Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mindset, Mentor, And Money: How Each Influences College Success, Malachi Nichols

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Across society, the consistent influx of students enrolling in higher education institutions without a comparable increase in degree attainment has produced a heightened awareness and a desire to identify the factors related to influencing college success. This dissertation aims to develop a greater understanding of three potentially relevant factors and their respective influences in facilitating college success at the University of Arkansas. First, I evaluate the Student Talent Enrichment Program (STEP) Grant program, designed to fulfill low-income first-year students’ financial needs and encourage their persistence on to their second year of college. Second, I study the effectiveness of the BounceBack …

High-Growth High Schools In Arkansas Based On Performance On The Act Aspire Examinations, Charlene A. Reid, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights high schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2018 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.

Charter School Funding: (More) Inequity In The City, Corey A. Deangelis, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May

School Choice Demonstration Project

Public charter schools are a growing part of K-12 education. Charter schools are public schools that are granted operational autonomy by their authorizing agency in return for a commitment to achieve performance levels specified in a contract. Like traditional public schools, charter schools are prohibited from charging tuition, must not discriminate in admissions or be religious in their operation or affiliation, and are overseen by a public entity. Unlike traditional public schools, however, most charters are open to all students who wish to apply, regardless of where they live. If a charter school is over-subscribed, random lotteries usually determine which …

High-Growth Middle Schools In Arkansas Based On Performance On The Act Aspire Examinations, Charlene A. Reid, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights middle schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2018 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.

High-Growth Elementary Schools In Arkansas Based On Performance On The Act Aspire Examinations, Charlene A. Reid, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights elementary schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2018 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.

Long-Term Outcomes Of Low-Achieving Third Grade Readers, Emily Jordan, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

Research shows that students who demonstrate low reading achievement in 3rd grade have trouble catching back up to grade level and being successful in school, compared to their peers who demonstrate early proficiency (Fiester 2010; Hernandez 2011; Juel 1988). This report seeks to investigate what happens to Arkansas public school students who demonstrate low achievement in reading in 3rd grade. Reading scores from three cohorts of students are followed from 3rd grade until high school, beginning with data from the 2008-09 school year and continuing through 2016-17. We examine the demographic characteristics of the low-achieving group, assess the extent to …

Long-Term Outcomes Of Low Achieving Third Grade Readers, Sarah Mckenzie, Emily Jordan, Charlene A. Reid

Policy Briefs

This brief examines long-term academic outcomes for students who demonstrate low reading achievement in third grade. Following three cohorts of students from third grade through early high school, we find that students who are behind in third grade are unlikely to ever read proficiently. Economically disadvantaged students, Black students, and male students demonstrate less improvement in reading achievement over time than other types of students.

Further Validation Of Survey Effort Measures Of Relevant Character Skills: Results From A Sample Of High School Students, Gema Zamarro, Malachi Nichols, Angela Duckworth, Sidney D'Mello

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Character skills, including conscientiousness, grit or self-control are important determinants of relevant life outcomes. However, researchers struggle to find valid measures of these skills and many existing datasets lack any measures of them at all. This limits research on how these important skills could be better supported and developed. Recent research has shown the potential of parametrizations of survey effort measures as proxy measures of character skills related to conscientiousness, to either complement other collected measures or to add to datasets that lack such measures. This study provides further validation of these survey effort measures in a sample of high …

Identifying Naturally-Occurring Direct Assessments Of Social-Emotional Competencies: The Promise And Limitations Of Survey And Assessment Disengagement Metadata, James Soland, Gema Zamarro, Albert Cheng, Colin Hitt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is gaining increasing attention in education policy and practice due to evidence that related constructs are strongly associated with long-term academic achievement and attainment. However, the work of educators to support SEL is hampered by a lack of available, unbiased measures of related competencies. In this manuscript, we review a recent and growing body of literature suggesting that metadata captured when assessments are administered via computer can provide data on not only test engagement, but also SEL constructs. Implications of this new source of data for practice, policy, and research are discussed.

Arkansas Student Discipline Report, Kaitlin Anderson

Arkansas Education Reports

This report examines student discipline in the Arkansas public schools. Using de-identified student- and infraction-level data from 2007-08 to 2016-17 provided by the Arkansas Department of Education, our research identifies trends and a number of key student outcomes related to student discipline in the Arkansas public schools. While the data are only limited to what schools report, there are several meaningful findings from this work.

Arkansas Teacher Supply, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Policy Briefs

This brief examines teacher supply in Arkansas. Using survey data collected in Spring 2017 and data publicly available from the Arkansas Department of Education, we examine how teacher supply varies by district, grade level, and subject across the state. In particular, we examine characteristics associated with the most favorable teaching supply.

