Low persistence and high attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are major challenges in higher education, particularly among underrepresented students. Therefore, it is important to identify barriers and examine strategies aimed at improving persistence, retention, and student completion in STEM courses and…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide closures of schools resulting in a sudden shift to online instruction for a large population of students. For many students, this shift caused a decrease in academic performance. This four-paper dissertation explores the impact of this shift on newly struggling high school students. These students earned a D…

The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. Our polls are designed to provide insight into how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans' highly decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year, we ask some new questions about the most relevant and pressing…

Curriculum-based measurements (CBM) are used in schools to screen students for academic difficulties. Oral reading fluency curriculum-based measures (CBM-R) are the most popular, yet several studies have identified predictive bias in CBM-Rs in relation to key variables (e.g., race, sex). Despite a massive increase in the use of these measures as…

In this article, I document and analyze all municipal, state, and county-level efforts for Black reparations in the United States. Most efforts resemble H.R. 40's exploratory commission model, possibly due to policy path dependency. Few geographies have allocated funding for committee recommendations, but some have allocated funds for committee…

In 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was switched, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water. While lead exposure in Flint children increased modestly on average, some children were exposed to high lead levels. Surveys of Flint residents show the water crisis was also associated with increased levels…

The COVID-19 pandemic initially placed college and university instruction into an emergency remote mode. The subsequent periods of the pandemic presented new challenges. This paper examines changes in faculty work lives in the immediate aftermath of the onset of the pandemic and reports on results from surveys of faculty at three selective liberal…

School-based mental health professionals consistently report that they are either not prepared to support grieving students, or do not have time to integrate crisis intervention support into their hectic schedule. Given that inadequate school mental health services can increase a bereaved student's risk of developing emotional problems, it is…

This study aimed to better understand the relationships between U.S. high school students' STEM-related educational experiences, expectancy-value attitudes, achievement, course-taking, and college major choices. Analyses employed data from three waves of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) and used structural equation modeling to…

Response to intervention (RTI) is a method for providing academic support to students and for identifying specific learning disabilities (SLDs). Using interrupted time series and hazard models, we examined if statewide RTI adoption in the U.S. state of Tennessee was associated with changes in rates of SLD and first-time SLD identification in…

In Maryland, one way children's well-being is measured is by looking at the data from the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). While the data can illustrate how children perform on various indicators across language and literacy, mathematics, social foundations, and physical well-being and motor development, it is really a reflection of the…

Systemic racism has and continues to impact the delivery of government programs and services in British Columbia (B.C.). To guide anti-racism research in the province, the B.C. government announced 10 anti-racism research priorities in 2023, with systemic racism in B.C.'s education system identified as one of them. This report describes progress…

Background/Significance: College algebra traditionally serves as the default math requirement for community college students. Lattimore and Depenbrock (2017) reported that approximately two-thirds of community college enrollees are required to take this course, yet nearly 80% fail to complete it, making it "the single most failed course in…

Background/Context: Spurred by changes in federal policy, Response to Intervention (RTI) has witnessed increased adoption across states and districts in the past several decades (Berkeley et al., 2020). Originating in the special education field, RTI involves a shift from a uniform instructional approach to a tiered instructional approach…

The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. Our polls are designed to provide insight into how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans' highly decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year, we ask some new questions about the most relevant and pressing…