This study sought to understand the Dallas County Promise Program, a last-dollar community college Promise program introduced in Texas in 2017. I examined the implementation of the program in participating high schools, and available early evidence of changes in enrollment in two-year community college and four-year college since the program was introduced. Finally, I sought to better understand the experiences of college counseling staff and administrators implementing the program at the school level, and their perceptions of the potential impacts of the program on their students. The study involved a mixed qualitative and quantitative research design, consisting of a combination of exploratory quantitative data analysis, along with document analysis and participant interviews. Exploratory quantitative analyses examined available datasets for changes in college enrollment rates for graduates from participating high schools before and after the program’s introduction. Qualitative research methods such as interviews additionally sought to give voice to the experiences of practitioners involved in the first three cohort years, and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the implementation and outcomes of the program. The findings both support and extend what is understood about the impact of last-dollar community college Promise programs on college enrollment. Although the overall number of graduates from Promise High Schools enrolling in higher education in Texas increased since the introduction of Dallas County Promise, the increase is seen primarily in the two-year college sector. A parallel decrease in graduates enrolling in a four-year institution suggests that at least some students who would have been eligible to attend a four-year institution decided to enroll in community college instead. This type of shift in college enrollment should be examined further as the program continues to ensure alignment of program goals and outcomes for equity, especially for underrepresented minority and low-income students. My findings suggest a need to carefully consider the design of the program and offers potential suggestions for improving Dallas County Promise and similar programs to increase higher education enrollment and success for the target populations of students.

The expansion of education systems across Latin America has failed to decrease education inequality. An important mechanism driving educational inequality relates to the distribution of classroom practices. This dissertation studied the distribution of classroom practices in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, the three Latin American countries taking part in the Teaching and Learning Survey (TALIS) Video Study (TVS). Specifically, I focused on the evidence provided by classroom observations and student survey responses. The overarching research purpose of this study was to further our understanding of how classroom practices are distributed between and within these three Latin American countries, in particular centering on the inequities between the classroom experiences of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Specifically, this dissertation centered around the following research questions: first, I analyzed the key similarities and differences between the educational systems, of Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, particularly as it refers to teaching standards and frameworks to evaluate teachers and teaching; second, I explored the factorial structures of measures of classroom practice derived from the TVS observation system and student surveys in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and the extent to which this were invariant across contexts; and finally, I investigated the extent to which the distribution of classroom practices (for each measure) related to student, family, teacher, and school characteristics. The findings of this dissertation showed that observation scores of classroom practice were not invariant across countries, but student ratings were, highlighting the complementarity of both measures and fostering the use of multiple measures for the assessment of classroom practices. In addition, observation scores in Latin America were lower than student ratings of classroom practices, especially comparing to averages in the rest of participating jurisdictions in the TVS. Finally, few characteristics were correlated with said scores of classroom practices and these correlations varied by country. However, residual variances in both sets of models remained large, indicating the need for exploring further factors that can explain different scores of classroom practices. The findings of this dissertation provide context for future research that seeks to understand how other measures of student, classroom, and teacher characteristics are related to classroom practices. Additionally, this study provides evidence for the use of both, observation systems and student surveys for the assessment of classroom practices depending on the purpose and intended use of the assessment.

Student surveys of classroom climate can provide teachers and researchers with valuable information about instruction. These surveys are becoming a critical component in policy efforts to assess and improve teaching. Advocates note that students are natural observers of their classroom environments, have extensive and rich knowledge of their teachers, and that student ratings of teacher practice can be predictive of important outcomes, such as student academic and socio-emotional development. Inferences about a teacher's instructional practice are often based on aggregated student survey responses, and a key step in assessing the appropriate uses of the information collected from student surveys is to understand the dimensions of classroom climate or instructional practice that are discernible when looking at student responses aggregated by classroom.

This dissertation proposes a new approach for exploring the dimensionality of aggregated student ratings. This approach also has the potential to provide validity evidence supporting the use of student surveys as measures of instructional practice in both formative and summative evaluation. Specifically, this dissertation applies a non-parametric cluster bootstrap technique to a multilevel covariance structure analysis framework that allows researchers to evaluate and investigate psychometric models when data is collected from students and teachers are the objects of measurement. This approach is extended to applications where teachers are clustered within schools. The cluster bootstrap technique is demonstrated on a realistic dataset to illustrate how the methods may be used to investigate the dimensions of teacher professional practice that are discernible on a state-wide student survey of instructional practice.

The results of this dissertation demonstrate that the proposed cluster bootstrap technique can be used in conjunction with maximum likelihood estimation to yield accurate parameter estimates, and that for sufficiently large sample sizes, test statistics and standard errors based on the cluster bootstrap technique will yield valid inferences about the psychometric properties of aggregated survey responses.

The objective of this study was to document teachers' and administrators' perceptions of how, if at all, LAUSD's new Teacher Growth and Development Cycle (TGDC) changed their practice in ways that can be expected to lead to improved student learning. Specific emphasis was placed on how the TGDC, the comprehensive observational system (teacher self-assessment, lesson plan, pre-conference lesson plan feedback, pre-observation conference, observation, post-observation conference) allowed teachers and administrators to reflect on and improve their individual practice, and the quality of learning in the classroom. The sample included a combination of nine teachers and three administrators from two independent small urban high schools located on one site. In-depth qualitative interviews generated data on what teachers and administrators self-reported to be the changes in their practice and perceptions as a result of their experience navigating through this new teacher evaluation system. The findings of the study demonstrate how the evaluation system, when implemented in ideal conditions, where there is strong leadership, a positive school climate, and a focus on professional learning, can facilitate a reflective process for participants that can lead to improved teacher and administrator practice.

This exploratory mixed methods study addresses the self-perceptions and engagement of mathematics students susceptible to stereotype threat. It convenes a group of math educators to implement Anti-Stereotype Threat Pedagogy (ASTP)—an experimental intervention—to 75 high school students in four separate Integrated Math classes over six weeks. This study explores teachers’ implementation experience and the impact of introducing such a methodology on learners’ self-perception of math potential and engagement and instructors’ beliefs around the teaching and learning of diverse students.