How to effectively reduce academic disparities and promote educational equity has attracted much attention in recent years. Introduced in China in 2021, the Double Reduction Policy (DRP) seeks to advance fairness in education, yet its effectiveness remains widely debated. This study critically examines the implications of the DRP, focusing on its role in narrowing achievement gaps across socioeconomic groups and between urban-rural students, as well as its impact on equalizing educational outcomes. Using national data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) for 2020 and 2022, a quantitative comparative approach is employed to assess policy effects. Statistical analyses explore variations across socioeconomic and regional contexts. The findings indicate that the DRP has contributed to reducing urban-rural disparities (narrowed by 0.283, p < .01) and weakening the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on achievement (SES & times; Policy = -0.363, p < .01). Yet, parents continue to assume that family and school influences are the most significant for their children's performance, regardless of what the evidence shows as an equalizer. Hence, notable inequalities persist offering important insights for advancing equity-oriented and sustainable reforms.
This study contributes to an emerging body of scholarship that positions legal research as a legitimate and generative paradigm for education policy inquiry. This manuscript presents cross-case findings from a multi-case discourse analysis of three federal education rights lawsuits: Gary B. v. Whitmer (Michigan), A.C. by Waithe v. McKee (Rhode Island), and Haymer et al. v. Reeves (Mississippi). Although these cases originated between 2016 and 2018, the constitutional questions they raised remain unresolved, and the educational conditions that compelled families to seek federal court intervention have only deepened. Employing the Narrative Policy Framework and Discursive Violence Analysis, four cross-cutting themes emerged: parents’ and students’ moral conviction of a federal constitutional guarantee of education; persistent systemic educational harms compounded across historical and policy contexts; the expectation of federal courts as guardians of educational rights; and the recurring tension between federal constitutional adherence and state governance of education. Collectively, these cases reveal how legal narratives serve as powerful policy tools and how discursive violence enables states to circumvent equitable educational responsibilities through strategically deployed authoritative language. These findings carry urgent implications for education policymakers, legal scholars, and researchers invested in the constitutional dimensions of educational equity.
Digital technologies are Enhancing Rural Area (RA) development and providing new opportunities for improvement in agricultural systems. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a key role in promoting sustainable development in this agricultural sector. This study explores the promotion of rural revitalization through ICT-based innovation adoption for sustainable development through a mixed-method approach. The study collects data from 485 rural residents through questionnaires and interviews; the data collected were analyzed using SPSS and NVivo software. The findings of the study demonstrate that positive developments in ICT-based innovation adoption enhance positive outcomes in agricultural productivity. The findings of the research showed that the implementation of innovations enhances the quality of living, employment opportunities, and economic growth, and the gap in urban and rural development, as well as cooperation between various sectors. The novelty of this research lies in empirically analyzing the role of ICT-based innovations in enhancing agricultural productivity, revitalizing the RAs, enhancing the quality of life, and narrowing the urban-rural development gap in rural regions. The study finds that ICT adoption is significant in enhancing sustainable development in the agricultural sector.
Over the past 50 years, the definitional gap of urban education has expanded to encompass race, place, and space, positioning urbanicity as a socially constructed marker of inequity rather than a strictly geographic designation. Collective research examining urban education emphasizes deficit-oriented narratives that normalize disparities by attributing them to students rather than the systems which shape their educational experiences. Deficit framing is not only discursive, but is reinforced through policy structures, such as accountability systems, curriculum mandates, discipline practices, and teacher evaluation models, which shape access, opportunity, and outcomes for urban students. A shift toward asset-based approaches is advanced that repositions students as agents of their own learning rather than as deficient. Frameworks, such as Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning, and Inquiry-Based Learning, indicate how instructional practices and policy reforms can work in tandem to promote equity. Through identifying key policy areas for revision and providing actionable approaches for the classroom, school, and system levels, pathways are outlined for educators, policymakers, and researchers to move toward more equitable and responsive educational environments for urban students to succeed.
