Grounded in Developmental Systems Theory, especially Ecological Systems Theory, and through the strength-based and whole child lenses, this study examines 15 interviews with Head Start professionals and explores alignment degree of their school readiness perception and practices. Adopting dual mapping, theme screening and in vivo coding, the…

In 2013, NSF funded the Center on Innovative Research in Cyberlearning (CIRCL) to support the Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies (CFLT) program, the first such programmatic support center outside NSF's Directorate on Education and Human Resources (EHR). One difficulty NSF confronts when funding such centers, however, is quantifying…

When a college closes, it can derail the education of many students, leaving them with loans but no degree. Those who cannot complete their education may be eligible to have their federal student loans forgiven through a "closed school discharge" from the Department of Education (Education), but this process has changed in recent years.…

This study examined child demographics and teacher background and beliefs that may be associated with teacher reports of externalizing behaviors in preschool children. Reports of these behaviors are associated with preschool suspension or expulsion. Head Start teacher and child data were used to investigate how teacher-reported child behavior…

This study explores the collaborative process that two Korean-English and one Spanish-English bilingual Early Head Start family childcare educators, two instructional coaches, and the author engaged in as they co-created intentional bilingual approaches to supporting young emergent bilinguals. A thematic analysis of the design-based approach of…

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established in 2007 and forgives borrowers' remaining federal student loan balances after they have made at least 10 years of qualifying loan payments while working in public service. Starting in September 2017, the first borrowers potentially became eligible for the PSLF program and began…

Students in rural schools have the potential to achieve at high levels; however, they need support to develop this potential. Research indicates a particular need in the area of STEM education. This study looks at how to enhance school-wide instruction, collaboration, and assessment related to increased student participation in coding and computer…

The impetus for test-based accountability systems is to improve the educational opportunities afforded to all students so as to improve their learning; therefore, integral to the validity argument of these systems is the appraisal of test-based inferences and decisions in terms of their consequences. Both positive and negative consequences of…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) play an important and unique role in the higher education system and in their local and regional economies. Small Business Administration (SBA) works with many colleges and universities to provide entrepreneurial training and counseling on campuses. SBA is also part of a long-standing White…

The portfolio management models (PMM) has emerged as an important idea in educational governance over the last decade. In PMM systems, a district or other form of authorizer oversees a collection of independent organizations that operate schools according to their particular philosophy and strategic orientation. Yet underlying the design of PMMs…

This study investigates the impact of adding an adaptive computer assisted instruction (CAI) program to current Head Start curriculum on low SES, African American pre-kindergarten students' reading and math gains. Students completed pre- and post-testing with a standardized reading and math measure in order to determine relative gains. The results…

Instructional coaching initiatives, primarily aimed at enhancing teachers' professional development, have become a popular avenue of school reform in districts across the United States. However, the precise role that instructional coaches should play in these reforms has largely remained ambiguous and unspecified. Further, not much is known about…

This descriptive single case study foregrounded teacher-based policy analyses of the Title I School Improvement Grant program. Six successful urban high school teachers analyzed the localized interpretation of the program's Transformation and Turnaround models. Impacts on their capacity to improve student outcomes and ways in which policy…

The present study examined how teacher preparation programs and class- and school-level factors impact teacher employment. Using a sample of 121 early-career teachers from four school districts, we examined the effect of a job-embedded master's level teacher-preparation program, in combination with several other factors, on whether or not they…

This mixed-method study examined the impact of an online formative assessment tool on the language and early literacy skills development of 204 3-4-year-old children enrolled in Head Start. Twenty-four classroom and children participated in a two-group randomized control trial, in which classrooms in the treatment condition implemented weekly…