This study describes key challenges and necessary supports related to implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) identified by rural math educators in the Northeast. The research team interviewed state and district math coordinators and surveyed teachers in Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, to assess their…

Background: Cluster-randomized experiments that assign intact groups such as schools or school districts to treatment conditions are increasingly common in educational research. Such experiments are inherently multilevel designs whose sensitivity (statistical power and precision of estimates) depends on the variance decomposition across levels.…

Analyses examined academic achievement data across third through eighth grades ("N" = 26,474), comparing students identified as homeless or highly mobile (HHM) with other students in the federal free meal program (FM), reduced price meals (RM), or neither (General). Achievement was lower as a function of rising risk status (General…

This study investigates change in the home language environment of Language Minority (LM) learners between kindergarten and eighth grade, drawing on data from the National Center for Education Statistics' Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) Cohort. The analytic sample included 1,538 children whose parents reported a language…

This research study is a case study of the development of an African-centered school over a 20-year period. The study describes how the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade institution was established. Interview questions focused on: 1. Establishment of an African-centered institution 2. Challenges of setting up an African-centered institution 3.…

Historically, researchers have identified that reading outcomes for students in upper grades who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) have typically rested around the late 3rd to early 4th grade. In recent years, wide-scale state-level testing has called into question these prognostications. The authors conducted a descriptive, multiunit,…

Title I, Part A and Title II, Part A funds are provided to Houston Independent School District (HISD) through the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), also known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Both funds focus on enhancing student achievement: Title I, Part A provides supplemental…

The "GeoLiteracy for English language learners" (ELLs) program is a curriculum that enhances reading and writing skills while teaching geography content for US students in kindergarten through eighth grades. The program includes 85 lesson plans that address all US national geography standards, a quarter of which address environmental…

A vertical scale, in principle, provides a common metric across tests with differing difficulties (e.g., spanning multiple grades) so that statements of "absolute" growth can be made. This paper compares 16 states' 2007-2008 effect size growth trends on vertically scaled reading and math assessments across grades 3 to 8. Two patterns…

Purpose: A mixed-methods approach, evaluating triple word-form theory, was used to describe linguistic patterns of misspellings. Method: Spelling errors were taken from narrative and expository writing samples provided by 888 typically developing students in Grades 1-9. Errors were coded by category (phonological, orthographic, and morphological)…

This "Sixth Annual Report Card" reflects the progress that is being made throughout Boston's entire education pipeline. More than 77,000 school-age children live in the City of Boston. The vast majority, 93%, attend a school in the Boston Public Schools system, a Boston Charter public school, or a Boston Catholic school. The goal with…

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…

Extending the school day through programs that will supplement core courses, such as offering intensive, after-school tutoring or small-group study sessions in reading and mathematics, is one method districts use to boost school performance and narrow educational achievement gaps between students of different racial and economic backgrounds (Redd…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in how high and low performing elementary school districts use and analyze data to differentiate instruction, make changes to district/grade level curriculum, determine professional development needs, determine teacher effectiveness, and determine the use of school district…

This annual report provides information for the 2010-11 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-10 on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading and mathematics tests. [For…