Grade-level retention is a common educational practice with the goal of improving academic performance, but the evidence of its influence is mixed. This study examines the academic effect of repeating kindergarten, first grade, second grade, or third grade on English Language Arts performance at the end of fourth grade. This study also examines…

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools are required to provide a free appropriate public education to students with disabilities and show that the students are making academic progress. This study compares within- and across-years academic growth from kindergarten to 4th grade for students who were ever in special education…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the implementation and effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies in their schools. The study used a mixed-methods research design. Data were collected through multiple-choice and open-ended surveys administered to elementary English language…

Federal legislation has prescribed the increased use of statewide achievement tests as the culmination of a student's knowledge and ability at the end of a grade level; however, schools need to be able to predict those who are at-risk of performing poorly on these high-stakes tests. Three studies served to identify a means of predicting statewide…

After-school programs specifically designed to improve students' mathematics achievement in collaboration with classroom teachers' planning and in class daily instruction have been found to be successful in improving student learning (Hock, Pulvers, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2001). The purpose of this article is to describe the results of an…

Background: In preschool and primary education, pupils differ in many abilities and competences (giftedness). Yet mainstream educational practice seems rather homogeneous in providing age-based or grade-class subject matter approaches. Aims: To clarify whether pupils scoring initially at high ability level do develop and attain differently at…

The No Child Left Behind Act is a mandate from the federal government for education to increase student performance and school accountability. As a result of this mandate, many states have issued the use of high-stakes standardized tests as a means of monitoring schools' accountability. New York State administers the English Language Arts (ELA)…

For every teacher who has been at a loss to help the student who seemed helpless, this is a resource that cannot be missed. In this book, the author details instructional principles to help educators model and mentor effective life skills behaviors for their students. For the child who doesn't have friends, does poorly in sports, has difficulty…