Due to recent demographic shifts in urban neighborhoods, many public school boards have experienced fluctuations in their enrollment levels. This reconfiguration of school populations is particularly problematic for schools with declining enrollment, as low facility utilization is a commonly used rationale for school closures. This study utilizes census, enrollment, and school achievement data from a large urban school district to explore the academic and socioeconomic characteristics of schools experiencing under-enrollment and under-utilization. The analysis revealed that schools with low utilization rates serve a higher number of marginalized students, are located in areas with higher housing instability, and experience lower achievement rates. We note that underutilization is symptomatic of neighborhood decline, and when combined with the potential for school closures, it reveals compounding challenges for marginalized communities. We argue that greater integration between education and urban development policies is essential to help communities with underutilized schools enhance and balance their educational opportunities.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) significantly influences child development, affecting cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth. The quality of ECEE depends on socio-economic status, parental education, resources, community support, and cultural norms. The study explores how parents' employment in organized or unorganized sectors affects children's physical, language, cognitive, and socio-emotional development, focusing on ECCE. A sample of 466 children enrolled in Anganwadi centers was divided into two groups: organized (n= 227) and unorganized (n = 239) parental employment. The cognitive, physical, and socioemotional scale assessed ECCE outcomes. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-tests. Children of organized sector parents (306.79 +/- 47.64) scored significantly higher in ECCE than those of unorganized sector parents (p< .05). Similar patterns emerged for gender and urban areas, while rural children showed no significant differences (p> .05). Policies should address disparities and support vulnerable families' ECCE access.
This qualitative study examines high school educators' sense of belonging and inclusion, with a particular focus on the factors that contribute to making schools feel inclusive, welcoming, or unwelcoming. Drawing on in-depth interviews with eight minoritized educators at an urban high school in Florida, the study reveals the complex ways teacher identity and belonging are shaped-especially for Black educators in predominantly Black school contexts. The findings highlight how institutional practices, curriculum decisions, and systemic inequities significantly impact educators' sense of belonging. The study highlights the need for schools to intentionally design inclusive curricula that reflect diverse lived experiences and resist erasure through restrictive educational policies. Ultimately, belonging emerges as a multifaceted construct shaped by intersecting factors, not reducible to cultural affinity alone.
Zero-tolerance policies in school discipline have been widely criticized for their disproportionate effects on marginalized students, yet little attention has been paid to how such policies shape the lives of parents. This article draws on a phenomenological study of 20 parents living in Kibera, Nairobi's largest informal settlement, to explore how demographic attributes moderate parental experiences of zero-tolerance discipline. Findings show that gender, marital status, income, education, household size, and access to support systems significantly shaped parents' responses and coping strategies. Single mothers and widows reported intensified caregiving and economic burdens; casual laborers and self-employed parents faced immediate income losses when summoned to schools; and less-educated parents often complied silently, while better-educated parents demanded fairness and accountability. Large households experienced compounded stress, while smaller households concentrated it on a single parent-child dyad. Coping strategies included prayer, community mediation, and reliance on school networks, but stigma often silenced families. The study demonstrates that zero-tolerance discipline functions as an amplifier of inequality in contexts of urban poverty, transforming school misconduct into family-level crises. It concludes by calling for equity-oriented, restorative approaches that engage parents as partners and acknowledge the socio-economic realities of families in informal settlements.
This research examines teachers' perspectives on factors shaping access to education. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 teachers working in different school types, and data were analysed thematically. Findings are organised under five themes. Regarding social structure, fragmented or inadequately supported families in rural areas adversely affected educational access, whilst parental education level and family awareness emerged as determining factors in urban centres. Socioeconomic status proved decisive in accessing basic needs and technology; children from low-income families were disadvantaged, whereas those from high-income families accessed additional resources. Cultural factors, particularly language differences, gender roles, and traditional structures, restricted girls' educational access. Physical infrastructure revealed equipment deficiencies and transportation problems in rural areas, whilst urban centres faced overcrowded classrooms and inadequate materials. Although legal regulations safeguard the right to education, various implementation challenges persist in practice.
Previous studies have been able to establish a tenet suggesting that free basic education in emerging nations doesn't generally pronounce quality, and the standard of free schooling is distinctly better in urban schools compared to their rural counterparts due to the parental participation. Under the acceptance of such tenet, the question of whether children of urban floating parents may even gain an access and attend free basic education has not yet been addressed-a subject of this study. A survey with 1,523 urban floating parents from 4 locations in Bangladesh who had 4,376 children at the age of basic schooling was conducted to learn more about the obstacles floating parents encounter when trying to provide their children with a basic education. The data was analysed using a descriptive statistical model, which indicates that despite tuition fees being waived and free textbooks being provided, three main problems-the absence of childcare attendants, transportation, and school utility fees-restrict the children to access or regularly attend the school in Bangladesh. Given the current situation, a generic model of free basic education might cover a greater portion of children in lower-quality basic education; nonetheless, children of urban floating parents continue to go neglected, necessitating a different kind of intervention.
