Dutch secondary education is a multi-tiered system, and many students are placed in a single track in the first year (seventh grade) of secondary education. As part of the placement procedure, all sixth-grade students take an end of primary school test. Although these standardised attainment tests (SATs) are considered high-stakes tests, the…

There is growing evidence that school starting age impacts children's likelihood of receiving special education services, but less is known about variations in this effect. Using a regression discontinuity design, I found that the youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < 0.001) to be placed in special education than…

Eighth-grade students who are placed into Algebra 1 but fail end-of-course exams may experience lowered grade point averages (GPAs) and loss of motivation for math or avoid taking advanced mathematics courses in high school. Middle-achieving students present challenges in terms of mathematics placement. Self-efficacy theory and locus of control…

There is growing evidence that school starting age impacts children's likelihood of receiving special education services, but less is known about variations in this effect. Using a regression discontinuity design, I found that the youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < 0.001) to be placed in special education than…

This study used longitudinal special education record data from a large urban southwestern U.S. school district to review classroom placements of students in Grades 5 to 9 educated in traditional public schools (N = 21,314). Results indicated that half of the students were educated primarily in general education classrooms (n = 10,658), 9% of…

This study was conducted at a college in Ontario with a sample of students from the Game Development program for 5 intake years: 2014-2018, with the purpose of determining the validity of the Mathematics Diagnostic Test used to place 1st semester college students directly into an advanced math course (Math 10), or to leave them in the introductory…

This study examines the relationship between county-level estimates of implicit racial bias and black-white test score gaps in U.S. schools. Data from over 1 million respondents from across the United States who completed an online version of the Race Implicit Association Test (IAT) were combined with data from the Stanford Education Data Archive…

Nearly 14% of students in the United States receive special education services in public schools (NCES, 2017). Special education programs serve students with a wide range of developmental differences and vary considerably across schools and districts (National Research Council, 1997). Likelihood of identification for special education services…

Legislation mandates that students with disabilities be included in achievement testing for accountability purposes, with only a few participating in an alternate assessment (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act [IDEA], 2004). The current study utilized data from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) to…

Background: Youth placed in out-of-home care are at significant risk of low academic achievement and poor mental health. Few studies have considered the potential effects of school-related factors, such as school placement stability and school engagement, on youth outcomes. Objective: The current study examined the potential main effects of school…

Previous research suggests that the 1st year in secondary school for some students goes hand in hand with an increase in adjustment difficulties. One factor that might influence this process on an individual, compositional, and institutional level is the academic track a student attends. It was hypothesized that being assigned to a low-qualifying…

This study is a longitudinal look at the different mathematics placement profiles of Black students and White students from late elementary school through 8th grade. Results revealed that Black students had reduced odds of being placed in algebra by the time they entered 8th grade even after controlling for performance in mathematics. An important…

Much time is spent instilling in young students the importance of reading, and the impact reading has on their being considered "smart." The activities presented to students in primary (Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten) classrooms through third grade are engaging and cooperative, and they provide a sense of accomplishment for students who…

A national initiative encourages STEM careers to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly competitive economy (National Research Council, 2011). The STEM pipeline is dependent on students' mathematics course-taking trajectories, which are determined once a student enrolls in his/her first Algebra course. Despite efforts to increase access to…

This research studied the role of mathematics as a roadblock to college completion for community college-bound students in California. Using longitudinal quantitative analysis, I observed the educational pipeline between high school and community college and analyzed how different high school mathematics histories predicted readiness, or…