There has long been a need for a larger body of data supporting the difference in achievement among students educated in an environment rich in the arts. The 21st century has seen an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education to prepare students for future jobs in STEM fields. Global competition for technological…

This quantitative study aims to determine if there is a relationship between schools that had one-to-one technology programs pre-pandemic, and achievement test score outcomes. The study focused on the twenty-three school districts that had one-to-one programs pre-pandemic in Mississippi, and compared their performance with test scores from…

This dissertation presents an applied research study focused on improving ACT mathematics scores in a rural Mississippi independent school. The study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of increased mathematics instructional time and curriculum mapping on improving the percentage of students meeting the College Readiness Benchmark scores on…

College admission exams have long been the determining factor in students' college acceptance as well as being used as a predictor of success in college. States across America also used college admission exams as a way to measure a school's success in multiple dimensions. This study examined the effect of placing participants in an ACT…

Many students who enter a STEM track in college move out of that track before graduation (National Science Foundation, 2018). The purpose of this study was to assess whether there was a difference in STEM-related major persistence for population proportions of students actively involved in the Science Scholars program and those who were…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) rewards students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between Fall 2011-2023. [This report was prepared by Resource Data,…

Scores from standardized tests are common criteria for admission to a four-year college or university, and most require, recommend, or consider test scores as part of the admissions process. To help improve their chances of college admission, many high school students turn to test-preparation programs. We used an experimental design to evaluate…

The goal of this study was to further evaluate the impact of IXL Math on math learning outcomes. Using a quasi-experimental design with matched treatment and control groups, this analysis utilized data from 312 public schools in Mississippi during the 2021-2022 school year. The middle school analysis included 272 schools (136 treatment, 136…

ACT® Academy™ was launched in March 2018 as a free online resource to help students improve their academic skills and prepare for the ACT® test. This study provides an early look at ACT Academy usage and its effects on ACT test scores. The authors found that moderate usage (e.g., 6 hours) of ACT Academy's quizzes and practice tests leads to an…

This study addressed college matriculation rates among high-poverty Arkansas high schools and public charter schools. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of the college preparation program of Cross County New Tech High School and KIPP Delta Collegiate High School from 2014-2015 through 2017-2018. Central High School in Helena-West…

The purpose of this comparative study was to determine the effectiveness of 2 ACT intervention preparation programs. One was a face-to-face ACT intervention preparation program and the 2nd was a computer-based ACT intervention preparation program. Both of these intervention programs were used with at-risk high school juniors and seniors in a large…

This article presents an exploratory case study examining the effects of different early college credit programs on time to baccalaureate degree attainment at a metropolitan Midwestern United States land grant university. We developed a Cox proportional hazards regression model of a students' time to degree attainment as a function of their…

Background: As of 2016, 42 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Tens of millions of students across the country completed high school before their schools were able to fully implement the CCSS. As with previous standards-based reforms, the transition to the CCSS-aligned state education standards…

We combine a large multi-site randomized control trial with administrative and survey data to demonstrate that intensive advising during high school and college leads to large increases in bachelor's degree attainment. Novel causal forest methods suggest that these increases are driven primarily by improvements in the quality of initial…

Three mode comparability studies were conducted on the following Saturday national ACT test dates: October 26, 2019, December 14, 2019, and February 8, 2020. The primary goal of these studies was to evaluate whether ACT scores exhibited mode effects between paper and online testing that would necessitate statistical adjustments to the online…