The quality of teachers is now a central focus of policy and research. In spite of this focus, two key gaps exist, and this dissertation helps to fill them: First, mediation models involving the study of the effects of teaching are rare; instead, most current investigations of teachers focus primarily on the effects of teachers, with less…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction that met Curriculum Associates' recommended usage levels on ELA achievement, as measured by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) ELA assessment. This study compared the ELA achievement growth in the 2020-21 school year of students who…

The authors examined the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) on academic self-concept (ASC) using different indicators of academic ability (i.e., achievement test, cognitive ability test, grades corrected for grading-on-a-curve effects, uncorrected grades). They investigated under what circumstances grades are suitable indicators of academic…

Research on school leadership suggests that both principal and teacher leadership are important for school improvement. However, few studies have studied the interaction of principal and teacher leadership as separate but linked systems in how they relate to student outcomes. In this study, we examine how leadership pathways are related in the…

Research on school leadership suggests that both principal and teacher leadership are important for school improvement. However, few studies have studied the interaction of principal and teacher leadership as separate but linked systems in how they relate to student outcomes. In this study, we examine how leadership pathways are related in the…

This paper provides the first population-based evidence on how much standardized test scores vary among public school districts within each state and how segregation explains that variation. Using estimates based on roughly 300 million test score records in math and English Language Arts (ELA) for Grades 3 through 8 from every U.S. public school…

This study investigates the influence of structural transitions to high school on adolescents' friendship networks and academic grades from 6th through 12th grade, in a direct comparison of students who do and do not transition. We utilize data from 14,462 youth in 51 networks from 26 districts (Promoting School-Community Partnerships to Enhance…

Paid employment is one of the most common extracurricular activities among full-time undergraduates, and an array of studies has attempted to measure its impact. Methodological concerns with the extant literature, however, make it difficult to draw reliable conclusions. Furthermore, the research on working college students has little to say about…

Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is Utah's largest open enrollment college, and as an institution, is concerned about the expense associated with attaining a degree. All students face challenges in paying for their education, but SLCC students tend to have fewer resources to dedicate to school than students at other institutions in the state.…

Using a sample of schools testing annually in grades 9-11 with a vertically linked series of assessments, a latent growth curve model is used to model test scores with student intercepts and slopes nested within school. Missed assessments can occur because of student mobility, student dropout, absenteeism, and other reasons. Missing data…

This study compared the effects of an integrated reform-based curriculum to a subject-specific curriculum on student learning of 19,526 high school algebra students. Using hierarchical linear modelling to account for variation in student achievement, the impact of the reform-based "Core-Plus Mathematics" curricular materials on student…

The 2016 Presidential election and the first months of the Trump administration have propelled immigration to the center of U.S. political debates. We use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 to provide insights into the school experiences of high school-age immigrants and their U.S.-born peers. Our findings…

Investigations of the effects of schools (or teachers) on student achievement focus on either (1) individual school effects, such as value-added analyses, or (2) school-type effects, such as comparisons of charter and public schools. Controlling for school composition by including student covariates is critical for valid estimation of either kind…

Teachers' oral language use may be an important factor in student achievement, particularly for students who struggle with language, learning, and behavior. This study examined features of teacher talk during whole-class instruction in 14 general education (GE) and 14 self-contained special education (SE) elementary classrooms that included…

This study used a multilevel mediation model to test the theory that former early childhood education (ECE) attendees' 5th grade achievement is mediated by the aggregate school-wide achievement of their elementary school. Aggregate school-wide achievement was defined as the percentage of 5th graders in a school who were at/above academic…