We use data from Washington State to examine two stages of the teacher pipeline: the placement of prospective teachers in student teaching assignments; and the hiring of prospective teachers into their first teaching positions. We find that prospective teachers are likely to complete their student teaching near their college and hometowns, but…

This study examined the extent to which the association between increased student absence and lower achievement outcomes varied by student and school-level socioeconomic characteristics. Analyses were based on the enrolment, absence and achievement records of 89,365 Year 5, 7 and 9 students attending government schools in Western Australian…

Increasing students' academic success in postsecondary endeavors is an important goal for both high school and college institutions today. However, the standards for high school graduation and college readiness are not well aligned, and successful transition from high school to college is problematic for many students, particularly in math. This…

Improving student persistence, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, continues to be at the forefront of national educational policy discussions. Living in university housing, with its focus specifically on assisting students in transition, has consistently been positively related to student persistence.…

High levels of school connectedness have been shown to be associated with positive outcomes for adolescents (e.g., higher levels of self-worth and higher test scores); however, the impact of school connectedness during early adolescence has not been studied in relation to school-related outcomes during later adolescence. The current study explores…

Given Chinese students often perform well academically despite the challenges of their competitive academic environments, it is important to explore what enables the academic resilience of these students. Moreover, because the extant resilience literature is biased towards Western accounts of resilience, it is crucial that non-Western perspectives…

Objective: Recent studies have shown that community college transfer students are just as likely to graduate with a bachelor's degree as students who directly enroll in a 4-year institution. However, these studies do not typically examine whether there is a penalty for community college students in terms of the length of time it takes to complete…

Background: Recreational drug abuse control has long been a major goal of global health and social welfare organizations. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the possible associations between recreational drug abuse and Korean adolescents' school records. Methods: In 2012, 74,186 seventh- through twelfth-grade students participated…

School performance pressures apply disproportionately to tested grades and subjects. Using longitudinal administrative data--including achievement data from untested grades--and teacher survey data from a large urban district, we examine schools' responses to those pressures in assigning teachers to high-stakes and low-stakes classrooms. We find…

In addressing mental health needs in honors communities, I first need to explain that I am not a mental health practitioner; I am a sociologist. The types of issues that interest me are structural: what can we do to set up supportive environments that help all our students. We need to respond appropriately to individuals, but we also need also to…

States that received federal waivers to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act were required to implement reforms in designated "Focus Schools" that contribute to achievement gaps. In this study, we examine the performance effects of such "differentiated accountability" reforms in the state of Louisiana. The Focus School reforms…

A metropolitan school district wanted to understand blended learning as it existed in one of their high schools. Blended learning had been school-wide for four years, and district administrators wanted to know how students, teachers, and school administrators perceived blended learning and its impact on student engagement. This was a…

Across the country, collaborative efforts are bringing together a variety of organizations that work with school-age children and youth, including out-of-school time programs and nonprofit service agencies, to improve educational outcomes in their communities. However, linking activities to outcomes can be a particular problem for nonprofit…

During high school, developing competence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is critically important as preparation to pursue STEM careers, yet students in the United States lag behind other countries, ranking 35th in mathematics and 27th in science achievement internationally. Given the importance of STEM careers as…

There is increasing agreement among researchers and policymakers that teachers vary widely in their ability to improve student achievement, and the difference between effective and ineffective teachers has substantial effects on standardized test outcomes as well as later life outcomes. However, there is not similar agreement about how to improve…