Relative age effects (RAEs) are independent of specific cutoff dates that can vary from country to country. However, the consequences of changing the selection cutoff dates within a national sport organization are unknown. Further, the transition from international youth to senior representation is yet to be explored in rugby union. Thus, the aims…

Popular online teacher curriculum sites offer time-strapped teachers lesson ideas and supplemental curriculum--but are these high-quality materials? Researchers Amber Northern and Morgan Polikoff examined several hundred of the most downloaded teacher materials for quality, depth of knowledge, and diversity--and the results might surprise you.

Higher education is in the midst of a staffing crisis that has been smoldering for decades, and now threatens the operations of campuses across the country. The purpose of this study is to understand how non-faculty professional staff talent is managed, particularly in the early career stage. The case for this study focuses on a mid-sized private…

The dissertation examines elementary school principals' experiences of getting hired for their current position. The participating principals self-reported leadership skillsets. Next, they were asked to what degree they felt they possessed and were able to display the skillset. The results give readers, and future researchers, a glimpse of what…

This qualitative study explored the way in which LGBTQ+ college students experienced mentorship. Despite improvements in LGBTQ+ rights over the last 50+ years, recent scholarship has shown that queer students still face unique challenges, including discrimination and harassment based on their queer identity. Mentorship has been found to be an…

Despite the increasing demand for professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), only a small portion of young people in the USA pursue a postsecondary degree in STEM. To identify the major predictors of STEM participation, this study uses a machine learning approach, a Classification and Regression Tree (CART), to…

This study explored the math course taking patterns of Nebraska's secondary students from 2014-2020 using statewide data. Three course taking patterns were identified and examined. There are nuanced differences through these pathways based and race and gender. Student success through the pathways is dependent on course placement in the first year…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain which personal characteristics and professional skills differentiate female superintendents from school board presidents during the hiring process of a new superintendent. Input from practicing Louisiana public school superintendents and school board presidents was obtained in this quantitative study.…

Teachers make decisions about which resources to use in their classrooms daily, including text selection for read-aloud. This impacts students in classrooms nationwide, as these decisions validate some voices and marginalize others. This study used the Q-methodology in a concurrent mixed-methods design to explore what beliefs influence…

Approaching assessment from an end-to-end perspective helps with appropriate assessment selection, design, and practice. Thinking in terms of end-to-end reminds teachers to keep in sight the aspirations (or ends) associated with any assessment activity. It also helps teachers to consider how to integrate assessment activities and capabilities into…

Against intuition, a set of "desirable difficulties" has been touted as a way in which to improve learning and lengthen retention. This includes, for instance, varying the conditions of learning to allow for more active, effortful, or challenging, contexts. In the current paper, we introduce data that show that, on the contrary, learning…

This article highlights a research study investigating how school social workers (SSWers) are prepared during their MSW programs to work in various school settings. A survey was completed by 175 SSWers at the School Social Work Association of America 2019 National Conference. The results suggest that survey participants deemed insufficient the…

A high school teacher advocates for the use of the CARE method in the selection and teaching of fiction about disability in the English language arts classroom, considering the centrality, agency, and respect afforded disabled characters, as well as the expertise of the author.

Traditional college advising, whereby advisors provide course assignments according to standardized placement test scores, has undergone major transformation in recent years. New placement models, like "informed self-placement" based on multiple measures of documented student achievement, are growing in popularity but remain…

Academic cyberloafing, defined as the involvement in non-academic online activities during academic tasks, has emerged as a prevalent concern within higher education. While previous research has identified course-related factors that may influence academic cyberloafing, the specific relation between perceived course difficulty and academic…