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Unlocking College Potential: The Role Of Student Expectations And Non-Cognitive Skills In College Success, Gema Zamarro, Malachi Nichols, Julie Trivitt, Rian Djita

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Attending college is a significant human capital investment, but only about 60 % of those who start college will have a completed degree six years later. This makes identifying the skills associated with college success an important policy concern. We surveyed over 1100 entering college freshmen, majoring in business and engineering at a public university in the US, and combined this information with administrative data to create a comprehensive data set that, in addition to the usual academic performance data, cognitive ability measures, and demographics, also included measures of non-cognitive skills, personality traits, student expectations about college grades and performance …

More Than A Monolith: Parental College Aspirations, Adolescents’ College Expectations, And Postsecondary Enrollment Among Asian Adolescent Immigrants, Rian R. Djita

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Studies that are centered around social mobility and educational attainment have shown that educational aspirations and expectations play a critical role in an individual's future success. However, there are only a few analyses that focused on ethnic minorities or immigrants, particularly among Asian populations. These few studies about Asian American families tend to "lump" Asian immigrants as a monolithic ethnic group. This study seeks to bridge this gap by understanding different educational aspirations among immigrant parents from various Asian subgroups concerning their children's postsecondary enrollment in the U.S. Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), a nationally representative …

Evaluation Of Achievement Change In Egypt Using Pirls Data, Harry Anthony Patrinos, Maciej Jakubowski, Tomasz Gajderowicz

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This study analyzes Egypt's exceptional reading achievement gains during the COVID-19 school closures, a period when most countries experienced declines. Drawing on data from the 2016 and 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), we find a 48-point improvement-equivalent to two years of learning-with notable gains among boys. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and projected trend models, we confirm the significance of this rise. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition attributes only one-third of the improvement to observed factors. The study finds that Egypt's progress likely reflects systemic reforms, but more research is needed to confirm that.

Does Teach Lead To More Teachers? Evaluating The Effects Of The Federal Teach Program, Daniel Sparks

Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods Faculty Publications and Presentations

Teachers are critical to education production. Yet, recruiting and retaining teachers has remained challenging, particularly in high need fields, at schools serving a high proportion of students from low-income backgrounds, and from racially diverse backgrounds. To incentivize enrollment in teacher preparation programs and to support teacher candidates through degree completion, the federal government implemented the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant in 2008. The TEACH Grant offers undergraduate and graduate students up to $16,000 and $8,000 in grant aid, respectively, to pursue degrees in high need teaching fields. I use difference-in-differences analyses to estimate the effects …

Tree-Based Differential Item Functioning Detection Methods: Exploring Their Performance In Diverse Measurement Scenarios, Nana Amma Berko Asamoah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the availability of numerous methods for detecting differential item functioning (DIF), the continued development and evaluation of innovative, data-driven approaches remains essential. Tree-based methods, in particular, represent a significant advancement in DIF detection. Unlike some traditional techniques, they can simultaneously screen multiple variables for DIF without discretizing continuous variables, and do not require the pre-specification of focal and reference groups; capabilities that are especially valuable in today’s diverse and multifaceted assessment contexts. However, research systematically examining the performance of these methods under realistic measurement conditions is limited. This dissertation, in three simulation studies, critically examines the robustness and practical …

An Exploratory Analysis Of U.S. Academically Intensive Charter Schools (Aics), Robert Maranto, Jamison White, Sean Woytek

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Considerable amounts of research have discussed "No Excuses" charter schools preparing traditionally disadvantaged students for higher education. Yet, no scholarly work has identified or investigated U.S. academically intensive charter schools (AICS) that were founded to enable students to excel academically as much as their abilities and efforts allow. Here, we offer an exploratory study of AICS, defining them, describing the lived experience of an AICS principal, presenting the first national data comparing AICS campus and student characteristics to those of other charter schools, and assessing whether, nationally, AICS succeed on their own terms, with relatively high academic achievements. The data …

The Learning Crisis In The United States Three Years After Covid-19, Harry Anthony Patrinos, Maciej Jakubowski, Tomasz Gajderowicz

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions to education, with school closures affecting over one billion children. These closures, aimed at reducing virus transmission, resulted in significant learning losses, particularly in mathematics and science. Using United States data from TIMSS, this study analyzes the impact of school closure on learning outcomes. The losses amount to 0.36 SD for mathematics and 0.16 SD for science. The declines are similar across grades. The average decline in mathematics performance among U.S. students is substantially greater than the global average. n science, the decline observed among U.S. students does not significantly differ from the global …

Widening The Net: How Cogat And Act Aspire Compare In Gifted Identification, Al Mansor Helal, Jonathan Wai, Andy Parra-Martinez, Sarah Mckenzie, Dustin Seaton

