Increased datafication of schooling, a common trend in Australia, the UK, Canada, and the USA, involves the use of standardized testing and its associated systems and practices to achieve high-stakes goals. The purpose of this study, set in an urban, low-income, predominately Black neighborhood in the southeast USA, was to better understand the…

The lack of access to high-quality schools creates an achievement gap that limits students' access to future earnings and longevity, exacerbating equity concerns across the nation where struggling, low-performing schools are disproportionately responsible for educating students living in poverty. Large Urban School District's Accelerating Campus…

This quantitative, nonexperimental study used Bronfenbrenner's process-person-context-time (PPCT) model to determine if mathematics scores of underprivileged, minority third- and fourth-grade students attending an inner-city school in a Central Oklahoma school district differed between their traditional 2018-2019 school year and post-lockdown…

Students in Urban District 1 were not meeting grade level learning outcomes in mathematics on state- and district-administered benchmark assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine if including a specific educational video game (EVG), Prodigy, in mathematics instruction with third-grade students would influence students' math…

The purpose of this quantitative within-groups comparative study was to determine if there was a significant difference between the 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and the 2021 (post-COVID-19) third grade Standards of Learning (SOL) reading and math scores in urban Title I elementary schools in a southeastern state. The conceptual framework for this study was…

Shared leadership among school principals and teachers has been touted as a means to enhance student achievement. Using grounded theory, we interviewed six principals and 20 urban elementary school teachers, in Pennsylvania, to examine their perceptions about federal and state mandates on shared leadership. Results indicate that although teachers…

We conducted an inductive analysis of 166 interviews from a longitudinal study of 26 Chicago Public School principals. Test-based accountability pressures played a visible role in principals' views of and relations with parents. Some principals reported banning parents from classrooms based on the need to protect instructional time to raise test…

The specific problem is the reading proficiency scores of elementary students in the US did not significantly improve between 2015 and 2020. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the use of social awareness integrated interdisciplinary instructional methods would increase the reading achievement scores of fifth-grade students, based on…

Recent work has demonstrated that having students study worked examples and answer self-explanation prompts as part of their problem-solving practice improves learning on researcher-developed measures of mathematical proficiency. However, little work has been done to date to investigate whether these benefits translate to improvements on the types…

In response to budget problems, many urban school systems reduced resources for getting students to come to school, such as truancy officers. Chicago, for instance, in 1991, went from 150 truancy officers down to a total of zero. Is that a good idea? In this study, we explore the effects of increased support by a pro-social adult, or "social…

Suburbs were once a haven for advantaged, White families to avoid city life and access high-status schools. This urban-suburban divide, however, has changed in recent decades as suburban communities (and their school districts) have diversified. This study provides an updated cross-sectional portrait of recent racial-ethnic segregation and…

Recent work has demonstrated that having students study worked examples and answer self-explanation prompts as part of their problem-solving practice improves learning on researcher-developed measures of mathematical proficiency. However, little work has been done to date to investigate whether these benefits translate to improvements on the types…

This convergent mixed-methods study explored the relation between strategies fourth-grade students self-reported to navigate and interpret science texts and their performance on a comprehension posttest. Using Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA), results reveal a higher degree of metacognitive awareness and the ability to orally explain one's…

This study investigated the dependability of reading comprehension scores across different text genres and response formats for readers with varied language knowledge. Participants included 78 fourth-graders in an urban elementary school. A randomized and counterbalanced 3 × 2 study design investigated three response formats (open-ended,…

This article contributes to the larger narrative around what makes a mathematics professional development (PD) successful and in what ways. We share a research-based PD model that was implemented in elementary schools in an urban school district for 3 years. The model uses a pseudo lesson study approach and emphasizes standards-based instruction.…