The field of gifted education in the United States faces an existential crisis due to well-founded charges that many school programs fail to identify students who reflect the diversity of the overall student population. In this study, we used a mixed methods light approach to explore gifted education coordinators' perceptions of equity and…

This research study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of improvement efforts made for ENG 111 online courses at Brunswick Community College (BCC). The primary goal is to enhance student satisfaction, increase course completion rates, and improve course success rates. The study assesses the strategic redesign of ENG 111 courses and aims to…

What would it take to truly close the vast opportunity gaps in pre-K-12 public education in the United States--far beyond the weak standard in common use of "adequacy" based on test scores? This report presents findings from the North Carolina part of a national costing-out study called the "Price of Opportunity," which seeks…

The Focus of Practice (FoP) of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) project was to develop mentors' knowledge, skills, and dispositions to identify and implement equitable classroom practices through coaching conversations with beginning teachers. The study examined what happens when mentors shift from essential check-ins with beginning…

Curriculum adoption and implementation is not a onetime event for districts and schools. It is a multi-year process involving district leadership in multiple units (e.g., curriculum office, finance office, superintendent office, student services), school leadership, instructional staff, students and their caregivers, and other relevant community…

This study was designed to determine whether the alignment of state and local priorities was a predictor of improving results, specifically the reduction in the percentage of inexperienced principals and percentages of low-performing schools and the increase in graduation rates. The population of this study included 115 North Carolina school…

Curriculum revision does not always turn out exactly the way that educators envision. In 2007, Appalachian State University revised its school administration Master's Degree (MSA) and Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL) Programs to meet new state mandates for principal certification. The process was called "revisioning."…

The North Carolina General Assembly, in 2013, mandated that the state use test scores, academic growth measures, and other outcome-based measures to create an A-to-F performance grading system for all public schools in North Carolina. The annual results are published via the North Carolina School Report Card, which indicates specific school,…

The study delves into the utilization of ESSER III funds, revealing three central themes: top-down decision-making in fund application, varied experiences among educators and administrators in fund usage, and distinct roles of educators and administrators in the process. It emphasizes strategic resource allocation, collaborative decision-making,…

Given inequities in transfer student success, emerging research about transfer students has focused on students' familial relationships and identities including race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. This qualitative study uses the reconceptualized model of multiple dimensions of identity to explore how social and relational identities influence…

International comparative education studies contribute to improvements in education systems by highlighting strengths and identifying challenges found in the different cultural contexts of different countries. Comparative early childhood education (ECE) studies provide new ideas and insights into how local and national systems can be improved.…

Despite acknowledgement in the data-informed decision making (DIDM) literature that data use is not a purely rational process, there has been little attention paid to the role of values and normative factors that underpin school improvement planning (SIP) processes and little consideration of the inherent evaluative nature of associated activities…

We survey 137 charter school administrators and 129 board members and find that U.S. charter school internal controls are perceived to be relatively strong overall. However, board independence, board communication of internal control responsibilities to school personnel, lines of communication between the board and school personnel, and reporting…

School leaders play an essential role in their school's overall performance. Their leadership involves educational instruction, teacher and school staff collaboration, rapport with stakeholders and most importantly, how they shape academic growth among students. The research problem addressed the lack of leadership capacity among North Carolina…

Faculty engagement in assessment processes is critical but remains limited, especially in public doctoral research universities. In this article, we propose an engaged assessment model that emerged from our work at a leading doctoral university. Through the engaged assessment process, faculty members are involved throughout, centering on student…