Underserved School Research Articles

Leveraging educational psychology to transform leadership in underserved schools

This paper explores how educational psychology can be leveraged to transform leadership in underserved schools, where challenges such as limited resources, high staff turnover, and student adversity persist. By applying psychological principles—such as cognitive and emotional development, motivation, and trauma-informed practices—school leaders can foster improved student outcomes, enhance teacher performance, and create a positive school culture. The paper reviews key educational psychology theories and their practical applications in leadership, focusing on strategies like growth mindset, self-determination theory, and social-emotional learning (SEL). It also addresses the barriers faced in underserved schools, including resource scarcity and staff instability, while offering practical recommendations for integrating psychology-based leadership approaches. By fostering a more supportive, collaborative, and growth-oriented environment, educational psychology can empower leaders to overcome systemic challenges and drive meaningful improvement in underserved schools. Keywords: Educational Psychology, Transformational Leadership, Underserved Schools, Growth Mindset, Trauma-Informed Leadership, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Transforming Rural and Underserved Schools with AI-Powered Education Solutions

This study explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in promoting inclusive learning in underserved schools. By integrating personalised learning platforms, intelligent tutoring systems, and automated management tools, this research evaluates the impact of AI on academic performance, learning engagement, and teacher workload. The experimental results show that AI-driven personalised learning paths and real-time feedback mechanisms significantly improved student learning outcomes, particularly in subjects such as mathematics and science. In addition, teachers' administrative burdens were effectively reduced through automated tools. The study also analyses challenges such as insufficient infrastructure and data privacy protection, proposing targeted technical solutions. This paper provides practical guidance for policymakers and educational institutions to promote the implementation of AI technology in low-resource environments.

Development of Neoteric Learning Modules for Year 3 Mathematical Geometry Topic: A Systematic Literature Review

The Neoteric Approach Curriculum is an experience and systematic educational plan based on a national curriculum that is more integrative and dynamic, covering knowledge, skills and values that are in line with local and global cultural norms and communities. (Academic of Laboratory School Education, 2020). The developed Year 3 Neoteric Learning Module integrates the subjects of Mathematics, Music and Physical Education. This study produced a year 3 mathematics learning module that has expert validity and applicability that achieves its effectiveness. Study design involved descriptive study design and quasi-experimental design. The sample for this study consists of Year 3 students of underserved schools (SKM) around Selangor and Perak. This study uses three research instruments, namely a questionnaire to test the reliability and validity of experts for the 3rd year mathematics module that has been built. The effectiveness of the module, pre-post-test will be conducted and requires pre-post-test study instrument. At the end of the study, the researcher hopes that this mathematics learning module, is able to help improve education in Malaysia by creating integrated learning to be more interesting and less burdened by a large syllabus. In addition, the researcher hopes that the findings of this study can provide a new perspective on the integrated education system that uses this neoteric approach.

Designing and Evaluating Games for Landslides, Earthquakes, and Fires: Lesson Learned from Schools in Nepal

The Himalayan country of Nepal is vulnerable to landslides, earthquakes, and fires. Its inhabitants need to be empowered on how to react in emergencies to prevent fatalities and respond to crises efficiently while promoting longer-term sustainability and resilience. This research project, a collaborative effort involving teachers, students, and researchers, highlights the design and implementation of games for disaster risk reduction tested in remote schools. Three interactive games were developed using an iterative game design process and testing in workshops aiming to ensure the inclusivity and diversity of the project. The games targeted preparedness and response to landslides, earthquakes, and house fires. The outcome has proven that the game-based approach to teaching and learning is crucial in empowering underserved school children often left out in formal and informal disaster management processes. This study has shown that game-based learning of disaster preparedness and response effectively empowers resource-deficient communities and regions of the Global South.

Bane or bonus? Class hukou composition and the paradox of rural children’s growth

The proportion of urban students has an impact on Chinese students’ academic performance. The higher this proportion, the better the academic progress of the whole class. Nevertheless, there exists what I call a “squeeze structure.” In classes with a high proportion of urban students, rural students make less progress in their academic performance, while urban students make more. This paper argues that rural students’ disadvantaged position in receiving teachers’ praise and maintaining a positive psychological state is accountable for the squeeze structure. This structure prevails in under-served schools, boarding schools, schools that have risen in the ranking in the past five years, and schools with low admission autonomy.

