Educators and researchers have been fighting the reading wars for the last century, with battles see-sawing literacy instruction in American schools from phonics to whole language and, most recently, back to phonics again. Over the last decade, 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new "science of reading" laws that require…

This report summarizes the results of kindergarten through fifth grade students' academic achievement outcomes in mathematics and science following four years of campus-level participation in the Launching Elementary Academic Foundations (LEAF) to STEM program. The LEAF to STEM Program consists of three key components that were adapted for K-5…

Background or Context: There is increasing research focusing on dual language (DL) education program policies and practices regarding who has access to bilingualism and whose bilingualism is valued and represented. However, limited research is situated in the context of Chinese-English DL education and its service of emergent bilingual learners…

The Early Literacy Program focuses on the development of early literacy skills, with additional emphasis on intervention for students at risk of not meeting grade-based reading benchmarks. Districts and charter schools (LEAs) assess, and report to the state, students' reading composites and benchmarks three (3) times a year using the Acadience…

Despite the importance placed on reading in the classroom, an unacceptable number of students lack the literacy skills essential to succeed in today's knowledge-based economy, putting them at greater risk of persistent unemployment and other forms of economic hardship. The problem is that public charter elementary (K-4) school intervention…

The City of Philadelphia has identified improving early literacy as a key civic priority. The goal is to support children's literacy development in school, at home, and in the community--regardless of where students live or attend school in Philadelphia. For this reason, civic efforts have sought to engage families, communities, and the city's…

Curriculum Associates' "i-Ready® Instruction" is a supplemental, online personalized instruction program available for reading and mathematics. The Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), in collaboration with Century Analytics, implemented a quasi-experimental design (QED) using 2018-19 "i-Ready Diagnostic and…

Curriculum Associates' "i-Ready® Instruction" is a supplemental, online personalized instruction program available for reading and mathematics. The Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), in collaboration with Century Analytics, implemented a quasi-experimental design (QED) using 2018-19 "i-Ready Diagnostic and…

In Philadelphia, civic and education leaders have identified early literacy programming as critical for overall education improvement. Charter schools enroll about one third of all public school students in Philadelphia. This study seeks to understand how Philadelphia charter schools support their early readers and writers, in order to contribute…

The tenth annual Boston Opportunity Agenda Report Card takes a closer look at the impact of two years of pandemic on the achievement of students on key indicators from kindergarten through college and adult education. It finds mixed results for Boston's public and public charter school students, with some areas seeing much larger changes triggered…

The ninth annual Boston Opportunity Agenda Report Card looks at how the pandemic has affected many of the indicators used to track how Boston students are doing in education from early childhood through adulthood, as well as tracking the landscape of the Opportunity Agenda's efforts to strengthen the education pipeline. This report card contains…

This "Eighth Annual Report Card" tracks progress on Boston's goals for educating learners of all ages. The report lays out Boston Opportunity Agenda's current metrics, the baseline that has been established for the future, and the progress to be made over the course of the next five years. This report card contains the most up-to-date…

The "Seventh Annual Report Card" provides the most up-to-date information available on Boston's education pipeline, from kindergarten through college graduation, including measures for school readiness, 3rd-grade reading proficiency, 6th-grade mathematics proficiency, 10th-grade academic proficiency, high school completion, dropout…

In 2005, a group of concerned parents who had arrived in the United States as refugees from war-torn Somalia received approval from their local school district to establish the Iftin Charter School (ICS). The K-8 school continues to engender hope and intellectual strength in its students and parents. ICS finds itself uniquely equipped to meet the…

This report highlights the ongoing discussions between the believers of "online learning" vs. the "not enough proven research" for K-8 cyber schooling. Discussing successful processes and operations in states around the country, the author focuses on Maryland and, in particular, Baltimore schools, and reports that very little…