The quality of education is a predictor of a country's economic performance -- which is why comparative international education surveys are important. South Africa performed poorly in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019. The score of 374 for mathematics and 324 for science is poor compared to the mid-point of…

Bilingual children, the majority of whom are Spanish-English learners, now constitute over a third of the preschool population in the United States (Migration Policy Institute, 2021). Bilingual children and their families face multiple barriers to high-quality early childhood education, which are largely due to the underutilization of culturally…

Background: Socioeconomic gaps in children's academic and social skills are large upon Kindergarten entry (von Hippel, Workman, and Downey 2018; Reardon 2011; Reardon and Portilla 2016). Preschool programs may yield particularly large benefits to low-income students and racially minoritized groups and may be promising for reducing inequalities…

With the population of English learners (EL) entering Texas public schools increasing, it is essential to understand how the current school system supports these students. This study investigated the language used in school handbooks as a predictor of English Language Learners' (ELL) academic outcomes in Texas independent school districts. Student…

Individuals entering college from disadvantaged economic backgrounds often face multiple obstacles to successful academic performance. Nonetheless, many such students are successful. In this study, we explore the personal characteristics of students from poverty who do well academically in comparison to their economic peers who were less…

Objectives: The importance of breastfeeding exposure and children's development of self-regulation, independently, are well established. Each of these domains also has been linked to better cognitive development and academic achievement in children. However, little is known about how breastfeeding affects development of early self-regulation…

By shifting the focus of studies in applied linguistics from negative psychology to positive psychology, psychological capital (PsyCap) consisting of self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience can be an influential factor in the language classrooms. Prior studies have emphasized the role that PsyCap plays in management, though little attention…

Improving ninth grade course passing rates has been shown to be crucial in improving high school outcomes. Yet at this critical transition to high school, family engagement has tended to decrease. This study explores how increasing use of the parent portal could potentially help to reduce ninth grade failure. Using automatically generated…

Improving ninth grade course passing rates has been shown to be crucial in improving high school outcomes. Yet at this critical transition to high school, family engagement has tended to decrease. This study explores how increasing use of the parent portal could potentially help to reduce ninth grade failure. Using automatically-generated…

This study investigated the role of home learning environments and family socioeconomic status in children's learning in Tanzania. A total of 303 participants from the naturalized refugees, rural, and urban majority groups were recruited. Data were collected using parents' questionnaires, interviews, Bracken's Basic Concept Scale--Receptive, Early…

Propensity score matching was used to compare third-grade test scores in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies for children who had and had not participated in Georgia's Pre-K 4 years earlier. After matching, each group included 46,262 children (mean age 8.36 years in third grade). In all subject areas, children who had…

This study examines the validity of the current SAT® as a predictor of first-year academic performance and retention to the second year by student and institutional subgroups across more than 223,000 students from 171 four-year institutions. Results show that institutions can feel confident using SAT scores and HSGPA for admission, scholarship,…

In a nation where monolingualism predominates, heritage language (HL) has been downplayed as less important in educational contexts in the U.S. Disproportionately little attention has been given to the role of HL in language minority (LM) students' attendance to postsecondary education (PSE) (cf. Brutt-Griffler, Janina, and Manka Varghese, eds.…

There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing…

Background: Young females have been found to out-perform males in terms of grades and university degrees in many studies. At the same time, young women seem to exhibit lower levels of well-being compared with men. Interestingly, little work has evaluated the interplay between educational success and well-being. However, antecedents and…