This study explored urban marginality, labour engagement and educational participation among children from the sweeper community. Grounded in ethnography, data were collected through observations and interviews to explore how children's involvement in home-based metalwork enterprises (karkhaans) within the urban context shaped their schooling experiences. The findings revealed a web of structural disadvantages, including precarious living conditions, market dependent subsistence, exploitative labour engagements and severe financial instability that shaped children's schooling experiences. The overlap between domestic and productive spaces facilitated children's early integration into income-generating activities, which often resulted in irregular attendance and eventual disengagement from formal education. Occupational transitions in the community developed greater educational aspirations among some families; however, children's participation in home-based income generation continued to take precedence over schooling. This study suggests the urgent need for systemic policy interventions that go beyond surface-level reforms. Such reforms ensure that education is not just accessible but also meaningfully transformative for historically marginalised urban communities.
Cultural responsiveness and teacher-student relationships are important to establishing a healthy, positive school climate. Few studies have examined the relationship between teacher-student relationships and cultural responsiveness. Also, little is known about the moderating effect the number of ethnic minority school teachers has on culturally responsive practices and teacher-student relationships in schools with predominantly low-income Black student populations. Limited research studies have examined how the number of years teaching influences teacher-student relationships and culturally responsive practices. The participants included 174 classroom teachers and 1,365 students from Grades 3 to 5 in charter schools in a southern urban city. Results revealed that teacher cultural responsiveness can predict the quality of teacher-student relationships. Further, findings suggested there were no moderating effects of the number of ethnic minority school staff on culturally responsive practices and teacher-student relationships. Also, the results suggested no differences between cultural responsiveness and teacher-student relationships between less experienced and more experienced teachers.
The rapid expansion of secondary education in Ethiopia has resulted in persistent overcrowding in public school science classrooms, creating significant challenges for instructional quality, classroom management, and practical laboratory teaching. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of 12 secondary school science teachers from four public schools in Addis Ababa, managing class sizes exceeding 60 students. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and non-participant classroom observations, with classroom visits ranging from two to four sessions per teacher, and analyzed thematically. Four major themes emerged: instructional and pedagogical challenges, classroom management difficulties, practical laboratory constraints, and coping strategies. Teachers reported a heavy reliance on lecture-based and teacher-centered instruction, limiting student participation and reducing opportunities for formative assessment and individualized feedback. Classroom management was strained by increased noise, disciplinary problems, and heightened teacher stress, while practical lessons were hindered by limited space, inadequate equipment, and safety concerns. More direct accounts from teachers' revealed emotional strain reduced instructional flexibility, and concerns about compromised learning outcomes. Despite these obstacles, teachers employed adaptive coping strategies such as peer-assisted learning, group work, simplified demonstrations, and improvised materials to maintain instructional continuity. The analysis reached thematic saturation after repeated patterns emerged across interviews and observations. The study underscores the urgent need for policy reforms to reduce class sizes, improve resource allocation, and strengthen teacher support through professional development and context-responsive, innovative pedagogical approaches. Additionally, the findings highlight implications for class-size policy reform, targeted resource distribution, and teacher capacity-building programs across sub-Saharan African urban contexts. It offers valuable insights into the realities of teaching science in overcrowded classrooms and highlights the resilience and adaptability of teachers in challenging environments.
This study investigates urban-rural disparities in Mali's secondary education system, focusing on academic performance, access and equity, and resource allocation. Using mixed-methods design, the research integrates quantitative data from DEF pass rates (2019-2023) and educational infrastructure statistics with qualitative insights from 48 semi-structured interviews conducted with students, teachers, principals, and policymakers in Bamako (urban) and Mopti (rural). The results reveal persistent performance gaps, with urban schools consistently outperforming rural schools by 20% to 30% points. Rural schools face severe resource shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and limited access to essential infrastructure such as electricity, internet connectivity, and learning materials. Socio-cultural barriers, including early marriage and domestic responsibilities, further restrict educational opportunities for rural girls. Additionally, the study identifies significant gaps in policy implementation, as national initiatives often fail to reach rural communities effectively. The findings suggest that structural inequalities, compounded by weak teacher deployment policies and social norms, sustain the educational divide. The study recommends targeted investments in rural infrastructure, equitable teacher distribution, professional incentives, and gender-sensitive interventions to close the gap. These actions are essential for achieving Mali's Ten-Year Education Development Program (PRODEC) objectives and its commitments under Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) for inclusive and equitable quality education.