Arkansas Teacher Supply, Leesa M. Forman, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary .W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

There have been widespread reports of an impending teacher shortage crisis in the U.S. for more than 30 years. In the U.S., there are claims of a widespread national shortage while research indicates teacher shortages are specific to certain subjects and schools. Part of the reason for the conflicting accounts is how shortage is identified and what information is used to assess it. In this study, we test whether a uniform teacher shortage exists across the state of Arkansas. We hypothesize that, rather than a universal shortage, teacher shortages are more likely to occur in certain regions and subjects. We …

The Private School Advantage: Evidence From School Vouchers And Educational Leadership, Mohammad Danish Shakeel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

School choice is becoming increasingly popular around the globe. Broadly the term ‘school choice’ is used to describe the options available for families to send children to school(s) other than the one they are residentially assigned to. Private school choice interventions known as ‘school vouchers,’ offer public or private funding to enable families to send their children to private school.

Research in 1970s and 80s by James Coleman and his colleagues showed a private school advantage in student achievement and graduation rates, in comparison to traditional public schools. Competing evidence was presented by Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Lubienski in 2013, …

Participation Patterns In Private School Choice Programs In The U.S.: States, Schools, Students, Yujie Sude

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Private choice programs provide government resources to qualified families to enable them to enroll their children in private schools of their choosing. “Gold standard” experimental studies have found overall mixed impacts of voucher programs, one form of private school choice arrangements, on student academic achievement. Yet, these results face external validity challenges, as both states, schools, and students can choose to participate in private choice programs, generating selection issues.

This dissertation focuses on the decision-making of states, schools, and students in participating in private school choice programs. The first study estimates the effect of state-level social factors on private school …

Localized Teacher Supply And Demand In Arkansas: An Exploration Of The Supply And Demand Of Teachers In Arkansas School Districts, Leesa M. Foreman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There have been widespread reports of an impending teacher shortage crisis in the U.S. for more than 30 years. In the U.S., there are claims of a widespread national shortage while research indicates teacher shortages are specific to certain subjects and schools. Part of the reason for the conflicting accounts is how shortage is identified and what information is used to assess it. In this study, I test whether a uniform teacher shortage exists across the state of Arkansas. I hypothesize that, rather than a universal shortage, teacher shortages are more likely to occur in certain regions and subjects. I …

2017 Northwest Arkansas Education Report Card, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Education Report Card

This report card presents information about these key performance indicators for the districts in Benton and Washington counties. The Growth, Achievement, School Quality, and Overall scores of each 15 traditional districts are compared to the average scores of the regional districts with similar enrollment 5 large districts and 10 small districts. The scores of the 5 public charter schools are compared to the average scores of all schools in the NWA area.

2017 Pulaski County Education Report Card, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Education Report Card

There are many things that contribute to a ‘good’ school, but we believe student academic growth is perhaps the most meaningful measure of school performance or school effectiveness. Many Pulaski County schools had high growth at one or two school levels, and there is evidence of variation in growth rates between schools within the same districts. We recommend district and school leaders examine where their students are not demonstrating high growth, examine high growth schools to see what those schools are doing differently, and consider how they can further support learning for their students.

The El Dorado Promise: Impacts On Postsecondary Enrollment And Completion, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The El Dorado Promise has offered scholarships to almost 3,000 students since its creation in 2007. In this brief, we examine the impact of the placebased scholarship on postsecondary enrollment and completion for all students and for certain subgroups. Our results indicate that the Promise has significantly increased overall postsecondary enrollment and BA completion.

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High-Growth Arkansas Schools, 2017, Charlene A. Reid, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights high-growth schools across Arkansas based on the ACT Aspire examinations in Math and English Language Arts (ELA) for the 2016-2017 academic year. For these awards, we consider schools that serve free or reduced lunch to at least 66% of the student body. High-poverty schools are ranked by school level (Elementary, Middle, or High) based on Overall Growth (Math and ELA combined), as well as for growth in each content area independently. High-poverty schools are also ranked within each region of the state. Tables include the region in which the school is located, the number of test takers, …

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High-Growth Arkansas, Schools, 2017, Charlene A. Reid, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights [high] schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades [7] through [12] in April 2017 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High-Growth Arkansas Schools, 2017, Charlene A. Reid, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights elementary schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2017 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading. Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject. The level of the schools, …

