English Language Learners And Their Access To Postsecondary Education: Examining Their Achievements And College Readiness Through Educators’ Experiences And Perspectives, Anna Kalinowska

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to bring awareness to the issue of English learners (ELs) being unprepared for college and to study the beliefs and perceptions of educators regarding the factors that contribute to the creation of an achievement gap between EL students and traditional students. The study involved an analysis of trends in the perceptions of school counselors, teachers, and administrators regarding EL students being ready to attend college. Data were collected from nine participants from three public high schools in Pinellas County using Zoom and email interviews and then analyzed. Four main themes emerged from the …

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Comparison Of White, Latinx, And Black Student's Unadjusted And Adjusted Gpas In A College Of Business And Public Administration Of A Hispanic Serving Institution, Francisca Beer, Daniel Macdonald

International Journal for Business Education

Because higher education creates more informed individuals, healthier citizens, social prestige, job satisfaction, and numerous other non-economic benefits, it is important that all members of society have opportunities for successful educational achievement. Using data for undergraduate students enrolled in a business college of a large Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), this study documents the existence of an unadjusted GPA gap between White students and ethnic minority students. This study also shows that the unadjusted GPA gaps decrease when socio-economic indicators are introduced in the analysis. The gaps continue to decrease when units-taken, transfer status, age, and student status are added to …

Discrimination, Acculturative Stress, And Academic Achievement, Rebecca A. Steele

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers report an association of racial discrimination to academic achievement for racial/ethnic minority students. Racial discrimination is manifest on multiple levels, including interpersonal discrimination, discrimination in schools, and societal and cultural discrimination. Researchers have generally focused their efforts on examining the effects of one type of discrimination on academic achievement. Further, mediators of this relation have not been fully explored. In a sample of 78 college students, only interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination, and not school-based or societal discrimination, was negatively associated with GPA. However, the effects did not hold once controlling for demographic factors. Two potential mediators of the relations of …

Exploring The Impact Of The Achievement Gap On Shame And Resilience In African American College Students, Brittany R. Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The achievement gap refers to the stark difference that occurs between racial or gender groups, as one group performs significantly higher than the other. An achievement gap has the propensity to produce psychological distress, as well as buffering techniques that are necessary for survival and success. Growing research shows that African American college students experience unique levels of trauma, shame, hardship, macro, and micro-aggressions, suggesting that these students learn to self-preserve as early as 10 years old. This study used a Pearson correlation, Independent T-Test, and a Moderated Multiple Regression to explore the impact of the achievement gap on shame …

What Matters Most For Successful Student Persistence: Student Perceptions About The Influence Of Their Participation In An Educational Opportunity Fund Program, Brett Pulliam

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

First-generation and low-income students more often find pursuing and completing a college degree challenging, compared to their second-generation peers who come from higher income households. However, in order to mitigate the challenges faced by this marginalized group of students, opportunity programs, such as New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund Program (EOF), have been developed to provide these students with resources to assist them in not only gaining access to a post-secondary education but also to provide services to assist in their path towards degree completion. This program is a critical resource in providing orientation as well as needed skills for post-secondary …

Teachers Of Color's Perception On Identity And Academic Success: A Reflective Narrative, Lynette Suliana Sikahema Finau

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Research and scholarship in multicultural education has consistently affirmed that as a result of the long standing racial academic achievement gap and the current teaching force not reflecting the changing demographics of students in the United States, students of color continue to be deprived from having teachers who look like them and who may bring similar life, social, and cultural experiences that can increase the value they place on academics. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of teachers of color and how they perceive their identity as significant and meaningful to their profession and its …

Exploring The Role Of Collective Teacher Efficacy In Closing Achievement Gaps: A Review Of An Urban District Model School Program, Folusho B. Abayomi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Abstract

Urban Academy is one of Urban Diverse School Board (UDSB)’s model schools situated in Ontario, Canada. A model school program was created to provide students with equitable access to resources and learning opportunities. Despite UDSB’s commitment to equity and inclusion, this urban school continues to experience persistent achievement gaps when aggregate data are analyzed. Based on student data, the achievement gap has been strongly connected to demographic factors such as low socioeconomic status (SES) of the parents. Educators’ beliefs and assumptions of low SES as an external factor posit achievement as a dilemma beyond teachers’ control. This Organizational Improvement …

Service-Learning: A Powerful Pedagogy For Promoting Academic Success Among Students Of Color, Michelle C. Sterk Barrett, Isabelle Jenkins

Scholarship and Professional Writing from the J.D. Power Center

This article discusses a mixed-methods study that investigated the service-learning experiences of students of color at College of the Holy Cross to better understand how service-learning may be an effective pedagogical tool for reducing cultural dissonance and addressing related achievement gaps. Quantitative data were collected from over 1,500 students who had enrolled in 59 different service-learning classes. In addition, interviews were conducted with 13 students of color who had participated in service-learning. Findings indicated that students’ service-learning experiences paralleled study participants’ descriptions of how they learned most effectively. Furthermore, the findings suggest that service-learning may resonate for students of color …

The Achievement Gap: Federal, State, Provincial And Nonprofit Websites That Publish Research Reports About The Achievement Gap In Pnla States And Provinces, Kellian Clink

Library Services Publications

The achievement gap “refers to a difference between the academic achievement of linguistic and ethnic minority students, students with disabilities, students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, and female students, and either the mainstream student population in general or the white student population more specifically” (Odekon, 2015, p. 7). There are as many causative factors as there are rocks on a beach in Alaska. While books and articles may refer to these and act as a finding aid, I find it valuable to have a certain familiarity with federal, state, and nonprofit organizations that publish timely and authoritative research reports. These …

