Recent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) scholarship emphasizes that differing ACEs affect the onset and course of psychopathology, and that sociopolitical context contributes to ACEs experienced by marginalized youth. Guided by the Immigration-Related Adverse Childhood Experiences Model, we explored the associations between different…

Students enrolled in public education schools in the State of Texas are required to participate in and secure passage of a norm-referenced state assessment in different grade levels and subject areas. The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) is the norm-referenced assessment used for students in grades third through eighth, and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between college persistence and family income, parental education level, and type of financial aid for first-time, full-time Hispanic economically disadvantaged students selected from a South Texas Hispanic-serving institution. The dependent variable, college persistence, was measured by…

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and…

In an effort to increase college access and success rates, the state of Texas has expanded dual enrollment programs and Early College High Schools (ECHS) that provide students with the opportunity to begin their collegiate careers while still in high school. More recently, these dual enrollment and ECHS programs have tried to broaden inclusion…

Higher levels of civic and community engagement in higher education are positively associated with students' academic performance and they also build upon citizenship skills such as informed voting. Yet, while these are worthy and important outcomes of higher education, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can have more difficulty navigating…

Teachers are crucial to student achievement. It therefore becomes important to assure that teachers who can foster student achievement are present in all schools, and that they remain in the teaching field. The most effective teachers are not evenly distributed across schools. Schools with poor, high-minority, and low-achieving students are more…

This study examined discrepancies in educational opportunity for gifted students at the program services level. School districts in the study (N = 1,029) varied in expenditures for gifted education and the allocation of faculty for gifted education. The relationships of variables representing funding and staffing gifted education and school…

This investigation addressed the hypothesized effects of the proportional size of a district's special education population on the overall student achievement in selected school districts in Texas. The size of a district's special education population (independent variable) was compared to districts' achievement (dependent variables) in order to…

The purpose of the current study was to determine the relationship, if any, regarding school districts' teachers' average years of service, number of years of implementation of the CSCOPE math curriculum, and student achievement on the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) mathematics scores in Grades 5 and 8. The STAAR is the…

This study analyzes the academic performance of White students in urban settings, relative to Minority peers, and investigates structural variables that might exacerbate or attenuate differences. The investigation is motivated by and extends qualitative work investigating the experiences of middle school students in Texas (Morris, 2006). Research…

The major purpose for the study was to determine if a relationship existed between district ratings, as assigned by the Texas Education Agency, and population groups, funding, and class size. The variables utilized for this study included the following number of student ethnicity/race (African American, Hispanic, and White) utilized in a district…

The United States Department of Education (2008) noted that the percentage of ethnic minority students in public education increased from 22 percent in 1972 to 43 percent in 2006. This increase largely reflected the growth of the Hispanic population, especially in the state of Texas. Richard (2003) reported that Hispanic students drop out of…

This study investigated the efficacy of a package of accommodations for poor readers in Grade 7. Students with and without word reading disabilities were randomly assigned to take an experimental version of a high-stakes reading comprehension test in 1 of 3 formats: (a) standard administration, (b) read aloud accommodations with 1-day…

We examined the five most recent years of data (2003-2004 through 2007-2008) from the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System regarding new teachers employed at high school campuses. We specifically focused on the extent to which differences were present between high school campuses with the highest new teacher percentages and high school…