Remote Special Educational Consultation in Swedish Rural Schools

With advances in communication technologies, remote special educational consultation has become a promising strategy for indirect special education provision aiming to support students with special educational needs as well as their teachers in remote and rural areas. This study explores how special educators in a rural municipality in Sweden offer remote special educational consultation to teachers and how the two teacher categories experience remote special educational consultation. The empirical data of the study consist of special educators’ and teachers’ responses to an online questionnaire (N=11). The analysis revealed themes reflecting experienced challenges as well as opportunities. The challenges relate to lack of professional commitment and consensus, lack of school leaders’ trust, knowledge and support, and barriers associated with distance and technology, while opportunities relate to increased access to special educational competence, increased structure in consultation and increased professional development and collaboration. The results of this study highlight the potential value of remote special educational consultation as an acceptable, cost-effective, and efficient way of increasing access to special educational expertise and providing special educational support to teachers working in rural and underserved schools.

The EMPOWER program: a history and guide for increasing diversity using integrated research and education.

The prevalence and pervasive nature of emerging chemicals of concern have created widespread environmental injustice apprehensions in vulnerable communities. To alleviate and address these concerns, identifying, engaging, and training a diverse environmental health research workforce will be critical and necessary steps to combat and prevent the consequences of environmental injustice. While there is an obvious need to enhance diversity in environmental health research, this process is hampered by facets of systemic racism that reduce access to educational resources needed to build interest and knowledge in students and teachers. We present here a historical perspective to offer a guide for building programs and relationships with underserved schools to help overcome limiting factors that have plagued certain public school systems. With the proper training and mentorship, the untapped workforce present within these schools will be empowered to understand and address current and emerging environmental health and safety threats. Through this transformative 8-week high school research program, we will develop well-prepared, ethical researchers committed to scientific inquiry, intensive fieldwork, and collaborative problem solving to address environmental health challenges. Following the four-step risk assessment process, students, teachers, and faculty mentors will work collaboratively to identify toxicants, potential hazards and risks, and environmental disparities in urban neighborhoods, which provides the necessary training to formulate critical thinking skills for use in academic or nonacademic careers.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The Engaging Multidisciplinary Professional Opportunities for Women in Environmental Research (EMPOWER) program is a one-of-a-kind research summer experience for minority female high school students in the state of Georgia. In addition, this program provides high school teachers with hands-on experiences that can be adapted to use in the classrooms. This combination of lab and field research immerses participants in understanding urban environmental exposures and their health effects. The EMPOWER program was established to meet the critical need for increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Addressing Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Academic Research Group's Response to a Major Social Determinant of Health.

We developed and implemented a novel food assistance intervention to address rapidly increasing food insecurity during COVID-19. Parents of children from underserved schools enrolled in our National Institutes of Health-funded research participated in a food security needs assessment survey. The tool used validated instruments to assess household food security status and barriers to accessing food assistance. The intervention provided a resource information sheet or direct home food deliveries. We evaluated the intervention using a quasi-experimental design, with baseline serving as the control. One hundred and ninety (190) parents participated. Of the completed responses, 46.0% were food-insecure, 41.0% faced one or more barriers, and 17.9% families qualified for home deliveries. Post-intervention, 72.4% of high-needs families reported deliveries helped "to a great extent"; 29.6% reported no remaining barriers (p<.005, Fischer's exact test). Implementation of a novel food security research tool and two-level food assistance intervention was feasible, highlighting the role community-based researchers can serve in supporting research participants' emerging needs as they become evident.

