In common with many other higher tariff universities in the United Kingdom, Durham University uses contextual data about the socio-economic circumstances of applicants to inform decisions about whom to admit to its undergraduate degree programmes. This paper draws on data for undergraduates who entered Durham University in the period 2018-2020 (N…

Despite increased investment in rural education in recent years, the academic achievement of ethnic minority students in rural China continues to lag behind their Han Chinese peers. Few studies have used up-to-date data to measure the size of this achievement gap, and none have examined whether differential math attitudes and math anxiety play a…

By age 18, students have spent on average 85 percent of their waking hours outside of school. Their use of that time--constructive or not--helps direct their futures. In afterschool and summer programs, young people explore new interests, develop new skill sets, and create lasting relationships with peers and caring adults that shape who they are,…

Large-scale international achievement studies such as PISA have been widely used to study how educational inequality compares across countries. Yet the various different biases that may affect these estimates are often not considered or are poorly understood. In this paper we draw upon the total survey error framework to provide a case study of…

This paper studies mathematics learning gaps within Indian children at two points in time. Dividing them into two groups, better performing and the rest, we investigate the causes of the difference in the average learning gap between them at those two points. We explore this question using the threefold Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition at these survey…

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a period for reexamination of how the world schools its children. Policy makers are considering how to address myriad challenges during this tenuous post-COVID era in primary and secondary education. This paper discusses potential school calendar change in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Modifying the…

While girls have better grades than boys in high school, this does not translate into better performance of young women, as compared to young men, in university. Due to the high signalling value of university grades for subsequent income and employment outcomes, this has important consequences for gender inequalities at labour market entry.…

The awarding gap between UK-domiciled full-time Black and white students is a significant problem at HE institutions across the country. This paper examines a case study of a dissertation writing retreat programme which sought to address this awarding gap at a university in the south of England. The programme was based on an innovative 'three Cs'…

The ability to read is fundamental in determining an individual's academic success and social integration, and it is also known to have an impact on other cognitive abilities. A lack of foundational pre-reading skills can accumulate later, causing reading and learning problems. Early diagnosis and development of these skills are therefore…

Throughout the years, United States education reform has sought to target the most disadvantaged students. Nonetheless, during this same period, proficiency rate disparities seem to have emerged among student subgroups. This study was designed to find ways for school districts to begin closing the achievement gaps between student subgroups,…

There is a gap in reading scores between blind/low-vision students and their sighted peers. The problem addressed in this study was that the reading interventions currently in use for blind/low vision students are not successful in closing the reading achievement gap at a Midwest secondary school for the blind and visually impaired. The purpose of…

The underrepresentation and underperformance of low-income, first-generation, gender minoritized, Black, Latine, and Indigenous students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) occurs for a variety of reasons, including, that students in these groups experience opportunity gaps in STEM classes. A critical approach to disrupting…

Research has shown that students of color continue to lag behind their White peers on standardized test scores and rates of college graduation (Gardner-Neblett et al., 2023) and that exclusionary discipline practices have contributed to this disparity and create negative outcomes for students (Bottiani et al., 2023; Cruz et al., 2021). Subjective…

The imperative to address the complex problem of degree awarding gaps within UK higher education institutions is multifaceted and messy. Various studies have continually highlighted this persistent undergraduate awarding gap (racial equity gap or/ethnicity gap) between White and racially minoritised students. This disparity in educational…

Addressing gender equality in education has always been one of the crucial Sustainable Development Goals advocated by the United Nations. To achieve this goal, many countries are tackling gender inequality in mathematics and STEM subjects where the achievement gaps historically favoured male students. Vietnam has one of the highest maths…