This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Virginia for 2010. In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Virginia showed across-the-board gains--improvements in reading and math at the proficient-and-above and advanced levels for all racial/ethnic subgroups, low-income…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Tennessee for 2010. In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Tennessee showed across-the-board gains--improvements in reading and math at the proficient-and-above, and advanced levels for all racial/ethnic subgroups, low-income…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in South Dakota for 2010. South Dakota's demographic profile is such that, with the exception of Native American students, there are fewer than 500 students in the racial/ethnic subgroups at the various grade levels, and therefore these groups are too small to count for this…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in South Carolina for 2010. South Carolina introduced new tests in grades 3-8, so trend data that include 2009 are not available. Progress in narrowing achievement gaps at grade 10 was mixed. Comparable data were available for 2004-2009 at grade 10. (Contains 9 tables.) [For the…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Texas for 2010. In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Texas showed across-the-board gains--improvements in reading and math at the basic, proficient, and advanced levels for all racial/ethnic subgroups, low-income students, and…

Reading First has been implemented in Nebraska since the 2004-5 academic year. In two rounds of funding and participation, schools have transformed the way they trained their teachers, measured student progress, and taught. This transformation is one of the hardest tasks in education and it has taken the considerable dedication of school personnel…

This article summarizes a unique approach to reducing the achievement gap that strategically blended differentiated curriculum with schoolwide enrichment teaching and learning. The theories of enrichment and instructional differentiation were translated into practice in an elementary school that had previously embraced a remedial paradigm. This…

This study examines from a geographical perspective the factors that impact the performance of public elementary schools in New York City during 2001-2005, a period when its schools were undergoing major reforms at both the local and national level. Education reforms have focused their attention on schools by increasing their responsibility and…

In this article, the authors report achievement outcomes of a multisite cluster randomized field trial of Open Court Reading 2005 (OCR), a K-6 literacy curriculum published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. The participants are 49 first-grade through fifth-grade classrooms from predominantly minority and poor contexts across the nation. Blocking by grade level…

Greg is 13 years old, and currently in seventh grade; he entered an unnamed District ("the District") school in fourth grade as a student with a specific learning disability; he had been identified as eligible for special education programming and services during second grade. During fifth and sixth grade Greg was provided services…

This report focuses on two aspects of teacher supply and quality: (a) the under-representation of racial/ethnic minorities, especially African Americans in the teaching pool, and (b) teacher candidates' performance on licensure assessments, including general skills tests in reading, writing, and mathematics (known as Praxis I[R]) and selected…

This report presents results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics at grades 4 and 8. Nationally representative samples of 209,000 fourth-graders and 175,200 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics. At each grade, students responded to…

This case study examines José, a bilingual Latino fifth-grader, and his complex and dynamic engagements in "travesuras" (mischievous behaviors). José's "travesuras" served to disassociate him from being labeled a "schoolboy." This disassociation was evident in how José: (1) renounced "school-like" work and…

Reading achievement in the United States has stagnated. In 2009, only 33 percent of Fourth Graders were proficient or above in reading--a mere two percentage points higher than in 1998. At the same time, double-digit achievement gaps between African American and Latino/Hispanic students and their white counterparts have changed little in nearly…

Alaska showed improvement in reading and math in grade 8 at the proficient level for almost all racial/ethnic subgroups, low income students, and boys and girls (subgroup trends were not available at the basic or advanced levels). Most student subgroups had upward trends in percentages proficient, with a few exceptions. Gains in math tended to be…