We investigate policy actors' experiences of the implementation of state takeover policy in three primarily Black school districts in St. Louis, MO using a systems theory approach. Authors conducted qualitative interviews with policy actors from three St. Louis districts and other select districts across the nation who experienced a state appointed governance intervention. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify major themes. Three major themes emerged across 18 respondents: state-community divide, community suffering, and oppressive mechanisms. Results suggest an environment that may contribute to or create experiences of trauma. The implementation of state takeover policy intersects with heightened emotionality among many community members in primarily Black school districts. Health and trauma are rarely considered as educational policy feedback in the literature, particularly in discussions around state takeover. Future research must consider psychological implications of policy in historically marginalized districts and wider communities.
This study used participant observation methodology to identify learning goals and socio-emotional needs of school-aged African refugee children, and explored how an urban community-based afterschool program can support these students. Participants included 28 children, ranging from elementary to high-school students, who attended the afterschool program, African Community Education. The data consisted of ethnographic fieldnotes collected during observations and direct interactions with study participants. Several themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Students viewed afterschool programs as a key source of academic support; (2) ACE participants viewed education as a key to their success in a new country; (3) The ACE program provided academic support via homework help, as well as one-on-one and small-group tutoring; (4) The ACE program provided socio-emotional support: it served as a safe space for refugee children and allowed them to reconnect with their home culture. The findings elucidate the strengths and challenges of refugee children while identifying effective practices to support them.
This study examines the moral mechanisms for sustainable development in schools by exploring how a leader's personal ethos of authenticity, empathy, fairness, open-mindedness, collaboration, service, and resilience affects vision-led leadership learning to motivate school reform across urban areas in Northern Taiwan. In the context of vision-led leadership learning, a leader's personal ethos is viewed as the core, serving as a mental model and mindset, driving change toward sustainable development. We administered a self-report questionnaire to school leaders from junior high schools in northern urban regions of Taiwan using two-stage sampling. Of the 1,030 questionnaires distributed, 834 were analyzed. The findings indicate that principals in provincial cities with more than 21 years of teaching and under 5 years of leadership experience are more inclined to adopt visionary leadership. Among factors predicting visionary leadership, authenticity, empathy, collaboration, resilience, and service are significant as the core for creating purpose. Leaders' ethos of authenticity, empathy, and collaboration encourages transformational leadership for fostering a culture of trust, while an ethos of service, resilience, and empathy facilitates instructional leadership for student achievement with leadership learning. The distributed form of transformational and instructional leadership fosters a learning community in leadership development for sustainable values in practice.
This paper explores three high school teachers’ conceptualizations of their school’s surrounding community in the South Bronx, and how those conceptions shape their pedagogy. Current literature regarding teacher conceptions of urban communities are largely based on preservice teachers’ trepidation of working class communities of color. Through an ethnographic case study, this paper examines teachers who hold sociopolitical and asset-based conceptions of the surrounding community. Findings suggest that the teachers in this study take up community centric pedagogy, where community is embedded in learning goals as bidirectional to advance students academically and also sustain and uplift the surrounding community.
School violence remains a pressing concern in the United States, with incidents ranging from physical altercations to school shootings. This paper explores how sociocultural norms-specifically a "culture of honor," which emphasizes defending one's reputation through retaliation-contribute to youth aggression. Drawing on empirical literature and regional data, the study highlights how honor culture correlates with elevated rates of weapon carrying and violence in certain U.S. regions. To address these patterns, the paper examines interventions that foster communal and interdependent values, including the creation of green spaces, gardening programs, peer mediation, and extracurricular engagement. Special attention is given to after-school programs supported by 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) grants. An autoethnographic case study from Huguenot High School in Richmond, Virginia, illustrates how such interventions can reduce violence and promote cultural transformation. The paper concludes with recommendations for incorporating culturally responsive, community-based strategies into school safety efforts.
The current study aimed to reveal how schools' characteristics affected students' mathematical literacy according to PISA 2022 in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE. The sample included all schools and students who participated from these countries (39,204 students from 1,261 schools). The number of participants in Saudi Arabia reached (6,928 students & 193 schools) with an average score of (389), (7,676 students & 229 schools) participants with an average score of (412) in Qatar, while participants from the Emirates "UAE" reached (24,600 students & 840 schools) with an average score of (433). Multiple regression analysis was used, which revealed that these variables contributed to explaining (35.7%) of the variance in mathematical literacy in Saudi Arabia, (46.6%) in Qatar, and (47.4%) in UAE. The study found that school type significantly affected mathematical literacy in all three countries. Community size positively influenced mathematical literacy in the UAE, while larger math class sizes and student truancy negatively affected it in the UAE. Additionally, students skipping classes negatively impacted mathematical literacy in Qatar. However, bullying had no effect on mathematical literacy in any of the countries. The study concluded with a detailed analysis of the results and recommendations for improving mathematical literacy in the region.