Neo‐Nationalist Discourses and Teacher Identity Tensions in a Telecollaboration for Teachers of Minoritized Language Learners in Türkiye

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we focus on the situatedness of teacher identity and agency within sociopolitical contexts dominated by neo‐nationalist discourses and rely on data from online conversations among preservice and in‐service teachers of English in Türkiye and the United States (US). We report on data constructed in a telecollaboration (a.k.a., virtual intercultural exchange) that we, four TESOL teacher educators, designed for teachers to discuss issues of social justice (particularly for minoritized immigrant students) and to have a discursive and experiential space in which to negotiate their language teacher identities (LTI). Gathering 117 teachers from five universities (three in Türkiye, two in the US) and underserved school districts in both contexts, this telecollaboration is our pedagogical, agentive response to dominant neo‐nationalist discourses in the two countries. To make quantities of data more manageable, we analyze interactions from one‐third of those 117 participants (five of 15 small groups) to address this research question: How do preservice and in‐service teachers from Türkiye construct their teacher identities in response to neo‐nationalist discourses in their sociopolitical context? In particular, how do they engage in this identity work through asynchronous small‐group discussions in a social justice‐focused telecollaboration with teachers from the US? Findings indicate that participants from Türkiye discussed teacher agency, conservatism and cultural difference in the society, and discrimination/xenophobia against refugees as important factors that shape their work with minoritized English language learners. They experienced tensions in their identity construction between their desire to advocate for their students and the external forces coming from meso‐ and macro‐level policies that impact their instruction and assessment procedures. We discuss our findings in relation to previous research on language teacher identity and social justice in sociopolitical contexts shaped by neo‐nationalist discourses. We also share the implications of our study for pedagogizing identity in teacher education.

Reflections From School Communities in Underserved Populations on Childhood COVID-19 Vaccination.

Outbreaks in vaccine-preventable diseases among children have increased, primarily among under- or unvaccinated subgroups. The influence and interaction of a child's school community on parental health care decisions, such as vaccination, has not been explored. Our study examined childhood coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy within the context of school communities. This study combines data from 4 independent research studies funded by the National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations Return to School Initiative. We examined focus group data to better understand the apprehension surrounding parental and child COVID-19 vaccination among underserved school populations. Across all study sites, 7 main themes emerged with regard to COVID-19-related vaccination concerns for children: (1) potential side effects, (2) vaccine development, (3) misinformation (subthemes: content of vaccine and negative intent of the vaccine), (4) vaccine effectiveness, (5) timing of vaccine administration/availability for children, (6) fear of needles, and (7) mistrust. School settings offered unique access to youth and family perspectives in underserved communities. Our studies highlighted several factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in school communities, which align with existing literature on vaccine hesitancy. These concerns centered primarily on potential harm of vaccines, as well as misinformation, mistrust, and timing of vaccines. Related recommendations for increasing vaccination rates are provided. Developing specific strategies that address parent and child concerns will be critical to reducing health inequities related to COVID-19 vaccination.

Common Data Element Collection in Underserved School Communities: Challenges and Recommendations.

To provide recommendations for future common data element (CDE) development and collection that increases community partnership, harmonizes data interpretation, and continues to reduce barriers of mistrust between researchers and underserved communities. We conducted a cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative evaluation of mandatory CDE collection among Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations Return to School project teams with various priority populations and geographic locations in the United States to: (1) compare racial and ethnic representativeness of participants completing CDE questions relative to participants enrolled in project-level testing initiatives and (2) identify the amount of missing CDE data by CDE domain. Additionally, we conducted analyses stratified by aim-level variables characterizing CDE collection strategies. There were 15 study aims reported across the 13 participating Return to School projects, of which 7 (47%) were structured so that CDEs were fully uncoupled from the testing initiative, 4 (27%) were fully coupled, and 4 (27%) were partially coupled. In 9 (60%) study aims, participant incentives were provided in the form of monetary compensation. Most project teams modified CDE questions (8/13; 62%) to fit their population. Across all 13 projects, there was minimal variation in the racial and ethnic distribution of CDE survey participants from those who participated in testing; however, fully uncoupling CDE questions from testing increased the proportion of Black and Hispanic individuals participating in both initiatives. Collaboration with underrepresented populations from the early study design process may improve interest and participation in CDE collection efforts.

