Since the United States Congress enacted the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, school districts have been charged with ensuring that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014. Schools failing to achieve are labeled as failing or needing improvement. This study sought to determine if commercially produced elementary math curricula…

The achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their traditional counterparts has continued to be a problem in education. Based on cognitive constructivist theory and enrichment theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between scores on a high-stakes achievement test and participation in a summer…

The purpose of the current study was to determine the relationship, if any, regarding school districts' teachers' average years of service, number of years of implementation of the CSCOPE math curriculum, and student achievement on the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) mathematics scores in Grades 5 and 8. The STAAR is the…

The purpose of this study was to explore variables related to student placement in alternative educational settings in the state of Texas. Archival research was conducted utilizing the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) of all Texas public school districts for the 2011-2012 academic year, excluding charter schools. The variables utilized…

Using a longitudinal sample of Texas high school seniors of 2002 who enrolled in college within the calendar year of high school graduation, we examine variation in college persistence according to the economic composition of their high schools, which serves as a proxy for unmeasured high school attributes that are conductive to postsecondary…

Today the requirements in higher education are vast and majority of the population in the country cannot afford higher education as their per capita income is very low. Neither the government nor the private sector alone can cater to the requirements of higher education. It is in this context, one should look at the scope, feasibility,…

Some years after the world-wide crisis starting in 2008, also many recently graduated Dutch academics were confronted with the problem of how to cope with getting a job. This article focuses on the coping strategies they use when searching after a job, spending the day, and coping with limited financial means. 91 graduated academics completed a…

In every country, school is considered an essential factor in the development of children, citizens, and the country as a whole. In developing countries such as Brazil, however, the number of school dropouts is very high. In developed countries such as the United States, there is an urgent need for pedagogical improvements. Participants were…

This article discusses Teach for America (TFA), one of the alternative education programs of the U.S. Department of Education designed to address the achievement gap of students of color in the country. Topics explored in this research include issues of racism and race in the recruitment and support of its teacher corp; how TFA educators of color…

Early determinants of college attendance and degree attainment for economically disadvantaged minority youth were examined in the present study. The study sample (n = 1,379) was drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), an ongoing investigation of a panel of low-income minority children born in 1980, growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation spawned a plethora of standardized testing services for all the high stakes testing required by the law. We argue that one-size-fits all assessments disadvantage students who are English Language Learners, in the USA, as well as students with limited economic resources, special needs, and not reading on…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) has provided prekindergarten classes for Houston area four-year old students since the 1985-1986 academic year. The focus of the program has been beginning literacy and oral language development that support individual needs as well as the language and cultural backgrounds of children. The central…

Over her 30-year career as a certified teacher, researcher, and university teacher educator, the author has planned, facilitated and refined educational experiences for children from pre-kindergarten through adolescence, as well as for adults who teach (or were preparing to teach) in New York, Connecticut, Texas, and Arizona. During the summer of…

On January 25, 2011, United States President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address to Congress and to the nation. As part of that address, President Obama articulated his vision for American education and stated that America had "to win the race to educate our kids" (Obama, 2011, state of the union). Mr. Obama's speech…

Policymakers in Minnesota have made assessing and improving student science performance a priority (Minnesota High Tech Association 2010a,b). Minnesota has supported several statewide initiatives to promote science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)--including a grant from the National Governors Association to increase science learning…