Teach First New Zealand (TFNZ), an affiliate of Teach for All, discuss issues of poverty and educational underachievement in their teaching contexts. Findings from this study suggest that broad discursive…

In higher education, across countries, a large share of students choose to study economics. Although there is only a small difference in the share of female and male students in that field, there is robust empirical evidence of a gender gap in economic competencies, showing that male students in most cases outperform female students. There is a…

The study investigated the impact of using Autograph software as a tool in teaching and learning of quadratic functions on gender performance in core Mathematics for Senior High School (SHS) students in Ghana. Non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was used. The population was all second year students in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA)…

'Narrowing the gap' and addressing low educational achievement of specific social class and ethnic groups has long been an expressed government concern. This paper considers the links between poverty, ethnicity and gender and school attainment and the interrelations of these factors using national data sets and other quantitative data. The…

This study addressed the pressing need to help adolescent English learning and economically disadvantaged student populations succeed in science and close achievement gaps. It reports the results of a two-year professional development initiative implemented at a high-poverty suburban high school in South Texas. We examined how the combination of…

One of the major issues confronting education in Arizona and across the United States has been the consistent low performance of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in comparison to their peers as evidenced by the disparity of the achievement gap at every level in the educational pipeline. A contributing factor has been the lack…

This Special Issues Brief from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines the unique characteristics of high-need schools, supports state and district leaders as they consider their role in implementing initiatives with a focus on equity, and explores how programs can be customized to meet the unique circumstances of a…

The skills gap--the gap between postsecondary education's production of educated graduates and what employers say they need--has become a top economic priority. Surveys report increasing dissatisfaction among students and employers. Students are upset because fewer than 20 percent of graduating seniors have job offers before graduation. And…