The study discussed in this article examined the relationships between support from parents, teachers, and peers; contextual risks; and select achievement outcomes in a representative sample of African American female high school seniors enrolled in an urban school district in southeastern Virginia. Quantitative analysis revealed that some support…

Student life is marked by substantial growth in areas such as self-regulation abilities. In this article, the experiences of first-year Psychology students are explored through the lenses of the self-determination theory. Both content and thematic analyses were done with 79 students' reflections on the aspects they regarded as…

This case study examines the leadership practices and actions of an urban high school principal who faced many challenges, but worked diligently to improve student achievement and school climate over a 3-year period. Significant improvements were made by using elements of Distributed Leadership, Professional Learning Communities, and Social…

Background: Policymakers' use of high-stakes exams to improve students' academic achievement affects teachers and their tenure in the field at all levels of schooling. Novice teachers now being inducted into the field have been educated almost exclusively in these high-stakes learning environments. Yet, how their familiarity with these contexts…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the underlying non-cognitive processes and institutional factors that allowed first-year students to enact effective strategies for attaining academic success and persisting despite obstacles. The varying levels of academic preparation and unique obstacles faced by the student participants…

Little is known about the supply side of voucher programs, despite schools' central role in program effectiveness. Using survey and interview data on the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP), I analyze schools' participation decisions and early implementation experiences to understand better how schools respond to program regulations. I find…

Even after decades of use, designing and implementing worthwhile educational administrative internships remains a work in progress. What appears to be a logical conclusion that this experience would enhance the training of aspiring building leaders defies the gathering of definitive empirical evidence. The quest to validate what constitutes a…

Background: The field of higher education abounds with qualitative research aimed at highlighting the needs, struggles, strengths, and motivations of academically struggling students. However, because of the small-scale nature of these studies, they rarely enter the public debate or impact institutional policy concerning access, remediation,…

Contextualized learning is considered beneficial for student success. In this article, we assess the impact of context-based learning tools on student grade performance in an introductory computer science course. In particular, we investigate two central questions: (1) does the use context-based learning tools, robots and animations, affect…

Major curriculum and assessment reforms in Australia have generated research interest in issues related to standards, teacher judgement and moderation. This article is based on one related inquiry of a large-scale Australian Research Council Linkage project conducted in Queensland. This qualitative study analysed interview data to identify…

This qualitative study examined the actions of district and school leaders in changing from a traditional age-based grade-level structure to a standards-based student grouping model in a Western school district. Based on interview, observation, and artifact data collected over 5 years, the findings identify specific leadership actions that…

Increased accountability through federal and state education policies has resulted in a growing demand for educators to access, understand, and utilize the various types of data to adapt their practice. These data include student work, district benchmarks, observation of instruction, and high-stakes state assessments, among others. Despite the…

This paper analyses qualitative interviews conducted with Norwegian middle-class parents. It explores how a particular type of intimacy--an "enriching intimacy"--is produced as part of everyday parent-child interactions and considers the notion of the social self that spurs middle-class parents to seek this very type of intimacy with…

This study examined the nature of communication experienced by ethnically diverse students who participated in an online distance education course. A quantitative survey research design was used to gather data from students enrolled in an online distance education course. The research examined whether the independent variables, (a) instructional…

The rate at which teachers depart the profession, especially teachers with 0-3 years of experience, is mounting. This attrition drastically impacts the quality of education public school students achieve. Therefore, this qualitative case study was designed to discover, if, and to what degree, the perceived influences of this first year experience…