Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe normative and validation data on the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS; McLeod, Harrison, & McCormack, 2012c) for English-speaking children. Method: The ICS is a 7-item, parent-report measure of children's speech intelligibility with a range of communicative partners. Data were collected…

Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? "Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection" examines how students' access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students' learning…

School Composition and the Black-White Achievement Gap explores public schools' demographic composition, in particular, the proportion of Black students enrolled in schools (also referred to "Black student density" in schools) and its relation to the Black-White achievement gap. This NCES study, the first of its kind, used the 2011 NAEP…

By the start of kindergarten, there are already large gaps in achievement between black and Hispanic children and their white peers, between children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and their higher socioeconomic counterparts, and between dual language learners (DLLs) and their native English-speaking peers. This dissertation examines the…

Overall, too few students are completing two-year college. Those who complete are still starting off unequally. About one-third of students earning academic degrees do not transfer, but rather go directly to work and find their degree has little value in the labor market. Research suggests they could have benefitted from having marketable skills…

The purpose of this guidebook is to provide guidance to school districts in completing their local Tribal Education Status Report (TESR). Any data that is reported in the local TESRs has to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) which is a Federal law that protects the privacy of…

The Learning Passport is a collaboration between UNICEF, the University of Cambridge and Microsoft which aims to tackle an intractable problem: the quality of education in contexts where learners have been displaced. The Learning Passport is a response to the international crisis in education quality and learning outcomes. The project's specific…

This qualitative and contextual study explores how "diversity" is interpreted by graduate students and faculty in ten departments of geography in the United States. It applies a model that considers historical, structural, psychological and behavioral dimensions. Themes addressed include issues related to gender, international origin,…

School districts are confronting difficult choices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Today, the financial imbalance in many school districts is so large that there may be few alternatives to teacher layoffs. In nearly all school districts, layoffs are currently determined by some version of teacher seniority. Yet, alternative approaches to…

We use state repeals of blood test requirements (BTRs) for a marriage license that occurred between 1980 and 2008 to examine the impact of changes in the price of marriage on the marriage decision. Using a within-group estimator that holds constant state and year effects and exploits variation in the repeal dates of BTRs across states, we find…

Drawing on identity development theory, the connection between engagement in sport and identity status was examined. First-year undergraduates (n = 116 sport-involved youth; 67% women; mean age = 18.58 yrs) completed measures of interpersonal and ideological identity status (achievement, moratorium, diffusion, foreclosure), along with behavioral…

The Australian Government has recently signalled its intention to fund programs that assist in "raising" the aspirations of low socio-economic status (SES) students. However, this objective can imply that low-SES students lack adequate aspirations for their future. This implication supports deficit views of low-SES students and elides…

Focusing on high school grade-point average (HSGPA) in college admissions may foster ethnic diversity and communicate the importance of high school performance. It has further been claimed that HSGPA is the best single predictor of college grades and that it is more equitable than test scores because of a smaller association with socioeconomic…

This essay explores the tensions between internal and external quality assurance processes, making a case for the preeminence of internal actions to ensure the capacity of institutions to respond quickly and effectively to the rapidly evolving global conditions affecting all of higher education. As the forms and means of formal and informal…

Background: Internationally, over the last four decades large-scale mass media campaigns have been delivered to promote physical activity and its associated health benefits. In 2002-2005, the first Western Australian statewide adult physical activity campaign "Find Thirty. It's Not a Big Exercise" was launched. In 2007, a new iteration…