This Data Byte presents a summary of findings among students in the 2020 ACT-tested graduating class, over 225,000 of whom took the PreACT® test before taking the ACT® test. Five findings are highlighted: (1) PreACT-tested students scored higher on the ACT test; (2) Average gain from the PreACT to the ACT varies across subjects; (3) Average gain…

Exploring students' discourse in academic settings over time can provide valuable insight into the evolution of learner engagement and participation in online learning. In this study, we propose an analytical framework to capture topics and the temporal progression of learner discourse. We employed a Contextualized Topic Modeling technique on…

Socioeconomic inequality is a persistent societal problem affecting various aspects of adolescent development. Existing studies have revealed that low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with a higher prevalence of internalizing symptoms. However, little is known about the underlying factors that may mediate this relationship. The current…

This conceptual paper explored the fundamental barriers to successful equity training and professional development for teachers. This was done to show the need for a professional development series, based on Ting-Toomey and Chung's (2012) cultural value pattern analysis. Using the theoretical lens of post-colonial theory, the authors posit the…

Purpose: Agricultural extension services in poor countries often identify opinion leaders based on criteria such as wealth and social status. We explore the effectiveness of this top-down approach by analysing the role of so-called model and nodal farmers in the diffusion of malt barley in a highland community in Ethiopia. Research approach: We…

The purpose of this research is to determine whether the achievement gap between Black and White students differs significantly between Minnesota public charter schools and traditional Minnesota public schools. The reading and math proficiency gaps between Black and White students in Minnesota are among the largest in the nation. Despite the fact…

The Advanced Placement (AP) program is nearly ubiquitous in American high schools and is often touted as a way to close racial and socioeconomic gaps in educational outcomes. Using administrative data from Michigan, I exploit variation within high schools across time in AP course offerings to identify the causal effect of AP course availability on…

Home-school transport is an expensive component within many education systems, and is particularly costly in countries where school choice is encouraged. Within divided societies like Northern Ireland, a combination of school choice, academic selection and a divided society results in educational divisions which pose an even larger problem for the…

Introduction: In today's highly demanding health care industry, paediatricians realise the need to focus on what matters to parents as a means to improve their service quality and health care delivery. This study aimed to identify which key choice elements were important for parents when choosing a paediatric general practice service for their…

This dissertation explores the experiences of East Asian international doctoral students in clinical supervision within counselor education programs in the United States. With the increasing enrollment of international students in these programs, understanding their unique challenges and strategies for success in supervision is essential. Using a…

Background: Choice is a key part of the culture of the United States. Americans believe deeply in the personal and social usefulness of being able to make many choices. Hence, all sorts of efforts have been made to increase students' options, whether by creating many different kinds of schools and colleges, offering a great array of majors and…

Employing neoliberal governmentality as a conceptual frame, this paper presents evidence from the mushrooming English language academies from Pakistan to demonstrate that how neoliberal rationality as a normative order of reason governs the minds of learners and teachers without governing. Drawing on the analysis of an open-ended interview…

The study explores the resistance of minority students in Ethiopian multiethnic primary schools to discrimination and inequality. It also examined the influence of hidden curricula on minority student's agency. This qualitative phenomenological research involved 32 ethno-cultural minority pupils and used participant observation, in-depth…

On October 18th, 2019, Chile experienced the beginning of its most powerful social uprising since the return of democracy in 1990. People took to the streets of cities all over the country, protesting against social inequality in terms of healthcare, education, household living conditions, and wages, among other issues. Students, who have been…

Research suggests teacher cultural competency (TCC) is one of the keys to combating current systemic inequities in our educational landscape especially when considering the influences of teacher experience, socioeconomic factors (measured through the percentage of students receiving free lunch), and the composition of student demographics,…