Although the promise of universal social-emotional learning (SEL) programs enhancing student academic outcomes has captured public attention, there has been limited research regarding such programs' impact on students' state test scores. We used multilevel modeling of follow-up data from a multiyear, multisite cluster-randomized efficacy trial to…

Although the promise of universal social-emotional learning (SEL) programs enhancing student academic outcomes has captured public attention, there has been limited research regarding such programs' impact on students' state test scores. We used multilevel modeling of follow-up data from a multiyear, multisite cluster-randomized efficacy trial to…

Background: Phonological awareness (PA) skills and working memory (WM) are universally regarded as crucial precursors to skilled reading. The orthography of the language being read influences the ease with which a child learns to read. Research has been undertaken on reading in languages with an opaque orthography. Research on the role of PA and…

Important educational policy decisions, like whether to shorten or extend the school year, often require accurate estimates of how much students learn during the year. Yet, related research relies on a mostly untested assumption: that growth in achievement is linear throughout the entire school year. We examine this assumption using a dataset…

Two widely studied language skills in relation to reading comprehension are listening comprehension skill and academic language proficiency. Although their constituent skills and theoretical accounts of how they are related to reading comprehension share a large overlap, they have been studied in separate lines of work. In this study, we…

LXD Research analyzed data from 945 students in kindergarten who were Below or Well Below Benchmark at the beginning of the year and participated in using the Phonological Awareness (PA) Lessons Deluxe Package as an intervention in CA in Fall 2021. The product is a Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention for grades K-2 that includes lessons and…

Beginning with the 2020/21 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) began collecting literacy screening assessment data from schools and districts participating in certain state grants. Screening assessment benchmark scores were available for just over 35,000 unique students across 2020/21 and 2021/22,…

This annual report provides information for the 2021-22 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…

Despite their well-established connections to student motivation and to learning outcomes, attributions, particularly at the task-level, have not garnered much attention in L2 learning research. However, research evidence in educational psychology (e.g., Stajkovic & Sommer, 2000) suggests that L2 task attributions may affect subsequent task…

In this case study, Angela Helsloot, Principal at Allambie Heights Public School, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, uses data from standardised tests and benchmark reading assessments across the school to show the positive impact that Sounds-Write instruction has had in Kindergarten and Year 1. [For the complete volume, "Systematic Synthetic…

Latinos comprise a significant portion of the total school enrollment in the U.S., and an increasing share of Latinos are pursuing higher education today. However, Latino students still face many educational barriers, and research has repeatedly demonstrated that Latino children lag their peers in terms of their academic achievement. In addition,…

Purpose: The purpose of this feasibility study was to investigate an early dynamic measure of morphological awareness (MA) involving graduated prompts to measure early MA skill and determine whether this task relates to and predicts performance on other language and/or literacy measures in first-grade children with language abilities typically…

Helping young children become proficient readers is a critical goal. Research tells us that students who experience difficulty reading in the early years of school often struggle to catch up (Stanley, Petscher, & Catts, 2018; Ozernov, Palchik et al., 2016; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, & Fletcher,…

We attempted to strengthen an evidence-based, peer-mediated, first-grade reading program (First Grade Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies [PALS]) by modestly revising its content and adding a repeated-reading (RR) component. In a cluster-randomized trial, we conducted a component analysis of the revised program by creating two versions of it.…

Universal screening is a critical component of school-based prevention systems. Screening data enable educators to target students for supplemental intervention, align resources to meet needs, and identify students who may be at risk for learning disabilities. One major requirement of the screening process is that all students are included to gain…