This quantitative study explored how well the "Big Ideas Math (BIM)" curriculum helped third-grade students in Title I schools within the Polston School District (pseudonym) improve their math skills and high-stakes testing scores. Thirteen elementary schools were selected based on factors such as diversity, poverty rates, and academic…

Research has shown that some students who underperform in mathematics overestimate their performance, while others who excel in mathematics underestimate it. Looking at this mismatch of performance and confidence judgement--the Dunning-Kruger effect (DKE)--the current study investigates how well students' confidence judgement and item-specific…

Mathematical fact fluency, particularly in addition and subtraction, is crucial for students' success in later mathematical concepts and is often a focus of elementary education. Educators are exploring tools to enhance math fluency, such as Reflex Math, a digital program designed to accelerate students' fact fluency through adaptive learning…

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) has conventionally included accuracy criteria with recommended fluency thresholds for instructional decision-making. Some scholars have argued for the use of accuracy to directly determine instructional need (e.g., Szadokierski et al., 2017). However, accuracy and fluency have not been directly examined to…

In October 2023, the California Department of Education released test scores for all students in Grades 3-8 and 11 for the 2022-23 school year. These results represent an opportunity to analyze whether and to what extent student learning has rebounded after the dramatic declines in scores resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and related school…

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: Breakfast after the bell (BAB), an alternative way to deliver breakfast after the school day begins, has been shown to increase participation in the School Breakfast Program. However, BAB occupies time that could otherwise be used for instruction and may affect academic performance. This study examined whether BAB affects math and…

Stability is an important underlying assumption in any form of assessment-supported decision-making. Since early years development is frequently described as unstable, the concept plays a central role in the discussion surrounding early years assessment. This paper describes stability as a set of assumptions about the way individual scores change…

As part of the "Connecting Mathematics Learning through Spatial Reasoning" project, a Spatial Reasoning Mathematics Program (SRMP) intervention was implemented with one cohort of 30 students in grades 3 through 4. The SRMP embedded transformation skills in learning sequences comprising repeating and growing patterns, 2D and 3D…

Classroom physical activity (PA) has been linked to a multitude of health and academic benefits. However, due to barriers such as lack of time and resources many teachers are not implementing classroom PA to the degree they would like to. One innovative solution is to integrate classroom PA into academic concepts. Based on self-determination…

Studies have shown that math skills in early childhood are uniquely and strongly predictive of later outcomes across a range of domains and well into adulthood, including the likelihood of graduating from high school and college completion. The Making Pre-K Count and High 5s studies were designed to rigorously test the short- and long-term effects…

Summer learning for many students in a large urban school district in Tennessee is an inequitable experience. Academic learning gaps in reading and mathematics may expand over the summer for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented minorities. One school district, recognizing an opportunity to narrow the gap, launched its Superintendent's…

In a three-phase study, with a total of 40 third-grade teachers and their 830 students, teachers were supported to use classroom assessment techniques (CATs) to reveal their students' knowledge of number operations. In phase I, four teachers and 66 third-grade students participated in five monthly workshops in which CATs were co-designed and their…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on math achievement, as measured by SBA scores. We compared "striving learner" students who were assigned to use i-Ready Personalized Instruction (Treatment students) and "striving learner" students assigned to only receive i-Ready…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on math achievement, as measured by SBA scores. We compared students in schools using i-Ready Personalized Instruction school-wide (Treatment students) and students who only received i-Ready Diagnostic assessments and who were in schools only partially…