Educational intervention research addresses multiple barriers that under-sourced communities face in education. I test three methods to improve education program design and evaluation to develop programs that have substantial and lasting impacts on student outcomes. In my dissertation, I review current challenges to educational program evaluation…

Randomized experiments are a strong design for establishing impact evidence because the random assignment mechanism theoretically allows confidence in attributing group differences to the intervention. Growth of randomized experiments within educational studies has been widely documented. However, randomized experiments within education have…

Feedback is a key factor for learning success and has therefore been widely studied in higher education. As feedback is a highly contextualized practice serving various learner needs, researchers have utilized a plethora of feedback designs in their intervention studies. This diversity in feedback conceptualizations and pedagogical designs often…

Reading Recovery (RR) was introduced throughout New Zealand during the 1980s, for children struggling the most with learning to read after 1 year of formal schooling. In May 2024, the Minister of Education decided the programme would no longer be funded beyond 2024. This decision was based on evidence that the programme was not as effective as…

Large numbers of students who enroll in college do not complete a degree. Yet, earning a college degree is one of the primary pathways for economic success and is increasingly required for good jobs and high wages. The way students interpret early academic struggles in college may affect whether or not they remain enrolled. If students attribute…

Large numbers of students who enroll in college do not complete a degree. If students attribute their academic challenges to a perceived lack of intelligence or inability to succeed in college, they may be less likely to persist. "Growth Mindset" interventions aim to improve college persistence and academic achievement by encouraging…

"Growth Mindset" interventions aim to improve college persistence and academic achievement by encouraging students to view intelligence as a "malleable" characteristic that grows with effort, and to view academic challenges as temporary setbacks that they can overcome. This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) report explores the…

Up to 2,700 schools are currently eligible for free school breakfast funding via the National School Breakfast Programme, and policy makers are increasingly trialling or adopting universal approaches to school breakfast provision. An EEF impact evaluation of the Magic Breakfast programme in 2016 found that offering pupils in primary schools a free…

The research question guiding the production of the youth employment evidence and gap map (EGM) is stated as follows: What is the nature and extent of the evidence base of impact evaluations and systematic reviews on youth employment programmes in the world? The primary objective of is to catalogue impact evaluations and systematic reviews on…

This improvement project was designed to ensure students enrolled in elementary schools with a high poverty index received literacy instructional strategies that promoted literacy achievement. When analyzing Graham County School data, I noticed third-grade students attending high poverty elementary schools were not achieving literacy success at…

Background: Animal-assisted Education (AAE), including Reading to Dogs (RTD), is an area of growing interest internationally across all phases of education, and increasingly considered an innovative approach to improving pupil outcomes. As creating RTD interventions necessitates a combination of expertise from the fields of education and…

Implementation analyses conducted as part of impact studies can help educators know whether a tested intervention is likely to be a good fit for their own settings. This guide can help researchers design and conduct these kinds of analyses. The guide provides steps and recommendations about ways to specify implementation research questions, assess…

In every sector, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of mental health resources for wellbeing. Although scholars have long recognized the interdependent relationship between academic success and positive mental health, research that can be used to guide mental health service design and delivery in post-secondary institutions is…

The present study is the first systematic review of instructional coaching components, methodologies, and outcomes reported in experimental and quasi-experimental group design studies examining the impact of coaching for school personnel supporting elementary-grade students with reading difficulties. Published and unpublished investigations (n =…

The purpose of this content analysis was to examine the use of theory in school-counselor-led interventions. Specifically, we examined intervention characteristics, evaluation design, and use of theory in school-counselor-led intervention studies that were published by the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association…