This study looked at the relationship between teacher turnover and student achievement, in addition to the relationship between specific student demographic characteristics and teacher turnover. Within this study, student demographic, staff demographic, and student achievement data from several middle schools within the studied district, as well as data from each of the school's comparison groups, as designated by the Texas Education Agency, was analyzed. The data used was from the 2018-2019, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years. First, this study looked at specific student demographic characteristics and their relationship with teacher turnover, including race, mobility, and socioeconomic status. This analysis determined if there were specific variables that impacted the rate of turnover. Results determined that the most consistent relationship revealed in the data involves the total number of students on a campus. As the number of students increased, the turnover rate decreased. Additionally, there was a slight negative correlation between the number of African American students and rates of teacher turnover for two of the three years studied. The second part of the study determined if the campus turnover rate had any relationship with the student achievement scores. The student achievement data that was used was the overall campus math score at the approaches level on the Mathematics State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The results of the analysis revealed that there was a relationship between teacher turnover and student achievement, although it was a very weak relationship for each of the 3 years studied. Additionally, the analysis determined that campuses with teachers who have more years' experience had higher overall campus math scores after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A pretest–posttest group design was utilized for this ex post facto study to determine the reading achievement growth of middle school students as measured by the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) with and without America’s Choice after one- and two-year participation. Further study was conducted to determine if a significant difference in reading achievement growth of middle school students existed between gender with and without America’s Choice participation. Additionally, research was conducted to determine whether or not there was a significant difference among the various achievement classifications (minimum, basic, proficient, and advanced) of students with and without America’s Choice participation as measured by the MCT. An independent t-test was the statistical treatment performed on the data. Findings indicated that over the course of a year, the addition of the America’s Choice School Design did reflect a significant increase in reading achievement growth when compared to sixth-grade students with no participation. On the contrary, after the second year of participation, students did not reflect a significant increase in reading achievement growth when compared to students who had not participated in the America’s Choice School Design. Findings also indicated no significant difference in achievement classifications after two years of participation in America’s Choice. Between schools, there was no significant difference in the achievement growth of male and female students with and without participation in the America’s Choice School Design. Further research is recommended to determine the long-range effect of the America’s Choice School Design on reading achievement. It is recommended that future research should focus on comparing the America’s Choice School Design with another comprehensive school reform program that has similar components. Additional research is recommended to examine the effects of other subject areas that are included in the design. Finally, further research should be conducted to examine the effects of parental involvement on the America’s Choice School Design.

With the escalating accountability requirements under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), educators face intensified pressure to increase student achievement. As principals strive to meet the demands of federal and state mandates intended to close the achievement gap, schools often implement various organizational structures to help improve student achievement. Changing how schools and classrooms are organized for instruction as a strategy for school improvement has been one response to this pressure. Elmore, Peterson, and McCarthy (1996) believed that changing the way schools are organized will cause teachers to teach differently; hence students will learn differently, and the overall performance of schools will increase. Many organizational patterns in elementary schools have been controversial issues for decades. One of these issues is the implementation of departmentalized classrooms in the fifth grade. Because many elementary students receive their education in a self-contained classroom from one teacher who is responsible for teaching all academic subjects, the implementation of departmentalization may address the pitfalls of the self-contained organizational setting. In the departmentalized setting, teachers provide instruction in their area of specialization and students experience greater success. Furthermore, departmentalization may help elementary schools respond to state standards while seeking to produce higher achievement among students. Many studies have examined the impact of departmentalization on student achievement with numerous opinions on the issue. The literature, however, is dated and lacks empirical evidence. As very little research explores departmentalization at the elementary level, this case study explored how departmentalization impacted staff, students, and academic achievement at an urban elementary school in Mississippi. The data collection included interviews with teachers, surveys from staff and students, observations of classrooms and planning sessions, and analysis of Mississippi Curriculum Test, II (MCT2) data. The findings of this case study revealed students were exposed to multiple teaching strategies from teachers who were able to use their planning time to create learning activities and assessments for fewer subjects. As departmentalization enhanced the fifth grade teachers’ accountability for the students’ academic and behavior performances, the teachers felt pressured into adjusting their lessons to the 90 minutes block schedule.

Grit, or the ability to persevere toward a long-term goal despite adversity, has been linked to academic success. Grit may also potentially buffer against the negative effects of depressive symptoms in an academic domain. The current study explores the relationship between depression, grit, and GPA, while also accounting for defensive responding, which has been proposed as a confound of grit but not empirically assessed in this context. We examined how social desirability affects the relationship between grit and GPA and hypothesized that social desirability would moderate the effect of grit between depressive symptoms and GPA. We found support for all hypothesized direct relationships. However, the interaction between depression, grit, social desirability, and GPA was non-significant. Results suggested modest construct validity of grit with it predicting GPA at low levels of social desirability but demonstrated no buffering effect against depression on GPA, highlighting the complexity of the relationship between these variables.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of peer tutoring on the achievement of freshmen student in remedial mathematics, reading and writing from one community college and one university. The total population for this study is 300 freshmen, 150 freshmen from the community college and 150 freshmen from the university, composition of male (N=42%) and female (N=58%). The instructors will allow the researcher to pre-test selected students on the second day of class (Fall 2006) using the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Form E) for reading, Algebra Skills Test (Test I) for math, and pre-determined writing assignments for writing. After four weeks of peer-tutoring (quasi-experimental group), the researcher will retest the students (post-test) and collect the test score from the posttest and analyze the data to determine the impact of peer tutoring on freshmen student in remedial mathematics, reading and writing. There were two hypothesis tested. The hypothesis revealed that there was no significant difference of t-test results for pretest scores in terms of Reading for Comprehensive and Vocabulary, Math, and English. It indicated that participants grouped by gender had no pretest threat in both the treatment and the control groups. Although the present study offers additional positive results to those studies conducted in the past, it is the recommendation of the researcher that additional studies needs to be undertaken.

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