The purpose of the transcendental phenomenological study was to discover the role of adaptive learning programs in closing the learning gaps in mathematics for secondary students in Georgia following the COVID-19 pandemic. The theory guiding this study was that of Bandura's theory on self-efficacy, as it highlights how an individual's experience…

In 2022, the Center published "Student/Learning Supports: A Brief Guide for Moving in New Directions. The guide discussed the need for system changes to end the fragmentation, overspecialization, and marginalization of student/learning supports and outlined first steps to take in pursuing the changes. As the 2022 guide emphasizes,…

Military-connected students (MCSs) face academic challenges because of frequent transitions. During military parents' permanent change in duty station (PCS), MCSs are absent for 15 days or more. PCS-related absenteeism has increased over the last decade, and academic achievement has decreased. This basic qualitative capstone project study examined…

Locally and nationally, English Learners (ELs) struggle to achieve parity with their monolingual peers in reading. In addition to second language-related considerations, ELs' efforts to succeed in reading may be thwarted by poverty, trauma, interrupted education, barriers to effective instruction and parental engagement, limited parental…

Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, there has been a notable increase in the enrollment of students receiving special education services (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2022). However, despite advancements in special education programming and service delivery, academic…

Research indicates that students from marginalized communities do not have the same access to advanced courses as the rest of the population, creating a persistent disparity (Edmunds et al., 2022; Ezzani et al., 2021; Sebastian, 2021). One reason for the equity gap is the existing enrollment process tends to miss qualified students, specifically…

Many schools face barriers that hinder access to services, including limited funding and staff trained in evidence-based interventions. In particular, rural schools must provide targeted intervention to promote academic growth and narrow achievement gaps despite these barriers. One seldom-considered solution to ease the resource costs in the…

This brief is a continuation of NWEA's research series examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Initiated in the early phase of the pandemic, this series has leveraged NWEA's large national sample of longitudinal MAP® Growth™ data to track student performance and compare it to…

This paper identifies which investments in school facilities help students and are valued by homeowners. Using novel data on school district bonds, test scores, and house prices for 29 U.S. states and a research design that exploits close elections with staggered timing, we show that increased school capital spending raises test scores and house…

Background: Comparative educational research has studied inequality in educational outcomes through large-scale assessments like PISA and TIMSS, by identifying achievement gaps within social groups (e.g., gender, parental education, and immigrant gaps) to inform investment in intervention programs and educational policies. However, the focus of…

With an increase in the number of enrichment options available in out-of-school time (OST), young people can explore topics generally passed over in a typical school day. Parent perception of afterschool programming is beginning to shift from a simple necessity of the work week to a conscious choice about the daily experiences of their children.…

The aim of this paper is to increase transparency in the scientific analysis of equity gaps in education. This should be useful in avoiding common ambiguities and misunderstandings in the discourse and in presenting the analyses results in a constructive way. We focused on a very basic aspect of transparency: Information availability. We…

The purpose of this article is to review recent literature on summer learning loss (SLL) and consider the implications for post-pandemic learning loss. Fifteen articles, published between 2010 and 2022, were reviewed and selected according to a systematic protocol from two widely used online databases. The analysis shows that SLL has been widely…

Professional school counseling ethical competencies, guidelines, and literature have encouraged school counselors to act as anti-racist, social justice advocates at the: a) individual level with students/families, b) school/community level, and c) public/legislative levels. The following research study proposal serves to fill a gap in the…

This study examined how COVID-19 impacted elementary schools' reading achievement in rural school districts in South Carolina. The study employed the comparative research design to investigate differences between reading achievement before and after COVID-19 of rural elementary schools regarding gender and racial ethnicity. The methodology of this…