This study evaluates a "nudge letter" to parents intervention designed to reduce chronic absenteeism among students in one urban district. Using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), it estimates the impact of the intervention on improving student attendance. The forcing variable for the RDD was 2016-2017 attendance rate, with a…

This study used comparative interrupted times series analyses to assess the impact of a continuous improvement-focused family engagement intervention on ninth grade attendance and course passing rates. The intervention, conducted in an urban district, sought to improve middle and high school family engagement practices during the transition to…

This study evaluates a "nudge letter" to parents intervention designed to reduce chronic absenteeism among students in one urban district. Using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), it estimates the impact of the intervention on improving student attendance. The forcing variable for the RDD was 2016-17 attendance rate, with a…

Middle grades teachers want early adolescents to take responsibility for their own learning and success in school. One way to encourage this is with "interactive homework," which enables students to lead conversations with a parent or family partner about something interesting they are learning in class. An exploratory study tested…

Middle grades teachers want early adolescents to take responsibility for their own learning and success in school. One way to encourage this is with "interactive homework," which enables students to lead conversations with a parent or family partner about something interesting they are learning in class. An exploratory study tested…

This article reports findings from a quasi-experimental study of the impact of a summer robotics program for urban middle-grade students. The study focuses on student engagement, measured by school attendance rate the year following the program. Program students, who were nearly all low-income minority students, were matched to comparison students…

In 2011 Baltimore City Schools submitted a successful proposal for an Investing in Innovations (i3) grant to offer a three year (2012-2014) summer program designed to expose rising sixth through eighth grade students to VEX robotics. The i3-funded Middle School Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Summer Learning Program was…

Attendance is probably the most fundamental behavioral indicator of student engagement with school. Though many students fall off-track to success for the first time in ninth grade, poor attendance patterns often begin increasing in middle school and become worse in high school. Missing school during the secondary grades can often be traced to low…

Recognizing the need to implement standards-based instructional materials with school-wide coherence led some Philadelphia schools to adopt whole-school reform (WSR) models during the late 1990s. The authors report on the relation between mathematics achievement growth for middle-grade students on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments and…

Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and the Hopkins Enhancement Survey of NELS:88 Middle Grades Practices were used to examine the prevalence and antecedents of different types of remedial activities in the middle grades. Data were also used to estimate the effects of remedial activities on the mathematics and…

In Talent Development Middle Schools, students needing extra help in mathematics participate in the Computer- and Team-Assisted Mathematics Acceleration (CATAMA) course. CATAMA is an innovative combination of computer-assisted instruction and structured cooperative learning that students receive in addition to their regular math course for about…

This article reports on the first 4 years of an effort to develop comprehensive and sustainable mathematics education reforms in high poverty middle schools. In four related analyses, we examine the levels of implementation achieved and impact of the reforms on various measures of achievement in the first 3 schools to implement the Talent…

Improvement of academic achievement requires both changes in school organizational structures and in curriculum and instruction. This study investigates the assumption of giving "minds-on" opportunities to reflect and "hands-on" opportunities to experiment and tests whether moving beyond the textbook makes science class more engaging for middle…

Longitudinal case study of reform efforts centering on the Talent Development Middle School model at low-performing, high-poverty middle school in Philadelphia. Finds that student gains in mathematics, science, and reading achievement at subject school exceeded that of students in comparable school. (Contains 19 references.) (PKP)

This study uses data from a national survey of principals of public schools with a 7th grade to document and analyze the variation in the types of marks and evaluations included on report cards issued to young adolescents in the United States. The analyses examine the prevalence of report card entries of various types and the antecedents and…