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Previous research indicates that many academically accomplished students from disadvantaged backgrounds are not identified for gifted and talented (G/T) programs. This study examines a large sample of students (N = 10,508), many of whom took both the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) and the ACT Aspire test. We examined test similarities and differences with an eye to widen the net for G/T identification in practice. This study demonstrates that the ACT Aspire and CogAT have a significant correlation in our sample of r = .59. However, the correlation varies across cohorts noticeably from r = .72 to r = .49. This …

Board-Head Relationships: The Role Of Relational Trust And Intentional Care In Fostering Head Of School Well-Being, Cassidy Klutts, Albert Cheng

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Given the challenges of school leadership and high rates of school leader attrition, scholars have increasingly given attention to the wellbeing of heads of schools. However, that research has not considered the way governing boards potentially influence head of school wellbeing. We fill this gap by examining how relational dynamics between heads of school and governing boards are associated with head of school wellbeing. Using data from about 140 heads of schools who participated in the Society for Classical Learning’s 2023 Thriving Schools Survey, we find that (a) relational trust between heads and boards and (b) care of the head …

Leadership Lessons For Aspiring College Presidents: Essential Tools, Skills, And Strategies For Success, Quincy Martin Iii

Journal of Research on the College President

College and university presidents today face an increasingly complex set of challenges, demanding not only traditional leadership skills but also a nuanced understanding of the unique dynamics in higher education. With heightened financial pressures, technological advances, and evolving student expectations, college presidents must be equipped with the right tools, skills, and strategies to navigate their roles successfully. This article explores leadership lessons for aspiring college presidents, providing a comprehensive overview of the essential competencies required to lead effectively. Drawing from recent leadership theory, case studies, and trends in higher education, this article offers practical guidance for current and future higher …

Editor's Comments, Michael T. Miller

Journal of Research on the College President

Welcome to Volume 8 of the Journal of Research on the College President. In this volume, you will find three exceptional studies that help provide an even stronger understanding of what has been described as one of the hardest jobs in not only in higher education, but in the country. These three articles were accepted through our peer review process, and this year we had 11 submissions, resulting in a 27% acceptance rate.

Black Like Me: Black College Student Perceptions Of Racially Similar College Presidents, David V. Tolliver Iii, Michael T. Miller, Jennifer M. Miles

Journal of Research on the College President

There is a strong interest in higher education to enroll a diverse student body, including groups from historically underrepresented populations. This is particularly true within the Black American community, where Black women have increased their presence in higher education yet Black men continue to account for only a small fraction of all college enrollment. To help increase the enrollment of Black men, some institutions have explored and put into place mentoring programs and have looked to symbolically demonstrate that higher education is a welcoming place by spotlighting college presidents who share similar demographic characteristics. The current study was designed to …

Leading Through Language: Understanding How Presidential Leaders At Faith-Based Institutions Issue Sensegiving Statements Within A Social Justice Context, Benjamin Gibbs

Journal of Research on the College President

The landscape of leadership in higher education is becoming increasingly complex (Gagliardi et al., 2017; Jaschik & Lederman, 2016; Wesley et al., 2021). Significant instances of racial violence and geopolitical unrest have instigated conversations and ongoing movements towards greater social justice in American society and on university campuses. With these movements, higher education leaders at faith-based institutions have been called on to communicate and lead within a social justice context, through the act of sensegiving. This qualitative study investigated the perspectives and roles of presidential leaders who have provided communication regarding social justice topics. The purpose of the study was …

Behaviorism Literature Review On School Suspension And The School To Prison Pipeline, Joelle Tidwell

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

An analysis of the current body of research about the school to prison pipeline demonstrates that exclusionary practices are indicators for which students will encounter the criminal justice system in their youth and adulthood. Moreover, exclusionary practices are associated with a variety of other negative outcomes such as poor mental health, poor physical health, and lower wages. This research demonstrates the need for exclusionary practices to be replaced with school-wide behavioral supports that will provide intervention and strategies for students that help keep them in the classroom instead of simply punishing them with isolation.

