School districts continue to strive to enhance students' academic achievement. Various studies and literature highlight the significance of the role of non- academic subjects, which in Ontario, Canada, are referred to as learning skills. Teachers in Ontario are mandated to report on six learning skills three times in a school year within their…

This study represents an initial examination of the potential of word dictation (WD), a form of curriculum-based measure, to identify risk in writing for young English language learners (ELs). The sample included 73 ELs with beginning to advanced English language proficiency in the first to third grades attending schools in one U.S. Midwestern…

The Big Lift™ (Big Lift) is a preschool-third-grade collective impact initiative in San Mateo County, California. The initiative is a partnership of the County of San Mateo, the San Mateo County Office of Education, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Launched in 2012, the initiative aims to boost children's reading proficiency by third…

The Big Lift™ (Big Lift) is a preschool-third-grade collective impact initiative in San Mateo County, California. The initiative is a partnership of the County of San Mateo, the San Mateo County Office of Education, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Launched in 2012, the initiative aims to boost children's reading proficiency by third…

Evidence from this Spring 2012 pilot suggests feedback about AISD teachers can be reliably obtained from students at all grade levels, and that such feedback can provide a valid supplemental measure of teacher quality to accompany additional indicators.

This guide was created as a resource to help families better understand "Measures of Academic Progress"® (MAP®), and their child's results. The guide provides answers to a variety of questions such as: "What is MAP?"; "What does MAP measure?"; "How do schools and teachers use MAP scores?"; "Can MAP tell…

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…

Engineering, when integrated into K-12 education, may offer a number of potential student learning and future success benefits. In a 5-year study, four cohorts of elementary teachers of grades 2 to 4 in a single US school district were provided with teacher professional development with engineering education. Teachers were prepared to teach…

Many schools identified by states as needing improvement through their Elementary and Secondary Education Act waivers have selected Response to Intervention (RTI), a three-tiered instruction program sometimes referred to as tiered levels of instruction, as one of their main strategies for improving school performance and closing achievement gaps.…

Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest assisted Milwaukee Public Schools in developing a fidelity monitoring system for measuring schools' progress in implementing Response to Intervention (RTI). The study examined the ratings produced by that system to determine the system's reliability, schools' progress in implementing RTI, and whether ratings…

River Trails School District 26--a K-8 public school district in Mount Prospect, Illinois, with 1,580 students--developed, implemented, and celebrated a student-centered public relations event that focused on reading and technology. The literacy and technology fair drew hundreds of parents, students, staff, and community members to the district…

Project Linking Learning ("Link") was created to target the needs of gifted students in urban school districts with historically underserved populations. Project Linking Learning implemented a linking curriculum between in-class instruction and an afterschool enrichment program for selected students in second through fifth grade.…

This program evaluation investigated differences in reading achievement for students receiving Reading Recovery or Developmental First Grade. The researcher examined DRA reading scores during the first and second grade and STAR reading scores from second grade through middle school for students in a rural public school district in Northeastern…

"Success for All" (SFA) is one of the best known and thoroughly evaluated school reform models. Further evaluation of the initiative is especially important for two reasons. First, the program model has continued to evolve over time, with a greater emphasis placed on the use of engaging technology in the classroom and on the deployment…

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…