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.…

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…

Obtaining a college degree can enhance many aspects of one's life including health outcomes and lifetime earnings. Given the racial opportunity gap that remains prevalent in the education system, and the gendered racial biases held against Black girls and women, they face many obstacles on their path to higher education. Considering the…

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…

Evidence of inefficient course-taking patterns at community colleges has spurred policy conversations about how to ensure effective course sequences. Structural reforms, like guided pathways, seek to reduce major switching as a means to streamline student course taking and eliminate unnecessary credits. By placing students into broad fields of…

Latinx student enrollment in college has dramatically increased in recent years, yet they are more likely than other racial groups to enroll at open access and public two-year institutions (Rodriguez, 2015). While public-two-year sector provides an encouraging postsecondary pathway for Latinx students, only 13% of all community college students…

This paper draws on data collected from two of the most extensive longitudinal studies of care leavers in the US. The Midwest Study (2003-2011) included 732 youths in foster care in three Midwestern states, and the CalYOUTH Study (2012-present) includes 727 youths in California foster care. The paper has three objectives: (1) describe trends in…

We use longitudinal data on high school students in Washington State to assess the relationships between English Language Arts (ELA) teacher value added and other qualifications and the high school and postsecondary outcomes of their students. We also investigate whether these relationships differ for students with and without disabilities. We…

This study investigated deference to scientific authority [Brossard, D., & Nisbet, M. C. (2007). "Deference to scientific authority among a low information public: Understanding U.S. opinion on agricultural biotechnology." "International Journal of Public Opinion Research," 19, 24-52] as it relates to support for science…

We use longitudinal data on all high school students in Washington State, including postsecondary education and workforce outcomes, to investigate predictors of intermediate and postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. We pay particular attention to career and technical education (CTE) enrollment and the extent of inclusion in…

The progression of research on school-based agricultural education (SBAE) has been limited, in part, due to a lack of nationwide, student data detailing the effectiveness of SBAE. Using an ecological systems perspective, the relationships between SBAE enrollment; graduation rates; postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics…

We tested the ability of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to predict intention to graduate among Canadian and Israeli students with and without a learning disability/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (LD/ADHD). Results based on 1486 postsecondary students show that the model's predictors (i.e., attitude, subjective norms,…

Online course delivery continues to grow as a viable means of providing increased educational access to more students, but low student retention rates remain a major challenge. In this study, key institutional characteristics that influence student retention in postsecondary education are analyzed. These are student-faculty ratio, graduation rate,…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, this study considers (a) the extent to which the socioeconomic status (SES) of youth with disabilities predicted their likelihood of high school graduation, postsecondary education enrollment, and employment; (b) the extent to which other individual and family factors mediated the…

Previous studies have shown the impact of parental involvement on a number of student achievement, motivation, and engagement outcomes, but the extent to which parental involvement influences high school completion and postsecondary attendance has received less attention in the literature. Filling that gap, this study replicates and extends…