Educating children is a priority across the world, but low-income countries can face enormous challenges. Schools are often overcrowded and in disrepair. Teachers don't always show up or may not be qualified or interested in teaching. Parents hesitate to send children, especially girls, to schools that aren't close by or they may want to keep them…

At the end of each school year, each school district compiles, verifies, and submits summary data on truancy petitions to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). This is the second year the OSPI has collected truancy data at the student level, specifically whether a student has had a truancy petition filed on them. In the…

Housing instability and homelessness are highly detrimental to children and youth, and the effects often linger long after the experience itself. Students who have experienced homelessness are more likely to drop out of school and, in turn, adults without a high school degree or GED are more likely to experience homelessness themselves. Under the…

Measures of socioeconomic status (SES) are widely used in educational research and policy applications, in large part due to overwhelming evidence linking SES to student achievement. SES is usually conceptualized as an unobservable factor--a construct--measured using variables such as parental education, occupation, income/wealth, and home…

State-funded prekindergarten educational programming for all children is a rarity in the United States. Five states offer no financial support to fund prekindergarten educational programming, and the majority offer partial funding. Only three states provide universally funded prekindergarten educational programming. The purpose of this study is to…

This paper explores the effects of performativity on the culture of a Scottish secondary school, Lochview High School. This is set against a backdrop of the Scottish education policy context which in recent years has been heavily focused on reducing the poverty-related attainment gap, namely through the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC). The…

The Bantu Education system, which replaced missionary-run black schooling in the mid-1950s, expanded schooling to accommodate the basic economic needs of the South African economy but it was done as cheaply as possible. The state paid teachers' salaries and in return it expected obedience and conformity from its employees. It was a tight-fisted,…

The cost of post-secondary education (PE) continues to increase, which has contributed to elevating federal loan demand, and as of the fourth quarter of 2020, equaling a debt of $1.56 trillion in the US. The purpose of this research was to compare two post-secondary institutions for specific alignment with the local labor market, examine…

The departure of an effective school leader can influence staff turnover and student achievement for several years. With school systems facing an unprecedented public health crisis due to COVID-19, principal retention is a key area of concern for many local and state education agencies. The Regional Educational Laboratory West undertook this study…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a study of principal retention rates to help leaders in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah better understand principal retention patterns in their state, so that their new statewide leadership support initiatives could identify areas where support could be most effective. With school systems facing an…

The "Principal Retention Patterns in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah" study examined principal retention rates in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The study sought to understand principal retention patterns in these states, so that their new statewide leadership support initiatives could identify areas where support could be most effective.…

Early care and education in the United States is in crisis. The period between birth and kindergarten is a crucial time for a child's development. Yet vast racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities that begin early in children's lives contribute to starkly different long-term outcomes for adults. Compared to other advanced economies, child…

This report presents state- and county-level data for the Appalachian Region. The 12 chapters focus on: (1) Population Basics; (2) Age; (3) Race and Hispanic Origin; (4) Housing Occupancy, Tenure, and Type; (5) Education, Device Ownership, and Internet Access; (6) Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment; (7) Transportation and Commuting…

District leaders in a large urban school district in central Florida wanted to examine the efficacy of a new curriculum designed to enhance the word knowledge of grade 5 students so as to improve reading achievement. The new curriculum, called Word Knowledge Instruction (WKI), consists of 15-minute lessons 4 days a week for 20 weeks. The lessons…

There is little research which explores middle school teachers' response to school closures in developing countries in times of crisis. This article presents a case study of Afghanistan, Libya and Palestine as developing countries which have suffered from violence for many years prior to the COVID-19 crisis. It focuses on how teachers in middle…