One line of research on student understanding of complex systems has tended to emphasize discontinuities between common misconceptions and relatively more sophisticated understandings. Other work has focused on instruction while acknowledging the existence of other ways of understanding complex systems, but less emphasis has been on examining the…

To reduce the number of chronically absent students in schools annually, cities and municipalities across the United States have implemented programs, initiatives, and invested resources into educational reforms that would lead to improvement in school attendance. Drawing on ecological systems theory and interview data, we examined how…

This article is part of a wide-scope research examining teachers' perceptions regarding the organizational profile of their school. Research participants were asked about nine parameters that outline the school's organizational structure (Chen-Levi, 2019). Main research questions were: How do the three different groups of position-holders in the…

The study examined parents' involvement (PI) and students' academic performance (SAP) in Ryakasinga Centre for Higher Education (RCHE)-Sheema district-Uganda. The objectives were to examine the effect of parenting, learning at home, and volunteering on students' academic performance in RCHE. The study was underpinned by Systems theory. The sample…

Children who develop a negative student self-concept are more likely to disengage from school and this disengagement can lead them to eventually drop out. This study was designed to examine the experiences of an instructor-inclusive team tasked with using a logic model to identify a systemic problem that negatively impacted students and led them…

Across the OECD, enormous effort and investment has been made to reinforce the quality, production and use of education research in policy and practice. Despite this, using research in education remains a challenge for many countries and systems. The OECD launched the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project to respond to this…

This qualitative research study examined the role of student services practitioners in the success of minoritized graduate students at a 4-year private, Christian university. This study aimed to examine the practices of student services practitioners--including their experiential, philosophical, and practical approaches to student success--through…

Maturity models fill the need for a measure of overall growth in how outcomes assessment is defined and how feedback informs improvement to meet internal and external expectations at individual institutions of higher education. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted to develop an instrument, the Assessment System Maturity Matrix (ASMM), to…

This chapter analyzes research of gender-inclusive housing policies at four-year institutions and current policies at two-year institutions using open systems theory to provide recommendations on how practitioners can best utilize these policies to create a greater inclusive campus environment.

Librarians have moved beyond traditional information literacy instruction to an environment in which they create strong partnerships with the campus faculty, community, and beyond. The article addresses these specialized partnerships in a unique library program, providing an overview of newly formed educational initiatives at the Georgia Tech…

Education is a complex system, which has conceptual and methodological implications for education research and policy. In this article, an overview is first provided of the Complex Systems Conceptual Framework for Learning (CSCFL), which consists of a set of conceptual perspectives that are generally shared by educational complex systems,…

This exploratory paper seeks to shed light on the methodological challenges of education systems research. There is growing consensus that interventions to improve learning outcomes must be designed and studied as part of a broader system of education, and that learning outcomes are affected by a complex web of dynamics involving different inputs,…

This article, which presents an interdisciplinary research agenda grounded in a constructivist institutional approach, begins by unpacking relevant terms. It explains the new institutional approach in political science that simultaneously narrows the focus and broadens the scope of political research by encouraging a return to the…

A new vision set forth by the "Framework for K-12 Science Education" (National Research Council, 2012) highlights the importance of developing students' abilities to think about systems as opposed to isolated facts. However, little evidence exists on how to foster students' conceptualization of systems. It has been argued that…

Agent-based models combine data and theory during both development and use of the model. As models have become increasingly data driven, it is easy to start thinking of agent-based modelling as an empirical method, akin to statistical modelling, and reduce the role of theory. We argue that both types of information are important where the past is…