Working from the notion that the goal of middle school is to prepare students to successfully transition to high school, Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) researchers investigated a range of outcomes consistent with this aim, such as performance in ninth grade, promotion to tenth grade, and course grades or test scores in middle…

Using publicly available data, the researchers examined variables that may predict English learner graduation rates (ELGR) at the school and school-system levels to determine whether the school average per pupil expenditure (PPE), the school mobility rate (MOB), the percentage of teachers out of field (TOF), and the percentage of inexperienced…

We conducted a study of predictive analytics (PA) applied to state data on post-school outcomes (PSO) of exited high-school students with disabilities (SWD). Data analyses with machine learning Random Forest algorithm and multilevel Bayesian ordered logistic regression produced two key findings. One, Random Forest models were accurate in…

Noncognitive constructs such as self-efficacy, social awareness, and academic engagement are widely acknowledged as critical components of human capital, but systematic data collection on such skills in school systems is complicated by conceptual ambiguities, measurement challenges and resource constraints. This study addresses this issue by…

Women who begin childbearing as teenagers attain lower levels of education than women who delay childbearing until age 20 and later. Little is known about post-pregnancy factors that predict educational attainment among teen mothers. The current study examined whether teen mothers' environment and experiences 2 years after their first birth…

This study analyzed the post-high school outcomes of exited high-school students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder from a southwestern U.S. state. A predictive analytics approach was used to analyze these students' post-high school outcomes data, which every state is required to collect each year under U.S.…

Graduation from high school is a commonly accepted measurement of academic achievement within the PK-12 education system. Failure to meet this academic milestone is well noted to result in unfavorable outcomes in the transition to, and throughout, adulthood; negatively impacting individuals' health and employment opportunities, while increasing…

Determining which students are at risk of poorer outcomes -- such as dropping out, failing classes, or decreasing standardized examination scores -- has become an important area of research and practice in both K-12 and higher education. The detectors produced from this type of predictive modeling research are increasingly used in early warning…

Using official school data from a sample of 3,461 students enrolled in Grad Solutions, an Educational Management Organization (EMO), from 2015 through 2018, we conducted a quantitative cross-sectional research design study to understand the predictive nature by which students who dropped out of high school and re-enrolled in Grad Solutions…

The true purpose of this study is to contribute to researchers' and practitioners' understanding of the power of Teacher-Student Relationships (TSRs) relative to at-risk students' graduation status. Much of the research surrounding dropouts focuses on root causes like attendance, retention, and families' economic status. However, minimal research…

In this dissertation, I use data from Chile to study the determinants of schooling trajectories. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on higher education, Chapter 3 on secondary education, and Chapter 4 on teachers. Chapter 1 explores the role of a socio-emotional ability, self-efficacy, in understanding why students with comparable qualifications transit…

Students with Emotional Disturbance (ED) graduate from high school with a standard diploma at rates far below their peers. The present study utilised archival data of former high school students with ED and a nondisabled comparison group to examine graduation-related predictor variables. The results indicated that grade point average and…

Education during recovery could impact a forensic psychiatric patient's community reintegration; however, individual education goals for patients can be difficult due to the lack of available parameters. The purpose of this study was to test whether age at first hospitalization is predictive of educational attainment among forensic psychiatric…

This three-study dissertation investigated how socioeconomic factors and policies are associated with educational outcomes for undocumented youth and, in one of the papers, to what extent education and employment outcomes intersect. Guided by the specific questions of each study, the three papers take different theoretical and methodological…

Chronic absenteeism affects the majority of schools in the United States. An assessment of centers of learning illustrates that a majority of students miss a month of learning in an academic year through excused or unexcused absences. The majority of schools exhibit 95% average daily attendance rates, as the learners tend to not miss school, on…