Academic Engagement, Motivation, Self-Regulation, And Achievement Of Georgia Southern University Sophomore Students, John O. Lemay Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that engagement, motivation, self-regulation, and their individual effects on student achievement are established factors that influence college students’ success. However, what is less clear are these variables’ relationships and their collective influence on achievement. Since students face unique trials as they persist through college, consideration of these relationships and their effect on the achievement of all students is necessary. There is a widening achievement gap between sexes; females have now passed males in enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates. Previous research in this area has been largely centered on undergraduate female students in their freshman year, but the …

Is The Black Male College Graduate Becoming An Endangered Species? A Multi-Case Analysis Of The Attrition Of Black Males In Higher Education, Michael Washington

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

The purpose of this study was to examine how some black college students survived the phenomenon of low graduation rates, also known as attrition, occurring among black male students attending colleges in the state of California. Current research indicated that this phenomenon is a nationwide issue. The gap between black male college students and none-minority college students is significant and an indication of either discriminatory practices or inefficiencies within the system. This multiple case study involved a series of semi-structured interviews and field observation over a three month time-frame. The data was coded and triangulated. The findings pointed to several …

Sharing Responsibility For The Learning Of Students: A Case Study, Pamela Scott

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The educational gap in student achievement is steadily broadening among the various disaggregated groups throughout our nation’s public schools. School administrators, teachers, politicians, and other stakeholders are scampering about trying to find a solution to this ever-growing problem. Unfortunately, they are looking for the answer in all the wrong places. In fact, the answer to this crisis in America’s public school system lies in a series of questions. School administrators and teachers need only to address the following in order to effectively provide students with a quality education: What do race and ethnicity have to do with students’ ability to …

Bridging The Mathematics Achievement Gap In Struggling Urban Schools, Marcia Heiman

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

As a result of school reform efforts, many school districts report that gains have been made in students’ math scores in the elementary years. But America’s high-poverty middle and high schools remain in crisis. Beyond the elementary years, students in the nation’s high-poverty schools are failing. For example, despite years of school reform, math achievement in Detroit has declined in the last five years. For example, 25% of Detroit’s high school students scored proficiently on statewide math tests in 2004 – as compared with only 16% in the most recent reports. ( www.schoolmatters.com). At the end of high school, Hispanic …

Predicting Adequate Yearly Progress: Leaving Explanation Behind, Jenifer Moore

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of this research was to determine if the variables included in the Mississippi Report Card utilized for the calculation of AYP can be used to predict whether or not Mississippi LEAs will attain adequate yearly progress in reading and math using the logistic regression technique. This study demonstrated that using the variables utilized for the calculation of AYP, a predictive model can be successfully utilized to classify Mississippi LEAs that will and will not attain AYP in reading and math with an accuracy greater than that which can be attributed to chance.

Organizational Health At The Managerial And Institutional Levels Of Leadership: Links To Student Achievement In Middle Grades, Howard Coleman, Kathleen Roney

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

In this paper we look at the relationship between the middle school’s organizational health and student achievement as measured by math scores over a two-year period. Our research hypothesis anticipated that increases in organizational health would be related to increases in student scores on standardized tests.

Student Identification Across School Levels, Roxanne Mitchell

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Failure to identify with school has been suggested as one explanation for why some students persistently fail to meet academic expectations. Identification with school has been conceptualized as involving a sense of belonging and a valuing of school and school related outcomes (Voelkl 1997). Students who fail to identify with school often experience a host of problems ranging from behavioral problems, social and emotional withdrawal, and academic failure. These students are also at-risk for delinquency and dropping out of school (Finn 1989, Finn & Voelkl 1993, Voelkl 1997). Empirical research thus far has attempted to explain this failure to identify …

Principals’ Strategies For Successfully Closing The Achievement Gaps In Their Schools, Hersh Waxman, Lee Yuan-Hsuan, Angus Macneil

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

One of our greatest educational challenges is reducing the achievement gap between successful and less-successful students. The achievement gap is usually discussed in terms of dramatic differences in graduation rates and the academic achievement between white and minority students such as Hispanics (Waxman, Padrón, and Garcia, 2007). Research in this area typically looks at school districts and/or schools that do better than others in reducing the gaps between groups of students. There are fewer research studies, however, that focus on achievement gaps within schools and classrooms. These “within” school educational disparities often are greater than the differences between schools or …

The Effects Of Early Intervention And Parent Training On Vocabulary Development For The At-Risk Preschool Child, Sallie Averitt Miller, Sally Sinclair, Catherine Kostolnick

Perspectives In Learning

This interdisciplinary team research documents that when specific skills are taught systematically at home and at school, the low-high SES achievement gap shrinks. It provides a “close-up look” at the effects of early intervention and parent training on vocabulary development for the child, which resulted in an intergenerational achievement. The quintessential research goal is to make certain that parents are well equipped to develop their child’s vocabulary; using conversation, literature, environmental print, and a focus on selected proven strategies; that is, concept development, daily and repeated readings, and vocabulary games and activities.

Building A Framework For Change, Janet Lafortune, Carol Ann Wood

Perspectives In Learning

Change is never easy. Sustained change in education is particularly difficult. To get the desired results, all of the stakeholders must have a shared vision for learning. It is a process not a destination. Brewer Elementary School has been in the process of change in the past several years. Brewer is in the heart of Columbus, Georgia. The school opened in 1991. The building itself is a welcome focal point in a community of apartments, low rent housing, trailer parks and businesses. It is a safe, clean, happy place for children to learn. The school currently has approximately 520 students …