Public school board members are charged with the responsibility and accountability to provide governance-level advocacy for equity and excellence in public education. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of school board members in three K--8 school districts in the midwestern part of the United States regarding the 50+ year Race-Based…

We use data from oral reading fluency (ORF) assessments to examine COVID-19's effects on children's ORF in over 100 U.S. school districts. Students' development of ORF largely stopped in spring 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fall 2020, students' gains in reading were stronger and similar to prepandemic rates. However, fall…

The implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) has increased over the years and provided students with the support needed to close the learning gap and succeed in school. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of the effectiveness of the RTI framework in a rural school district in Tennessee. The study included kindergarten…

Education has faced unprecedented disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic; evidence about the subsequent effect on children is of crucial importance. We use data from an oral reading fluency (ORF) assessment--a rapid assessment taking only a few minutes that measures a fundamental reading skill--to examine COVID's effects on children's reading…

Early identification and intervention for struggling readers increased the likelihood of students identified as proficient; ultimately leading to future success. The researcher sought to evaluate the Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) program in a Midwest urban school district, to help close the achievement gap between students' reading levels…

The suburban-urban achievement gap (diminishing until the 1980s) has stopped its narrowing trend, and single-sex schools are proliferating as a reform model, especially in urban areas. In this study researchers interviewed eight elementary school girls (in an all-girls school) three times over 2 years, and the resulting 23 transcripts were…

The New York State Department of Education (NYSED) has been supporting selected districts in the planning and implementation of PreK-3rd Grade systems. NYSED is supporting the use of the Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches developed by Kauerz and Coffman (2013). Recognizing the ultimate goal of PreK-3rd…

This paper summarizes results from a math intervention implemented in a high-poverty urban community. Over 7,300 students from kindergarten to 4th grade in 1 low-socioeconomic-status school district participated in the study. Students from 13 different schools (36 different classroom) participated in the treatment. Comparisons were made to…

Studies illustrate that achievement gaps between poor and non-poor children already exist at kindergarten (Lee & Burkham, 2002). The larger the gap at the time children enter school, the harder it is to close the gap. This article reviews a case study of one Midwest school district and their attempt at reducing the achievement gap through the…

New Jersey's Abbott Preschool program is of broad national and international interest because the Abbott program provides a model for building a high-quality system of universal pre-K through public-private partnerships that transform the existing system. The program offers high-quality pre-K to all children in 31 New Jersey communities with high…

This study contributes a novel perspective on grade retention by empirically examining how classroom composition relates to the standardized-testing performance of grade-retained students in their post-retained years. This evaluation employed a sample of entire cohorts of urban elementary school children in the Philadelphia School District over 6…

In 2002, the Council of the Great City Schools evaluated the Dayton Public School System. The Council noted that the district was in crisis, stating bluntly that achievement was low, funding was tenuous, buildings were dilapidated, and the public was looking at its options. The organization proposed a series of major instructional and budgetary…

Project Early Kindergarten (PEK) aims to improve the school-readiness of Saint Paul children and help close the achievement gap through offering high-quality educational experiences for preschool children. This report comes at the conclusion of the sixth year of PEK. Following an initial planning year (2004-05), PEK has served children through the…

The Saint Paul Public Schools' Project Early Kindergarten program aims to improve the school readiness of Saint Paul children. The program offers a rigorous academic approach and targets children who are English Language Learners, come from low-income families, or need Special Education services. Ultimately, the program intends to help close Saint…

The Seattle Public Schools serve one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation. The school system's enrollment represents many racial and ethnic groups and includes students from around the world who come to Seattle speaking many languages and families who came to the city generations ago. The challenge facing Seattle and all other major…