Parental involvement plays a crucial role in enhancing both academic achievement and social wellbeing of children with special educational needs. Compared to rich evidence from emerging systematic reviews of parent-involved interventions for children with other disabilities, little is known about those interventions for children with specific…

Enhanced Academic Support (EAS) is an intervention designed to improve academic achievement among children who receive support from the child welfare services (CWSs) in the home. We investigated the effects of EAS in a randomized controlled trial in Norway. In total, 82 families who received support from the CWS were included in the study (37 in…

Given the large proportion of students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) in special education, there is a great need to understand and learn from the literature and the experiences of Latino immigrant parents of children with disabilities. It is important to conduct qualitative studies, systematic reviews, and quality reviews to…

The present study examined whether parental involvement within the framework of the parent-teacher relationship as established through Conjoint Behavior Consultation (CBC) enhances the academic achievement of students diagnosed with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD). Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, this study began with the…

The unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic led teachers to innovatively shift their teaching methods. These pioneering practices inspired this study's "Elevated Family-Teacher Partnership" intervention which was designed to provide equitable guidance and communication for all families. This dissertation, in practice,…

This dissertation consists of two chapters on topics in economics of education. In the first chapter, I develop and estimate an equilibrium model of endogenous instruction and student effort in order to empirically investigate the relationship between instructional choices, classroom composition, and student achievement in elementary school. The…

As the adults battle the COVID-19 pandemic's effects, children are also dealing with its fallout. In addition to the health effects, since March 2020, the pandemic has caused long-term school closure, which forced school-aged youth to deal with the stress of social isolation; moreover, since youth have returned to school, there has been an uptick…

The purpose of this study was to assess the increase of Latino parents' confidence in advocating and supporting their child's schooling. The intervention was implemented in six public independent school districts in the Southwest United States. The data was examined through matched pre- and post-surveys (n = 45). Findings are consistent in…

The time children spend with their parents affects their development. Parenting programs can help parents use that time more effectively. Text-messaged-based parenting curricula have proven an effective means of supporting positive parenting practices by providing easy and fun activities that reduce informational and behavioral barriers. These…

Parental involvement programs aim to increase school-and-parent communication and support children's overall learning environment. This paper examines the effects of low-cost, group-based parental involvement interventions in Mexico using data from two randomized controlled trials. The first experiment provided financial resources to parent…

The purpose of this study was to provide initial evidence of the effectiveness of Check-In/Check-Out-High School (CICO-HS) on high school student outcomes. Check-In/Check-Out-High School is a version of CICO, an established Tier 2 intervention designed to improve student academic and social behavior, adapted to increase effectiveness and…

With a growing number of students with disabilities participating in online distance education, there is a need to explore support strategies that promote their academic success in these virtual environments. For students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), this type of learning environment often lacks the structure and support for them to…

Chronic illness requires frequent medical treatments and lifestyle restrictions that increase academic and socioemotional stressors for families. This paper presents academic intervention recommendations based on a hospital's approach to improving educational outcomes for children with chronic illness. A case study on an intervention for a girl…

Despite a growing number of brief, psychosocial interventions that improve academic achievement, little research investigates how to leverage parents during such efforts. We designed and tested a randomized controlled intervention targeting parents to influence important discussions about the future and responses to academic difficulty experienced…

A substantial body of research focuses on student achievement and the characteristics of schools that regularly produce it. While academic achievement is an important variable to measure, student engagement serves as a related and highly influential variable that merits more attention, particularly as it relates to preventative interventions.…