Project OCCAMS (Online Curriculum Consortium for Accelerating Middle School) is a collaboration between the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University, the Center for Gifted Education at The College of William & Mary, and Columbus Public Schools with a goal of providing accelerated learning in language arts aimed at increasing…

In this study we used grounded theory framework to explore how preparation for studying abroad affects the academic success of East Asian undergraduate students in U.S. universities. Based on interviews with 12 participants from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, we found that knowledge of English language and American culture, which is…

This is a research brief of the full report (published separately). The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Student Survey, administered in Spring 2017, was designed to gather students' feedback about their experiences taking the advanced CTE courses offered in their specific career pathway. Students who participated in the Austin Independent…

The purpose of this mixed-methods capstone is to investigate the effectiveness of the math acceleration initiative that began in the studied school district in 2009 and the impact the initiative has had on mathematics enrollment at the high school level. This research project followed cohorts of students during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school…

Postsecondary access and degree completion are increasingly important concerns for individuals and policymakers. This dissertation presents evidence on three distinct strategies for increasing students' level of preparedness for higher education, rates of postsecondary enrollment, and rates of postsecondary degree completion. The first is an…

This full report (a brief summary report also was published separately) describes results from the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Student Survey, administered in Spring 2017 in AISD. The survey was designed to gather students' feedback about their experiences taking the advanced CTE courses offered in their specific career pathway. Students…

This study describes interaction patterns observed during a pilot project that explored the use of web-conferencing (WC) software in two undergraduate distance education courses offered to advanced high-school students. The pilot program replaced video-conferencing technology with WC software during recitations, so as to increase participation in…

African American and Latino students are typically underrepresented in programs for gifted learners. This research sought to discover the effect of educators who created a culture that identified the gifts and talents of African American male students for advanced placement course work. Information gleaned from this research may provide a window…

Mixed-method evaluation of two iterations of month-long summer enrichment programs for English-learning secondary students investigated impacts on participants' beliefs about school and academic achievement, and on actual course choices, test outcomes, and graduation rates. Students (N = 85) from one ethnically diverse, high-poverty high school in…

With funding from NSF, the Prime the Pipeline Project (P[cube]) is responding to the need to strengthen the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pipeline from high school to college by developing and evaluating the scientific village strategy and the culture it creates. The scientific village, a community of high school…

This report presents findings from the Year 3 evaluation of Texas' state-level Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, grant. GEAR UP grant requirements include an evaluation component designed to assess program effectiveness and to measure progress toward project goals. To this end, the evaluation considers…

This research study was designed to determine leadership and instructional behaviors of administrators and teachers who are participants in the Alabama AP Initiative, as well as evaluate the perceptions of the AAPI with regard to student performance. The importance of this research was three-fold. First, this study provided principals, as well as…

This report presents results from questionnaires administered to a range of individuals (N=41) involved in the organization and management of college provision for secondary pupils as well as questionnaires administered to S3 and S6 secondary students (N=863) within Scotland's Lothian Region concerning the effectiveness of college provision,…

This paper describes an exploratory study in which three groups of Latina and Latino high school students, previously identified as "at risk," performed at a level of "giftedness" after an instructional intervention grounded on the theoretical orientations of cultural discontinuity and self-efficacy. A total of 29…

Academic Talent Search (ATS) provided advanced instruction in a 6-week summer school for talented middle school students on the campus of California State University, Sacramento. A survey was conducted to examine the long-term impact of the ATS program on students over a period of 7 years. Data were collected pertaining to high school and college…