How Informal Science Education Influences Elementary Students’ Perceptions of Science and Themselves

Underrepresentation in STEM fields starts early, with elementary students already showing differences based on gender and race in their interest in science, belief in their ability to do science, and belief that their personal identity aligns with being a scientist. Here we discuss an out-of-school time astronomy program that focuses on enriching science education in under-served school systems to promote students’ excitement about science and help them see scientists as people just like them. Before, after, and throughout the program, we survey students on their perceptions of science, themselves, and their activities. We find that over the course of our program, students become more confident in their science abilities. Student ideas about science remain unchanged, but largely align with Nature of Science ideals. We also find that on days that students report they were creative and asked questions, they were more likely to say they felt like a scientist and were interested in the day’s topic. Our results suggest that incorporating creativity and opportunities to ask questions can be just as important as doing experiments for generating interest in and a sense of participating in science.

Pediatric Eye Care Treatment Rates and Community Compliance to a Spectacle Provision Program in an Underserved School District in San Diego, CA.

The need for early identification and treatment of young children's refractive error needs has become a public health concern. The UCSD Eyemobile for Children (EyeMobile) provides vision screenings and comprehensive eye exams on the Eyemobile among a population of underserved, predominantly Hispanic preschool and elementary school children. The program also provides spectacles for children who fail eye exams due to refractive error. We performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of all children screened from 2011 to 2017 by the Eyemobile across 10 San Diego elementary schools. We examined demographics, distance and near visual acuity, autorefraction, stereopsis, and color vision. To measure compliance to our spectacle program, we checked if children who were prescribed spectacles were wearing them, as instructed, at the following year's screening. Differences between compliance measures with respect to school, age, ethnicity, and gender were determined using chi-square analysis, while all other measures were fit to a binary logistic regression to determine statistically significant factors. A total of 12,176 elementary school children were screened between 2011 and 2017. Of these children, 5269 (43.3%) were referred for a comprehensive eye examination. Across six years, 3163 (60.0%) of the children referred completed their eye examinations. There was a significant increase (p < 0.001) in exam completion in the successive years. Exam completion was significantly higher in ten-year-olds (p = 0.0278) and in 3 of the 10 schools (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0027, and p = 0.0309). A total of 1089 (8.9% of screened) children were prescribed spectacles. Of the 409 children that were recorded with the compliance method, 342 (83.6%) were found to be fully compliant and wearing their spectacles as prescribed. The Eyemobile program demonstrated high levels of compliance for both eye examination completion and prescribed spectacle wear in underserved populations in the San Diego region, compared to similar national programs.

Developing Inclusive High School Team Sports for Adolescents with Disabilities and Neurotypical Students in Underserved School Settings

AbstractThe authors investigated the effects of a collaborative after-school inclusive sports program on adolescents with disabilities and neurotypical students in underserved high schools. The program brought together a large urban school district and a private after-school program to provide a service on the school site. The goals were to provide a truly integrated sports environment for adolescents with disabilities and to provide underrepresented minority students an opportunity to gain service learning, improved social–emotional development, and greater self-perceived impact. The project was feasible and indeed continued well beyond the evaluation period. Quantitative results indicated that the neurotypical adolescents felt they had an impact on improving the responsibility of their peer athlete, and they felt they had better perspective taking after participating. Descriptive comments indicated that the children with disabilities enjoyed participation and that this inclusive program may have provided an additional avenue for a subset of the population to engage more in the activities of their school. Program details are presented to encourage further research and replication.

Teachers’ Sustained Utilization of Technology: A Follow-up Study

ABSTRACT Occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) support teachers in the utilization of assistive technology for their students. In 2019, teachers in an underserved school district in western New York participated in a training designed to support the use of accessibility features of Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 10. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term effects of this assistive technology (AT) training for teachers who were trained, comparing the usage of features, perceived value, perceived ease of use, and accessibility features used with students with disabilities between those who participated in the prior training with those who did not. This study used a quasi-experimental design that compared teachers in the school district who were trained on the accessibility features of Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 10 in 2019. This was measured using an online survey offered to all teaching staff in the district to compare those who did or did not participate in the training. Independent t-tests and chi-square analyses were used to compare those who did and did not receive training. Overall, the results indicated that the training had a positive impact on the usage of trained technology features. Those who participated in the training reported an overall positive impact on perceived value and ease of use, as well as implementation of trained features. OT supports students who struggle with access to learning in the classroom. AT can be an important tool to support student success. Supporting teacher use of these AT tools can help ensure continued student access to these tools in the classroom.

