The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate the effectiveness of attending a full-day pre-kindergarten program on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) scores of students who attended the Full-day program and students who did not attend the full-day program. The population of students in this study was 260 from three different…

The COVID-19 pandemic placed an undeniable burden onto the teaching profession which already faced levels of prestige and interest at 50-year lows. The strains of the pandemic resulted in educators reporting higher levels of job-related stress and burnout and exacerbated concerns about potential teacher shortages. This dissertation leverages…

Ample evidence documents rising student obesity in summer months and falling student obesity during the school year. One theory for this pattern is that out-of-school days lack some of the structure and health-promoting behaviors that schools provide. Given this observed seasonal pattern, a natural question is whether there is room for policies…

Even though many experimental studies have considered nurturing creativity as an essential advantage in implementing STE(A)M (Science, Technology, Engineering, [Arts], and Mathematics) education, there is currently a lack of meta-analysis research on the effect of STE(A)M education on creativity to confirm that STE(A)M education can improve…

Immersive scheduling engages students in one or two subjects at a time over short teaching periods. While there is incipient evidence that immersive delivery can heighten academic outcomes in undergraduate education, much less is known about its effectiveness in pathways or access programs. This exploratory mixed-methods study investigated how a…

School districts across the United States are increasingly adopting the four-day school week, often in the hope of addressing teacher staffing challenges. We examine the effects of the four-day week on teacher recruitment and retention in Missouri, where three in ten districts currently use it. After presenting qualitative data showing that school…

Pandemic-era disruptions to schooling resulted in academic setbacks for many students. To help students catch up, school districts nationwide are implementing a range of academic recovery interventions. In this paper, we use multiple data sources to evaluate the impact and implementation of academic recovery interventions in four school districts…

In 2021, California committed to providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds and expanding access for income-eligible 3-year-olds by 2025-2026. California UPK includes several early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool Program (CSPP), Head Start, and locally funded early…