Researchers use data from the RAND American Mathematics Educator Study surveys of public school principals and teachers to investigate three school structures--referred to as "school opportunity structures" throughout this report--that may affect kindergarten through 8th grade (K-8) students' mathematics learning. These structures are…

Collective leadership of teachers and administrators can be a vehicle for catalyzing school improvement. In chemistry, a catalyst is any substance that increases the rate of reaction without itself being consumed. Leadership that accelerates good work without using up the leader is increasingly necessary. We identified schools that demonstrated…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020 Grades 6-8…

The New York State Department of Education (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020 Grades 6-8…

Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT) is a text- and discourse-based set of instructional practices that engage students with disciplinary texts as a means of building content knowledge and improving reading comprehension. PACT)s "efficacy" has been the subject of extensive previous trials. The purpose of this study was to…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects and impact of interdisciplinary teaming on teacher practices and efficacy. This study revealed the perspectives of eight 7th and 8th grade teachers, who teach one of the core disciplines (English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies) and the school principal by interviewing…

Purpose: Our purpose was to gather and evaluate accurate, up-to-date information on physical education (PE) policy implementation across multiple U.S. states and regions. Methods: A U.S. Physical Education and Physical Activity Policy questionnaire was developed and completed by 4,845 public-school PE teachers from 25 U.S. states. The U.S.…

We evaluated a curriculum that focused on bolstering grit and locus of control in seventh grade students at a school in upstate New York. The intervention included lessons aimed at building a growth mindset and determination, along with writing projects and collaborative work. A pre-post design was utilized such that surveys measuring grit and…

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of middle school principals regarding the implementation of the arts. Although the New York State Education Department (2015) has mandated arts curriculum into all grade levels within a middle school environment, not all schools comply. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study…

I examine the student-achievement implications of school-level budgetary autonomy in public schools. I propose a theoretical model of a principal's allocation decisions and empirically examine determinants of participation and the resulting impacts on student achievement. A principal's years of administrative experience positively impact program…

Since its development in 2010, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been adopted in over 40 states. While the literature discussing the implications of this initiative is robust, the research examining its effect on K-12 physical education (PE) is limited. Moreover, there is little empirical data on the effect of the CCSS on student…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of IXL Math online software in raising student achievement on the New York State Math exam, with special focus on effects by student gender, ethnicity and disability status. The study includes an analysis of the relationship between scale scores and time spent using the IXL system, number…

There are currently mixed findings on the social and academic benefits of youth participation in school sponsored sports, such as football. While some research suggests positive outcomes through increased sense of school belongingness, other studies link participation in football to increased delinquent behavior. Social control theory informed the…

Technology-based learning tools provide new opportunities to engage students in learning academic content. This study focuses on one such tool, Play Lu Interactive Technology (PLIT), and analyzes how students' math achievement on standardized test scores differs between students who have used PLIT and students who have not. PLIT is designed to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among technology use, per pupil spending and school district-wide student achievement. The setting of this study was 94 school districts from New York State's Nassau and Suffolk counties, a suburban region adjacent to New York City. The results of this study showed that technology use had…