In recent years, a significant focus has been placed on addressing systemic inequities that exist within the education system. While considerable strides have been made to address disparities in urban education, a new conversation is emerging--one that centers on the unique challenges faced by students living in rural communities. These challenges…

Established in 2009, Complete College America (CCA) has emerged as one of the leading single-issue intermediary organizations advocating policy solutions to improve college completion in the USA. Although other entities that influenced the policy conversation at that time have ceased operation, CCA has maintained and, in fact, expanded its role in…

This paper documents several facts about graduate program graduation rates using administrative data covering public and nonprofit graduate students in Texas. Despite conventional wisdom that most graduate students complete their programs, only 58 percent of who started their program in 2004 graduated within 6 years. Between the 2004 and 2013…

National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) Standards place a particular emphasis on "the leaders' responsibility for the well-being of students and staff as well as their role in working with others to create supportive and inclusive district and school cultures" ("Preparing for the National Educational Leadership…

As a result of decades-long dwindling arts funding sources, U.S. nonprofit dance companies struggle to emerge and be sustained. However, mutually beneficial relationships are often developed between nonprofit dance companies and educational institutions such as K-12 schools, universities, and private studios. These relationships enhance students'…

Computational thinking is acknowledged as an essential competency for everyone to learn. However, teachers find it challenging to implement the existing learning approaches in K-12 settings because the existing approaches often focus on teaching computing concepts and skills (i.e., programming skills) rather than on helping students develop their…

The report provides a landscape analysis of the workforce development environment in Texas. Many organizations are performing valuable roles in ensuring that the labor markets in Texas operate efficiently, supplying employers with skilled workers and providing workers with opportunities to continue their career advancement through reskilling. The…

The Intercultural Development Research Association, founded in 1973, is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college. IDRA strengthens and transforms public education along six paths: fair…

Educators who understand the benefits to children of expanding their exposure to arts often have to find innovative ways to bring arts education to children who otherwise would not be exposed to quality and inspiring arts experiences.

Teach for America (TFA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of the nation's most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence. After completing their two-year assignment, TFA teachers are encouraged to remain in the teaching…

This investigation focused on the disempowerment of adult literacy learners touched by traumatic events caused by an array of factors such as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect, homelessness, and poverty. The investigator will analyze "ged.com pretest" scores (pretest and posttest) for Cohen's d effect size in specific…

America is ramping up efforts to improve outcomes for students experiencing homelessness. In addition to increased awareness of the problem, groundbreaking legislation and policies at all levels, public and private support organizations, local communities, and states are undertaking a variety of efforts to boost outcomes for some of the country's…

Despite the importance of teachers, the preparation programs intended to train them and provide them with the foundational skills they need to grow into high-quality educators vary in format, curriculum offered, quality, and more. Alternative teacher certification programs that are run outside of institutions of higher education (IHE) are an…

The National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving educational outcomes that traces its roots back to the early 1990s. NMSI's College Readiness Program (CRP) is a long-standing program with the goal of promoting STEM education in high schools to improve students' preparation for college. The three-year…

This dissertation consists of three essays using publicly reported internal control deficiencies to examine agency conflicts in the unique organizational setting provided by nonprofit charter schools. In my first essay, I find evidence that increased agency conflicts in nonprofit charter schools are "not" associated with increased…