In this paper, we model gender differences in cognitive ability in China using a new sample of middle-aged and older Chinese respondents. Modeled after the American Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the CHARLS Pilot survey respondents are 45 years and older in two quite distinct provinces--Zhejiang, a high-growth industrialized province on the…

This qualitative research explores women's experiences of accessing higher education (HE) in England, through the mother-daughter relationship. Women's pathways to university and their funding histories are presented from both past and recent generations, to contextualise an understanding of funding HE in light of the 2012 tuition fee increase.…

Faced with the facts of economic inequality, the wealthy are confronted with a particular set of moral, social, and political questions, not least of which is the question of how to preserve a sense of being a "good" human being. In the case of justifying privilege, the problem becomes how to position oneself as being uniquely able to enact a…

The purpose of this qualitative, explanatory multiple-case study was to examine the perceptions of staff members at two Southern California high schools as they related to the disparate participation in advanced academic programs by ethnic and racial minority and economically disadvantaged students as compared to their White and economically…

In 2008, a large southeastern school district was awarded an $8.5 million Safe School/Healthy Students (1999) federal grant. The grant, titled Success for All Students (SFAS) (2008) was a collaborative effort between the school district and county commissioners with the shared goal of increasing student achievement and healthy development by…

By utilizing the data from 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), this dissertation examines the extent to which countries vary in the pattern and magnitude of the discrepancy in civic outcomes among adolescents from differing family backgrounds. Among the many family background characteristics that may shape adolescents'…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of rhythm and tonality on an academic memory task by comparing three different treatment conditions: a poem, a rhythmic chant (or rap), and a melodic rhythm (or song). A quasi-experimental experiment was designed and implemented, specifically a pretest-posttest-posttest control-group design.…

Contrary to what supporters of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (P.L. 107-110, 2001) would have us believe about the effects of this legislation, the academic achievement gap between students of color and White students, and between economically disadvantaged students and students from higher socio-economic backgrounds is not closing.…

Despite the billions of dollars spent in the last forty years, America's efforts toward closing the achievement gaps among diverse learners and their receptive counterparts have not been realized. Limitations noted in previous research discussed the need to examine the unique contributions of diverse learner variables as a way of determining their…

The purpose of this study was to determine if using an intervention called Student Dictated Oral Review Stories (SDORS) had an effect on science vocabulary usage and content knowledge for ninety-three students in six first grade classrooms and the subgroup of economically disadvantaged students in a mid-sized north Texas school district. The…

A major concern for educators is that student achievement is disproportionate and not increasing for all groups at the same rate. This applied dissertation addressed the problem of unequal achievement for African American, economically disadvantaged, and academically at-risk students. This quantitative study utilized a correlational design to…

Poverty is on the rise, especially among our youngest citizens. In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau reported 37 million people living in poverty in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). Out of 37 million people living in poverty in the United States, 13 million of those individuals were children under the age of 18. This represents an increase of 11%…

This paper describes the results of a participative planning class held in economically dis-advantaged communities in east Tennessee. The class follows a structured method, which includes community workshops and project development, in dealing with the communities. Among many observations gained in eight years of running the class are that…

We use regression discontinuity methods on a representative survey of Texas high school seniors to discern the impact on flagship-enrollment behavior of the Texas top 10 percent law, which guarantees admission to any Texas public university to students who graduate in the top decile of their class. By comparing students at and immediately below…

By using latent profile analysis eight stable and interpretable subgroups of readers were identified. The basis for subgrouping was different performance measures with four aspects of reading in focus: reading of continuous texts, reading of document texts, word reading and reading speed. Participants were 9-year-old Swedish students included in…