Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) conducted a randomized-treatment experiment during the 2006-2007 school year to test the efficacy, for Title I students, of the technological and individualized EPGY Kindergarten through Grade 5 Mathematics Course Sequence, modified for the Title I schools. Restricting attention to…

This paper examines the factors that prevent slum children aged 5-14 from gaining access to schooling in light of the worsening urban poverty and sizable increase in rural-to-urban migration. Bias against social disadvantage in terms of gender and caste is not clearly manifested in schooling, while migrated children are less likely to attend…

Recently, research has begun to identify cognitive and social-emotional predictors of early academic success. Yet few studies have examined the mechanisms by which children's social-emotional skills are associated with later academic success. The present study examines the associations between preschool emotion knowledge, kindergarten attention…

In the United States, visits to informal learning environments [ILEs] such as zoos, have historically been considered to be important educational experiences that promote increased student achievement in content-area subjects. Recently, however, funds are more likely to be diverted away from field trip experiences, depriving less-privileged…

The paper reports on the adaptation of a D-KEFS test battery for Slovakia. Drawing on concrete examples, it describes and illustrates the key issues relating to the transfer of test items from one socio-cultural environment to another. The standardisation sample of the population of Slovak pupils in the fourth year of primary school included 250…

A new leadership model is needed in all organizations. In response, The Affect-Centered Transformational Leadership Model came about. The new model resulted from a doctoral student's participation in a leadership course, and continued dialogue with its professor. Ultimately, the new model reached the stage of needing to be operationalized. A…

The purpose of this meta-analytic review is twofold. First, the authors estimate the impact of K-8 summer literacy interventions on reading achievement. They measure reading achievement using a composite outcome and specific measures of word reading and fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Second, they examine the moderating role of the…

Entering schools where cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic diversity exists might hold challenges for the teachers who work there. There is much to glean as teachers not only begin to figure out how to connect the curriculum with students' worlds, but also begin to make connections with students and families who may come from and live in…

Student achievement gaps between Black and White students, and socioeconomically disadvantaged and advantaged students, have been observed and formally documented since the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) began in the 1970s. In particular, the mathematics achievement gap between these historically disadvantaged populations has…

This study compared the standardized reading achievement scores in grades 1, 2 and 3 of two groups of students: one group who participated in Pre-Kindergarten (PK) in a large urban public school district in North Texas, with the assessment results of a group of grade level peers with similar ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics, who did not…

Using a nationally representative sample of 5,150 Dutch students who have been followed over a 6-year period, the presence of the Matthew effect was investigated for general language skills. The analyses do not reveal unmistakable evidence for the supposition that the rich get richer and the poor poorer. On the contrary, in schools with low…

Through two stories of youth voice, learning, and identity development in an afterschool science program for girls only, we show the ways in which such programs can be understood as important identity-building practices. We describe key dimensions of a socio-cultural approach to youth voice, learning, and identity, situated also in the context of…

Research indicates that a significant number of children enter primary school with insufficient vocabulary knowledge. This study investigates whether a small group daily word learning programme delivered by the class teacher can improve word learning in young children. Eighteen children, aged five to six years, with English as an additional…

Considerable evidence shows the detriments of neighborhood social disorganization for urban youth. Researchers have focused less on potential neighborhood strengths or on the interplay of neighborhood perceptions and objective neighborhood characteristics. The authors examined the presence and perception of positive and negative neighborhood…

Since their start in Houston in 1994, KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) charter schools have been the most celebrated of the No Excuses schools. Employing strict discipline, an extended school day and year, and carefully selected teachers, No Excuses schools move disadvantaged students who start behind their peers academically up to and above…