Pediatric Eye Care Treatment Rates and Community Compliance to a Spectacle Provision Program in an Underserved School District [Letter

Pediatric Eye Care Treatment Rates and Community Compliance to a Spectacle Provision Program in an Underserved School District [Letter

Impact of anxiety and depression on academic achievement among underserved school children: evidence of suppressor effects.

Anxiety and depression symptoms may leave children at risk for lower academic scores, though this unique linkage to academic achievement in underserved youth is less well established. This study aimed to examine how anxiety and depression are uniquely related to spelling and math achievement beyond attention and hyperactivity deficits in children in underserved schools. Children aged 8 to 11 (n = 1085, 47.3% female) from historically underserved groups (Hispanic 75.3%, American Indian 6.4%, Black 4.9%, and White 1.5%) from 13 schools across two public school districts in California participated in the assessment of emotional and behavioral health symptoms that included a spelling and math assessment. While there was no relationship between anxiety or hyperactivity on spelling and math scores, depression and attention problems were significantly negatively related to spelling and math scores. However, when entered simultaneously, evidence of suppressor effects emerged. Anxiety and hyperactivity both became positively predictive of math. Similarly, anxiety became positively predictive of spelling. Subsample analyses showed that these suppressor effects were only in females. The associations among anxiety, depression, attention, and hyperactivity with spelling and math achievement are complex, and when controlling for depression and attention, anxiety levels and hyperactivity may be motivating some level of achievement in these areas.

The development and implementation of an assistive technology training for teachers in an underserved school district

ABSTRACT Disparities in academic performance have been found in students from underserved districts. This is especially prevalent in students with disabilities. Technology use can help to narrow this divide. Mainstream software packages are readily available to most districts and increasingly include accessibility features (AF) to enable students to complete academic tasks at relatively low cost. Occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) can support student success through the use of AF available to all students, including assistive technology (AT) for students with disabilities. Students’ successful use of technology is often contingent on help from their teachers, however, teachers may need support to facilitate this process. This study describes the results of a pilot training program for teachers in an underserved school district designed to facilitate sustained use of AF that are readily available for implementation in the classroom. This paper discusses the lessons learned from provision of this training program to inform the OTP role in support of processes with similar objectives. Factors that influence teachers’ perceptions of the utility and comfort with the features are reported.

Virtual professional development on conflict management for school leaders

From 2017 until 2020, we held face-to-face professional development focused on enhancing instructional leadership for underserved schools at the campus level. We quickly determined in March 2020, based on the predicted situation of COVID-19, that we needed to change that venue to virtual professional development (VPD). The study was grounded in the theoretical base of adult learning theory and transformational learning since we were working with school leaders. The researchers used a mixed methods research design with a survey to examine to what extent school leaders perceived their engagement in a synchronous VPD webinar with facilitators increased their knowledge on the topic of conflict management. The findings showed that the participants perceived targeted VPD to have significantly increased their knowledge on conflict management. Additionally, the participating school leaders indicated a shift in their attitudes from negative to positive perceptions regarding conflict. The findings suggest that structured VPD for school leaders has the potential to advance school leaders’ knowledge on conflict management.

Virtual professional development on conflict management for school leaders

From 2017 until 2020, we held face-to-face professional development focused on enhancing instructional leadership for underserved schools at the campus level. We quickly determined in March 2020, based on the predicted situation of COVID-19, that we needed to change that venue to virtual professional development (VPD). The study was grounded in the theoretical base of adult learning theory and transformational learning since we were working with school leaders. The researchers used a mixed methods research design with a survey to examine to what extent school leaders perceived their engagement in a synchronous VPD webinar with facilitators increased their knowledge on the topic of conflict management. The findings showed that the participants perceived targeted VPD to have significantly increased their knowledge on conflict management. Additionally, the participating school leaders indicated a shift in their attitudes from negative to positive perceptions regarding conflict. The findings suggest that structured VPD for school leaders has the potential to advance school leaders’ knowledge on conflict management.