In recent years, there has been heightened awareness of the importance of early childhood education and high school as intervention points in the educational lives of America's children. Less attention has been paid to the importance of the upper elementary grades and middle school and the role they must play in the preparation of students for…

The majority of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students are not attaining the ACT scores they are aiming for, which they need to qualify for scholarships and college acceptance. This report looks at the reasons behind students' low performance and what matters for doing well on this test. CPS students are highly motivated to do well on the ACT, and…

"Test preparation" activities can range from simple practice to in-depth instruction, but most of these activities use some form of test familiarization, drill and practice with feedback, training in strategies for specific item types, and general test-taking, subject-matter review, and skill development exercises. Two experiments were…