Exploring The Impact Of Generative Ai Prompt Engineering In Higher Education: A Study In Undergraduate And Graduate Business Analytics Courses, Jana Gastineau

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rapid evolution of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) presents a transformative opportunity in higher education, offering new pathways for learning through personalized feedback, interactive environments, and support for complex tasks. This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of targeted GenAI prompt engineering instruction on knowledge acquisition, prompt writing skills, and confidence levels among undergraduate and graduate students in business analytics courses at a research university. A pre-test and post-test design measured changes across knowledge acquisition, prompt writing proficiency, and GenAI confidence and usage. Findings revealed a mixed impact on knowledge acquisition, with undergraduates showing minor improvements and graduate students experiencing declines …

The Learning Crisis: Three Years After Covid-19, Tomasz Gajderowicz, Maciej Jakubowski, Alec Kennedy, Christian Christrup Kjeldsen, Harry Anthony Patrinos, Rolf Strietholt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions to education, with school closures affecting over one billion children. These closures, aimed at reducing virus transmission, resulted in significant learning losses, particularly in mathematics and science. Using data from TIMSS 2023, which assesses fourth and eighth-grade achievements across 71 education systems, this study analyzes the impact of school closure duration on learning outcomes. Mixed-effect models estimate deviations from pre-pandemic trends, adjusting for demographic factors. Results show a global average decline of 0.11 standard deviations (SD) in student achievement, with longer closures linked to more severe losses. The effects on low performers, girls, and …

Emotional Intelligence And Self-Direction Orientation: An Examination Of Non-Academic Factors In Post-Pandemic Community College Students In Kansas And Missouri, Ashley Rader

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Post-pandemic learners face academic and non-academic challenges due the educational disruption caused by the COVID-19 virus. ACT college admissions test scores dropped to a 30-year low in 2023, falling the most significantly and rapidly during and after the pandemic (ACT, 2023) and recovery from these childhood and adolescent learning deficits has not been seen to date (Betthäuser et al., 2023). Research on non-academic factors, not as widely studied as academic factors, is crucial to understand where these learners’ deficits further lie. Two of those factors – emotional intelligence and self-direction orientation – were the key concepts of interest in this …

Toward Dissolving The Institutionalization Of “Othering”: Organizational Conditions That Support Shared Responsibility, Jennifer R. Cowhy, Lok-Sze Wong, Megan Hopkins

Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods Faculty Publications and Presentations

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Abstract

Wellbeing And Working Conditions In The Arkansas Teacher Workforce, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee, Meredith Schellhase

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

• To better support a healthy teacher workforce, it is crucial to understand their job satisfaction, stress, and intentions to leave the profession.
• While most Arkansas teachers (86%) report being satisfied being an educator, we identify several potential areas for improvement.
• Teachers report that managing student behavior is their primary source of stress.
• Thirteen percent (13%) of teachers reported they plan to leave their current school.
• When asked why they were considering leaving their current school, teachers reported feeling unsupported, lacking influence over school policies, and insufficient planning time.
• Regular assessments of teacher well-being and job satisfaction can help us identify …

Unlocking College Potential: The Role Of Student Expectations And Non-Cognitive Skills In College Success, Gema Zamarro, Malachi Nichols, Julie R. Trivitt, Rian Djita

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Attending college is a significant human capital investment but only about 60% of those who start college will have a completed degree six years later. This makes identifying the skills associated with college success an important policy concern. We surveyed over 1,100 entering college freshmen, majoring in business and engineering at a public university in the US, and combined this information with administrative data to create a comprehensive data set that, in addition to the usual academic performance data, cognitive ability measures, and demographics, also included measures of non-cognitive skills, personality traits, student expectations about college success and performance at …

Defiant School Choice? Educational Freedom, Access, And Arkansas's Ap African American Studies Controversy, Sarah Ruth Morris, Robert Maranto

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

On August 11, 2023, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) notified schools just before the fall semester’s start that they would no longer support the college-board-approved AP African American Studies (APAAS) course. Subsequently, all five districts offering the course declared their intent to proceed despite the lack of state funding and course credits. We conduct a document and qualitative thematic analysis in this mixed methods study. In documents, we find distinctive shifts in how the significance of APAAS is portrayed within differing contexts. Using interviews with Arkansas superintendents, teachers, students, and stakeholders, we find four major interview themes: the role …

Arkansas Parent Survey 2024, Taylor Wilson, Sarah Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

The Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas administered a survey on education topics to a representative sample of 450 Arkansas parents of school-aged children in 2024 and addressed a variety of education-related topics.

The following findings emerged from the survey and are discussed in this report.

Arkansas parents…

• have high expectations for their children attending college.
• would not advise their children to become teachers.
• with children in 4DSW districts show strong support.
• with children in non-4DSW schools are uncertain about adopting a four-day school week.
• believe the 4DSW exceeds academic expectations.
• do not widely utilize tutoring.
• strongly …

The Returns To Education Over Time And The Effect Of Covid-19, Harry Anthony Patrinos, Angelica Rivera-Olvera

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the returns to education in the United States. Using data from the Current Population Survey 2011-2022, the analysis reveals that, after a period of decline, returns to education increased significantly because of COVID, particularly for men and those with university education. The returns to university for men increased by 1 percentage points. The results underscore the importance of continued investment in education to mitigate the adverse effects of future crises.