The Effect Of Teacher Race On Student Perceptions In Low-Income Schools, Benton M. Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision, thousands of teachers of color lost their jobs as black students were integrated into mostly white schools. The number of black teachers in schools across the United States has never recovered resulting in a teaching workforce that is less diverse than the student population that they teach. Many studies have examined the possible impact of this discrepancy including the possibility that this has contributed to the black-white achievement gap that exists in the United States. Other studies have examined the non-academic impacts of a less diverse workforce including …

Evaluating An Academic Bridge Program Using A Mixed Methods Approach, Leslie May Yingling

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the demand for college degrees has increased, college enrollment has grown significantly, and economic forces have applied greater pressure on the higher education environment to produce more degrees and better post-graduation outcomes. Many public colleges and universities have felt these pressures distinctly because of their state funding environments and the specific expectations that exist within them. While college aspirations and attendance have broadly improved, achievement gaps persist along cultural, generational, and socioeconomic lines. In an effort to navigate and negotiate institutional goals, public expectations, economic needs, and educational ideals, institutions engage in diverse approaches to recruitment and retention. Academic …

The Societal Impacts Of Private School Choice Around The World, Corey Adam Deangelis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the 2016 presidential campaign and the appointment of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary of the United States, private school choice – in the form of vouchers, tuition tax-credits, and education savings accounts – has become increasingly policy relevant. While an introduction of competitive pressures into the schooling sector may improve educational quality levels, the effects on societal outcomes such as national test scores, student effort, and criminality may be less clear. After all, traditional public schools were created to ensure that children from diverse backgrounds became proper citizens.

These three dissertation chapters empirically examine a largely underexplored area: the …

Who Teaches Where? A Descriptive Analysis Of Similarities And Differences Between Teachers In Traditional And Charter Schools In Pulaski County, Arkansas, Alexandra Merlyn Boyd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using survey data collected from 893 public school teachers in Pulaski County, Arkansas, this study looks for differences in traditional public school teachers and charter school teachers on their (1) backgrounds and teacher characteristics; (2) motivations for entering the teaching profession; and (3) attitudes towards school and teaching. A multivariate analysis of the data revealed that few differences exist between the two groups of teachers on their backgrounds, teacher characteristics, and motivations to enter the teaching field. However, charter school teachers were found to be more likely to have positive attitudes towards school policy changes, a stronger professional commitment to …

National Assessment Of Educational Progress (Naep) Results: 2017, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The National Center for Education Statistics has released this year’s NAEP results which measure nationwide student performance in 4th and 8th grade Reading and Math. NAEP is administered nationally to a representative sample of students from all 50 states, so acts as a standard measure of student performance across states and time. This policy brief will examine Arkansas’ 2017 results and examine score gaps between student groups.

State-Level Fiscal Impact Of The Succeed Scholarship Program 2017-2018, Julie R. Trivitt, Corey A. Deangelis

Arkansas Education Reports

Arkansas created the Succeed Scholarship Program in the spring 2015 legislative session when House Bill 1552 was passed. This program allows students with disabilities to receive state funding for private school tuition up to the foundation funding amount determined by the matrix funding system used in Arkansas.

Bigger Bang, Fewer Bucks? The Productivity Of Public Charter Schools In Eight U.S. Cities, Corey A. Deangelis, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May

School Choice Demonstration Project

School choice skeptics frequently claim that public charter schools perform no better than traditional public schools (TPS) on standardized test scores. Although a few individual studies of public charter schools have supported that claim, the most comprehensive research reports conclude that, though results vary across states and charter school networks, on average public charter schools have a positive effect on student achievement. Charter school performance appears to be especially strong in cities. Moreover, none of the studies of the relative effectiveness of public charter schools have explicitly considered the funding differences that exist across the two public school sectors. All …

What College Presidents Need To Know About College Students And Student Affairs, Jennifer M. Miles

Journal of Research on the College President

The college presidency is filled with challenges and opportunities, ranging from maintaining communication with on-campus and off-campus stakeholders, coordinating work being done across campus, to simply keeping all of the institution’s operations up and running in an efficient manner. These activities are all designed around a specific purpose: providing opportunities for students to learn.

What College Presidents Need To Know About Adult Learners In Higher Education, David Deggs

Journal of Research on the College President

American higher education has undergone a metamorphosis over the past three decades that has resulted in the emergence of new paradigms for academic program content, modalities for instructional delivery, configuration and delivery of student services, and expansion of outreach models. Central to this metamorphosis is the adult learner in American higher education. Once thought to be the minority in American higher education, adult learners now comprise 74% of all undergraduate college students in the United States (Radford, Cominole & Skomsvold, 2015). This marked shift in the student demographics has caused many American higher education institutions to reconsider the mission, purpose …