In this article, the authors discuss the Baltimore Secondary Literacy Improvement Community, a teacher fellowship with two goals: (1) to develop pedagogy that supports the reading and writing skills of middle and high school students; and (2) to develop teachers' skills and habits in continuous improvement--behaviors that empower them to drive…

This dissertation investigated student comprehension and its relationship to oral reading fluency. The DIBELS Next reading assessment was used to determine the relationship between these reading skills. This research also examined the relationship between the two comprehension measures of the DIBELS Next assessment that are identified by the…

The three-tiered Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework promotes the development of systems and data analysis to guide the selection and implementation of evidence-based practices across multiple tiers. The current study examined the effects of universal (tier 1) or school-wide PBIS (SW-PBIS) in one state's scale-up of…

The current trend in postsecondary literacy is to offer developmental reading and writing coursework in an integrated, (and in most cases) accelerated, format. This move toward integration and acceleration is definitely in line with the research literature; however, many of these new courses do not reflect the curricular and pedagogical reforms…

Third grade is a critical checkpoint in a child's educational journey. By the end of third grade, children need literacy skills that prepare them for increasing curriculum demands in fourth grade and beyond. Students who are not reading on grade level by this point are significantly more likely to drop out of high school or fail to graduate on…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the first in their latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This series explores afterschool and: the Common Core State Standards, students…

This evaluation report provides details for school year 2013 on the percentage of primary students who met or exceeded grade-level reading benchmarks on the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools' (MCPS) Assessment Program in Primary Reading (AP-PR). The percentage remained above 90% for kindergarten students and showed a small decrease for…

Early literacy skills are the foundation for school success. This is particularly important for groups of children at heightened risk of poor educational outcomes, such as English language learners and children from low-income families. Informed by a growing body of research and evaluation studies that point to the importance of home literacy…

In this correlational study, we analyzed data from 71 Spanish-English biliterate students in grades 3 (n=21), 4 (n=23), and 5 (n=27) with the goal of investigating the applicability of the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover & Gough, 1990) in English and in Spanish for this population. The simple view posits that decoding…

This brief describes the impact of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) 2007-2008 full-day Head Start prekindergarten (pre-K) class model on student academic performance, cognitive skills, and learning behaviors by the end of Grade 2. This is the fourth impact study of the MCPS full-day Head Start pre-K class model. The following…

Research indicates that there are positive effects when young children read and explore books for pleasure, as such activities help build the skills and knowledge that are critical to schooling. Reading for pleasure is facilitated when children have access to books in their own homes. There are great variations in children's book ownership…

This article presents a critical review of the literature surrounding the potential impact of undiagnosed and untreated vision impairment on reading development in the early years of primary school. Despite pre-school screening programmes, it is still possible for children to enter school with undiagnosed, uncorrected vision impairments. This can…

When students enter middle school, they are confronted with the necessity of learning from complex content-area textbooks. Many students find these texts boring, and they may lack the higher-order reading comprehension skills they need to tackle complex text. Yet the ability to read informational text is essential to success in middle school and…

This study exploits a randomized trial of two light-touch elementary school interventions to estimate long-run impacts on postsecondary attendance and attainment. The first is a classroom management technique for developing behavioral skills in children. The second is a curricular intervention aimed at improving students' core reading skills. We…

Mathematics proficiency of English language learners (ELLs) on the Maryland School Assessments (MSA) for mathematics continues to lag behind the proficiency level of students who are proficient English speakers. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between English language learner's…