Policymakers and professional educators attempt to be good stewards of public funds while simultaneously raising expectations for student outcomes that reflect academic excellence in the public school system. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of Texas public school districts and the factors influencing the inefficiency of…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the extent to which differences might be present in discipline consequence assignments by student demographic characteristics in Texas middle schools. In the first investigation, the degree to which discipline consequence assignments differed by the degree of student economic…

The members of Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest's Texas English Learners Research Alliance requested this project because they were interested in learning more about the participation of current English learner students in gifted and talented (GT) programs in Texas, and how their participation compared with that of former English…

This case study investigates the implementation of a unique community-driven mentoring pilot program (PASOS[superscript 2]) forging stronger community and K-12 partnerships. Focused on surfacing what matters most in engaging community mentors, this case study explores a civic organization's quest to impact, expand, and bring value via mentoring to…

Few empirical studies explore how socioeconomic status (SES) disadvantaged students perform academically in a 100% online school. This causal-comparative ex post facto quantitative study examined how SES-disadvantaged students at an online charter school performed academically when compared with both SES-disadvantaged and non-SES-disadvantaged…

Using narrative inquiry methods, this study presents findings from seven politically conservative teachers reflecting on their experience in a teacher education program that they perceived to be ideologically liberal. All of the participants recollected falling into a spiral of silence (Noelle-Neumann, 1993) during their teacher education courses…

Across the United States, decisions championed in the name of school "reform" are segregating students on the basis of race and class. Traditional public schools that serve low-income students of color have been closed, consolidated, or co-located with charter schools. The officials initiating these reforms claim they will benefit…

While conducting a needs assessment for a large Midwestern social service organization, the authors asked 252 preschool children from six Head Start programs what they like best about school. They wanted to reveal how children perceived their school and what they liked best about school--more specifically, what were their favorite areas and…

Primary language delay remains one of the most prevalent developmental delays in early childhood, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Previous research has established language difficulties and social disadvantage being particular risk factors for adverse outcomes later in life. To help prevent low educational achievement and poorer outcomes,…

Using administrative sources in the history of education and childhood involves a range of methodological and ethical considerations. This article discusses these problems, as well as the role of archives and archival policies in preserving history and shaping our understanding of past childhoods. Using Finnish child welfare archives from the…

Analysis of the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and student achievement has been prevalent in the literature, yet research focusing on the association between factors and the achievement of school populations with distinct categories of SES is limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate various relevant student,…

International mobility programmes and opportunities have enthusiastically been embraced by universities as part of a growing demand for graduates with global, international and intercultural capital on the part of graduates. In this project, we take two universities, one Australian and one Indonesian, as illustrative case studies of some of the…

This essay analyzes the graphic novel "In Real Life" as an example of Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang's intention to raise young people's awareness about gender and economic disparities within the gaming industry. Broadly, "In Real Life" combats the pervasive cultural anxiety that Jane McGonigal challenges in her book "Reality…

Universities are required to adopt "fair" student admission practices, yet understandings of fairness in student selection are contested. This paper uses an analysis of the admission policies of Australia's public universities to critically examine the use and application of notions of fairness. A further analysis of enrolment data is…

Education researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in the UK have debated the question of what, and how much, schools can do to mitigate the effects of parental background on educational outcomes over the last half a century. A range of programmes, strategies and interventions have been implemented, and continue to be implemented in an effort…