Assistant teachers play an important role in Head Start and other early care and education (ECE) programs. This study found that assistant teachers contribute to classroom quality in the program's day-to-day implementation. Thirty-eight assistant-lead teaching teams from Head Start preschool classrooms across 14 Head Start centers within the…

Before COVID, the shortage of qualified, skilled teachers was among the top challenges facing education leaders. And with the stress of the pandemic, survey data showed that almost half of the public school teachers who left the profession since March 2020 cite COVID-19 as the main reason. As school systems ramp up hiring for next fall, concrete…

Few elementary students on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are scoring at grade level or higher on the ACT Aspire reading assessment. To better understand factors associated with the reading proficiency of CNMI grade 3 students, stakeholders there asked the Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific to examine the demographic…

Few elementary students in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are scoring at grade level or higher on the ACT Aspire reading assessment. To better understand factors associated with the reading proficiency of CNMI grade 3 students, stakeholders there asked the Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific to examine the demographic…

Few elementary students in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are scoring at grade level or higher on the ACT Aspire reading assessment. This study examined data on students who enrolled in grade 3 in a CNMI public school from 2014/15 to 2018/19 to understand their grade 3 reading performance. The study used administrative…

Few elementary students on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are scoring at grade level or higher on the ACT Aspire reading assessment. To better understand factors associated with the reading proficiency of CNMI grade 3 students, stakeholders there asked the Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific to examine the demographic…

Almost every state in the United States has revamped its principal evaluation policies since 2009, yet we know little about how they are implemented. Based on interviews and document analysis in 21 small- and medium-sized school districts, we found that superintendents' sensemaking shaped their implementation of policy. Drawing on their beliefs…

Despite pledges to increase student body diversity, low-income students and Black, Latinx, and Native American students remain grossly underrepresented at elite colleges. To date, most studies exploring stratification in college enrollment patterns have looked at this phenomenon from the student or organizational perspective--examining either…

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)'s mission is to break the link between family income and educational achievement. This is achieved through summarising the best available evidence in plain language, generating new evidence of 'what works' to improve teaching and learning, and supporting teachers and school leaders to use research evidence…

Youth and young adults in foster care yearn for and deserve lifelong families and supportive environments where they are nurtured and encouraged as they grow into adulthood. Ideally, this happens by ensuring that children and youth can remain safely with their families. Unfortunately, for many children and youth who must enter foster care, this…

Over the past 40 years, colleges and universities have seen an increase in groups of traditionally marginalized people as students. Groups such as mature adult learners, African Americans/Blacks, and female students have closed the disparity gap but continue to fall behind their White, male, and female counterparts in terms of degree success. The…

Evidence shows that a mere 36% of Black males graduate from a four-year institution in less than six-years (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). While research shows many factors contribute to this problem, campus climate and the social environment have an influence on their feelings of acceptance and ultimately self-efficacy to…

Scholars and practitioners have worked toward high achievement for students with disabilities (SWD) in the past several decades with little success; achievement for SWD of low socio-economic status (SES) is an even rarer phenomenon. Studies on academic achievement have been conducted with students with disabilities and low-SES students as separate…

Youth of Color sit at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression--classism, racism, and sexism. Too often, Youth of Color are pushed out of traditional schools and are further marginalized by being assigned to alternative education programs, including continuation high schools. To address a recurring issue of dynamic inequality in which…

Racial and ethnic minority groups face extraordinary challenges in access to and success in higher education due to the complicated history of racism in the US educational system and society. This thesis focuses on past and current practices that affect educational equity, college completion, and post-undergraduate success for Black…