Since "A Nation At Risk" (1954), a series of laws and key reform initiatives were passed to hold schools accountable for improving the quality of public education (e.g. "IASA," "Title 1," "NCLB," "RTTT"). These reform initiatives require that public schools undergo continuous change but simply…

Closing the achievement gap in public education means all students are expected to be learning at grade level. In response to federal mandates requiring schools to attain specific student achievement benchmarks, many schools are placing greater resources into support programs designed to increase student achievement. Military dependent students…

It is evident that the failure rate is higher among online students than in-class students at Hopkinsville Community College. An analysis of the academic records of students who enrolled in online courses for the first time at Hopkinsville indicated a 13% higher withdrawal and failure rate than those who took in-class courses over the same period…

The goal of this study was to adapt scientifically-based measures for use in identifying Arabic-speaking children at risk for reading difficulties in the early primary grades. One hundred-fifty Arabic-speaking Palestinian children, living in diverse demographic areas within the West Bank, were tested at the beginning of second grade on an Arabic…

In 2007, the State Board of Education conducted a study to determine what course credits students were "required" to take in order to graduate from high school. In 2008, the Board commissioned a transcript study by the BERC Group to determine what course credits students in the graduating class of 2008 were actually "taking".…

Background: Educating black males is critical. No longer can the black community blame the school for the academic failure of this population. The black community must address this pervasive issue. Purpose: The purpose for this inquiry was to explore community support and recommendations for educating black males. Setting: The setting took place…

Corresponding with the 30th year following the passage of P.L. 94-142, a task force of the Council for Exceptional Children Division of Research published a set of articles outlining quality indicators (QIs) for research and evidence-based practice in special education. This article details the operationalization and application of QIs for…

One of the major dilemmas when practising critical sociolinguistic ethnography within the field of education is the ethnographer's degree of implication within the studied site (Goldstein, 2003; Martin Rojo, 2003; Unamuno, 2004). How far should the researcher intervene within the daily practices he/she is observing? This exercise of methodological…

The profession of school social work began in 1906 but was not recognized in federal legislation for students with disabilities until nearly 70 years later. However, since 1906, school social workers have worked with students considered at-risk for academic failure, including students with disabilities. This article highlights the beginning of the…

Creativity is the central source of meaning for humans and is inseparable from critical thinking. Creativity and critical thinking are required in the fields of communication, public relations, and advertising. Most college students know the "rules" of the "game" of schooling, but for the majority, creativity has been all but extinguished by the…

This article highlights how school can work as a "pressure cooker valve", contributing to a "controlled management" of processes of exclusion. Schools, sometimes without realizing it, simultaneously promote some practices that lead to greater inclusion and support, and others that effectively result in the exclusion of…

As the number of children engaging in problem behaviors grows, teachers increasingly report feeling unprepared to effectively meet students' mental health needs. Social-emotional learning (SEL) should be a prominent goal of school programs because social competence prevents school failure. This commentary reviews the challenges associated with…

Class size has been widely studied in Higher Education with regard to faculty workload. Online class size research has heightened this conversation / debate. However, little class size research has tried to find a connection to student success, other than in primary education, with no studies performed as of yet for online learning. Most educators…

This essay explores the validity of including ELL students in British Columbia provincial high school exit exams. Data and a sample exam from the BC Ministry of education are used to scrutinize the practice of using BC provincial exams for high school exit decisions regarding ELLs. A comparison of failure rates of ELLs and mainstream students…

This paper reports on the process involved in attempting to build a predictive model capable of identifying students at risk of failure in a first year accounting unit in an Australian university. Identifying attributes that contribute to students being at risk can lead to the development of appropriate intervention strategies and support…