Untapped Potential? Understanding The Paraeducator-To-Teacher Pipeline And Its Potential For Diversifying The Teacher Workforce, Andrew M. Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Paraeducators are among the largest categories of public education employees and are increasingly seen as a pool of potential teachers. However, little is known about paraeducator-to-teacher transitions. Using statewide administrative data, we show that while paraeducators may be more racially/ethnically diverse than the teacher workforce, Black and Hispanic paraeducators are less likely than White paraeducators to transition into teaching. We additionally show that teachers with paraeducator experience are similarly effective to teachers without paraeducator experience. Lastly, we use simulations to show that the potential for the paraeducator-to-teacher pipeline to diversify the teaching profession may be limited unless they are highly …

Parallel Degree Planning In The Pursuit Of Academic Success For Pre-Nursing Students In A Competitive Entry Baccalaureate Nursing Programs, Elizabeth L. Mckinley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to understand the student perceptions of parallel academic degree planning for the competitive entry undergraduate Nursing program at a case study university. Parallel degree planning is a relatively new term of alternative curricular planning. The qualitative study includes nine students and their experiences in planning for their intended major while simultaneously planning courses that meet another major or degree program, and understanding how parallel degree planning aided their retention and student satisfaction as well as their academic advisor interaction. The study was completed at a research university where the Nursing program has a very lower acceptance rate, …

The Year-By-Year Primary And Secondary Education Histories Of Homeschooled Individuals And The Implications For Empirical Homeschooling Research, Albert Cheng

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Many scholars have correctly noted the difficulty of obtaining representative samples of the homeschooling population. Empirical research about homeschooling, therefore, has predominantly relied on convenience samples which lack the external validity that enables one to generalize the findings to other segments of the homeschooling population. Unbiased inferences about the whole of the homeschool population have consequently been difficult to acquire (Kunzman & Gaither, 2022). For instance, empirical findings of college-educated homeschoolers or those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds might not generalize to other populations of homeschoolers (Cheng, 2014; Ray, 2009). Nor might findings about homeschooling families who rely on a structured …

Teachers’ Knowledge And Preparedness For Retirement: Results From A Nationally Representative Teacher Survey, Dillon Fuchsman, Josh B. Mcgee, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Adequately preparing for retirement requires planning and knowledge about available savings and investment options. Teachers participate in a complex set of plan designs, and many do not participate in Social Security. While teachers represent a large part of the public workforce, relatively little is known regarding their knowledge and preparation for retirement. We administered a survey to a nationally representative sample of teachers through RAND’s American Teacher Panel and asked teachers about their retirement planning and employer-sponsored retirement plans. We find that while most teachers are taking steps to prepare for retirement, many teachers do not currently possess the basic …

Teacher Salary Raises And Turnover: Evidence From The First Year Of The Arkansas Learns Act, Gema Zamarro, Andrew Camp, Josh Mcgee, Taylor Wilson, Miranda Vernon

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Attracting and retaining high-quality teachers is a pressing policy concern. Increasing teacher salaries and creating more attractive compensation packages are often proposed as a potential solution. Signed into law in March 2023, the LEARNS Act increased Arkansas's minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000, guaranteed all teachers a minimum raise of $2,000, and added flexibility allowing school districts to deviate from seniority-based traditional salary schedules. To study school districts’ adjustments to the new legislation, we collected information about districts' teacher compensation policies one year before and the first year of implementation. We also integrated this data with teachers' administrative records …

How Do Demographic Characteristics Of Homeschooling Households Influence The Way Homeschooling Is Practiced?, Albert Cheng, Angela Watson

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The legitimization of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of new schooling models (i.e., hybrid homeschooling) potentially change the composition of homeschooling families and the way homeschooling is practiced. This study establishes pre-pandemic trends of the demographic composition of U.S. households who homeschool their children. This study also articulates a theory that the way families practice homeschooling is based on practical constraints imposed by household demographic characteristics and, to a lesser extent ideological reasons. These theories are empirically tested using the 2012, 2016, and 2019 waves of the National Household Education Survey and a sample of 1,468 homeschooling …

Administrators’ Views Of Teacher Salary Changes Under The Arkansas Learns Act, Gema Zamarro, Andrew Camp, Josh Mcgee, Miranda Vernon

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

• We surveyed superintendents and principals statewide to understand their perspectives on the salary changes they implemented in response to the LEARNS Act and their future plans related to teacher compensation.
• Administrators reported that the teacher compensation changes required by the LEARNS Act are likely to help them better recruit and retain teachers.
• The primary goals administrators reported they have when designing teacher compensation include: being competitive with nearby districts, retaining existing teachers, and rewarding effective teachers.
• Administrators anticipate offering across-the-board pay increases but also appear open to implementing bonuses for effective teachers in their district.
• Most administrators, 69% of principals …