Title I schools, those with high percentages of students qualifying for Free and Reduced Meals (FARMS), face many challenges in serving their students. Among the most significant challenges these schools face is the likelihood they will be staffed by larger numbers of inexperienced teachers and inexperienced administrators than non-Title I schools…

In order to compare the accessibility, need, and extent of professional development, technology, and its relationship to low socioeconomic (SES) schools and achievement, data were accessed from the Kentucky Department of Education, Division of School and Community Nutrition Qualifying Data Report to identify schools with a greater than 50% free…

This dissertation consists of three papers that explore the open enrollment process in a large urban school district that has a mandatory choice open enrollment policy. The first paper examines patterns of school selection in this district after the introduction of a "strategy-proof" deferred acceptance student assignment algorithm.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate, analyze, and document the differences in school, teacher, and student-level factors as perceived by administrators and teachers in high and low-performing, high-needs secondary schools in the Delta region of Mississippi. A modified version of Marzano's (2003) "What Works in Schools" survey…

This study uses the state report cards published by the Tennessee Department of Education to compare the academic achievement grades to the value-added grades to determine if there is a relationship between the two grading systems. The data used for this study are from the 2001, 2002, and the 2003 state report cards published for each school using…