The COVID-19 pandemic-associated learning losses were unequal across school subjects and sociodemographic groups. This study posits that these losses are also heterogeneous based on pre-pandemic school effectiveness, that is, the value schools added above the expected students' learning based on their socioeconomic background. Using national-scale…

Five groups rank state charter school environments according to their laws, regulations, funding, and other characteristics, but none rank states by charter student performances on a national test. We rank states by demographically adjusted math and reading performances of charter students in 4th and 8th grade for the period 2009 to 2019 on the…

State-wide tests are designed to measure student overall ability on grade-level standards. School leaders want fine-grained information on student performance to inform curriculum and instruction. One currently used target scoring method, which compares student scores to expected values is currently used to give this feedback to schools, but there…

This quantitative study was conducted to investigate possible relationships between psychological safety, collaborative capacity, and school climate in middle level schools in order to identify specific leadership behaviors to increase collective efficacy. School leaders' knowledge of the positive effect collective efficacy has on student learning…

Although schools with a high concentration of ethnic minorities often underperform, not much is known about the factors that predict high and even excellent achievement of pupils within these schools. Therefore, we examined which concrete diversity practices and key psychological processes increase or decrease the likelihood/odds for high and…

The United States educational system has historically struggled to improve the student outcomes for African American and economically disadvantaged students (Meatto, 2019). This doctoral study analyzed the underlying factors that affected schools' performances in a central Louisiana school system over a five year period. Specifically, this study…

There is an increasing interest of policies and projects to adapt boarding schools as a means to provide quality education for educationally disadvantaged students. However, little evidence is available for the effectiveness of boarding schools. The current study examined the boarding effect on primary and middle school student mathematics…

This study examined the effect of attending Pre-K 4 SA on students' educational achievement in third and fourth grades. Pre-K 4 SA is a high-quality pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program in San Antonio that meets all quality standards defined by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). The results showed that distance to Pre-K 4 SA…

This study aimed at examining the suitability of questionnaire instruments commonly used in large-scale assessments for measuring non-cognitive school effectiveness criteria. It focused on questions of reliability and validity for capturing changes in students within schools across time and the instruments' sensitivity to school effects. The aim…

The topic for this dissertation was the effects arts have on standardized test scores of math. The research problem compared the students who had fine arts integrated into the curriculum and those that did not. This study included six target schools that have primarily African American students. The six-city schools studied were the third through…

A longitudinal analysis was used to investigate the relationships between school-level factors (poverty, location, size, ratings, and race/ethnicity) and visual arts achievement. Data were collected on 4th-grade students from 34 elementary schools that received Distinguished Arts Program grants in a southeastern state of the United States from…

Individual characteristics of neighborhood context, like concentrated socioeconomic disadvantage, are associated with children's cognitive development, including their academic skill development and executive functions. However, questions remain regarding how neighborhood structural, process, and physical features uniquely predict children's…

Because high-stakes testing for school accountability does not begin until third grade, accountability ratings for elementary schools do not directly measure students' academic progress in grades K through 2. While it is possible that children's test scores in grades 3 and above are highly correlated with children's outcomes in the untested…

In this quantitative study, public charter schools were compared to traditional public schools in New Jersey in their academic achievement on the statewide standardized tests. These schools' academic achievements are assessed based on their students' proficiency and growth scores in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics in grades 4-7.…

Researchers explored how 13 states in which policymakers have adopted an A-F school letter grade accountability system performed on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) post-policy implementation. Researchers found mixed results, with approximately half of these 13 states increasing achievement post-policy, and the other…