An investigation of the relationship between school size, socio-economic status, expenditure-per-student, mobility rate, and percentage of non-white secondary students taking state science exams

The achievement gap in American schools is an issue that educators have struggled with for years. This record of study is an examination of the relationship between school size, socio-economic status, expenditure-per-student, mobility rate, and percentage of non-White secondary students taking state or national science exams. It includes three journal-ready publications. The first journal-ready publication was a modified best-evidence synthesis and the second was a path analysis. The third journal-ready publication was a policy brief that included results from both studies as well as recommendations for policy makers, school administrators, and researchers.;The modified best-evidence synthesis demonstrated that all five variables that were part of the study had an impact of students' performance on state or national science exams. The results of the path analysis demonstrated that school size and per pupil expenditure had no impact of STAAR Biology student performance. Student socio-economic status, student mobility rate, and percentage of non-White students all had negative impacts on student performance on the STAAR Biology exam.;The overall results from this record of study shed light on the issues that exist in schools today. Policy makers, school administrators, and researchers can take the results as well as the recommendations and hopefully begin closing the achievement gap that exists today.