This study explores the impact of professional learning communities on student achievement in a small school setting. Aaron Hansen's book, "How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools," offered a guide for arranging vertical, grade-level teams with one teacher per grade level at one private, K-8 school. The faculty engaged in…

This research followed a qualitative analysis model using grounded theory to explore unknown variables regarding integrating technology into the K-12 classroom, focusing on secondary classrooms. This study observed a small private high school in the Southeast region of the United States and its policy requiring students to provide personal…

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine Georgia's Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores of 8th grade students and End of Course Test (EOCT) scores of the same students as 9th graders in the areas of language arts and mathematics to test the theory that a relationship exists between the two tests. The study also examined…

Taking advantage of lottery-like features in New York City's high school admissions process, previous MDRC reports have provided rigorous evidence that new small public high schools are narrowing the educational attainment gap and markedly improving high school graduation prospects, particularly for disadvantaged students. The new findings in this…

In recent decades, under the mutually constitutive processes of neoliberal urbanization and globalization, Vancouver has radically transformed and become a serious contender for the title of "world-class city". Against the background of this socio-spatial force reconfiguring the city, I explore how the city's unique development of…

In many ways, Roxbury Preparatory Charter School is typical of Boston's Mission Hill area: the student body is composed entirely of students of color, most of whom live in single-parent households. More than 68% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. What is not typical is that for the fourth consecutive year, Roxbury Prep, which…

Enrollment in Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) schools is declining as is the number of schools and teachers. While there could be many reasons for this, one perception of SDA schools, held by parents, teachers, pastors, and school board members, is that students enrolled in schools with one, two, or three teachers do not achieve at the same rate as…

This study examined the reasons that four high school students who had previously refused to attend school willingly attended an alternative K-12 school for students with special needs. The two research questions that framed this study were (a) why do students who refused to attend their regular schools willingly attend Brookfield Park? and (b) in…

The percentage of variance in student achievement that is explained by student SES--"poverty's power rating," as some call it--tends to be less among smaller schools than among larger schools. Smaller schools, we are told, are able to somehow disrupt the association between SES and student achievement. Using eighth-grade data for 215…

The proportion of variance in student achievement that is explained by student SES--"poverty's power rating," as some call it--tends to be lower among smaller schools than among larger schools. Smaller schools, many claim, are able to somehow disrupt the seemingly axiomatic association between SES and student achievement. Using…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the extent to which students in a rural Arkansas school district felt that bullying existed in their school. One hundred seventh grade students and 150 eighth grade students in a middle school were surveyed by a Likert questionnaire of ten items. Measures were taken to insure that students of all…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

The author offers an analysis of the failures and insights she experienced working with adolescents at a progressive school while discussing how the students understood and experienced race and identity -- their own and that of others. While she encountered students who were willing to take her into their worlds, her efforts fell flat when her…