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…

Participation in adult learning and education requires the availability of, and accessibility to, learning opportunities provided by educational institutions. One fundamental element is time. Adult learning and education participation can only be realized by successfully matching individual time-availabilities with the temporal organization of…

Attempting to support student mental health, many Canadian universities have implemented a fall break with the assumption it would be helpful in alleviating students' stress and anxiety. However, there is no baseline data regarding stress level or mental illness burden of students to understand its effectiveness. Using case study methodology with…

It is well documented that excellent teachers are not equitably distributed among students in traditional public high schools. Research shows teacher labor market economics and the micropolitics of schooling significantly facilitate the migration of excellent teachers between districts and schools and within schools so the teachers may secure…

Purpose: We assess whether school start times predict the engagement and achievement outcomes of middle grades students. Our focus on middle grades is important because biological changes in sleep often begin when adolescents are in middle school and because middle school is a time when more students struggle academically. Research…

Innovative time allocation and timetable organisation can support the aim of providing students with individualised learning opportunities and deeper engagement with learning. Traditionally, time within schools is maintained and distributed through Western approaches to administration and organisation, which are socially and culturally produced…

Sleep problems and depression increase in adolescence. Adolescents tend to go to sleep at a later time, which results in shorter sleep duration especially if they attend school in the morning. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between school schedule (morning school schedule and afternoon school schedule), sleep quality, and…

Studies on the relationship between student achievement and athletic participation are often limited by availability of specific data. This study provided more accurate data on student performance during times of athletic participation. This study analyzed student grades during the times they were and were not participating in a school sponsored…

This article relays the author's experiences and lessons learned after she was selected to serve as the faculty coordinator for first-year student scheduling at her institution. The new assignment to run the first-year scheduling function in the summer was supposed to be a way to do something interesting and engaging in the summer. It turned out…

Four-day school weeks have proliferated across the United States in recent years, reaching over 650 public school districts in 24 states as of 2019, but little is known about their implementation and there is no consensus on their effects on students. This study uses district level panel data from Oklahoma and a difference-in-differences research…

Following a high-quality early care and pre-K experience, the kindergarten-through-third-grade years set the foundation upon which future learning builds; and strengthening this continuum creates opportunities for later success. Key components of a quality experience in K-3 include school readiness and transitions, kindergarten requirements,…

Nearly 4 in 10 children report experiencing maltreatment by adulthood. Early detection mitigates maltreatment's negative effects. Yet factors that drive early detection remain understudied. We examine one possible source of early detection: educators in school settings. Administrative data on reports of child maltreatment across the U.S. over a…

Challenges to teaching in the post-COVID classroom plagued schools across the globe. This qualitative study followed two middle-school teachers in a charter school located in the Western United States to identify the changes to classroom teaching and their effects on the classroom environment through the first year of teaching after the 2020…

School choice is a tool used to fight inequality and is important to consider how students are assigned to schools. The essays in this dissertation study mechanisms designed to improve and understand students' attendance at schools. Chapter 1 examines the inequality caused by the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to schools switching to a hybrid…