This paper provides evidence on the effect of local prescription opioid use on academic achievement of 3rd-8th graders between 2009 and 2018. Using county fixed effects models, I find that when counties have higher levels of prescription opioid use, students score lower on standardized assessments two to three years later, with variation by…

The goal of Smithsonian Science for North and South Carolina Classrooms was to provide teachers with ongoing, differentiated professional development and research-based curricular materials to improve elementary student achievement in science, mathematics, and reading. This work used an inquiry-based science curriculum, Smithsonian Science for the…

Montessori is a highly individualized pedagogy that prioritizes following each child's individual interests over standardized test scores. This quasi-experimental study compares groups of Montessori students (treatment groups, N = 535-710) with control groups of non-Montessori students, matched through the simple matching method, which controls…

This study examines whether family income in early childhood is related to achievements of Israeli students in standardized tests at primary school. We analyzed data from the Israeli censuses of 1995 and 2008, which include information on family income and socio-economic background of children along with data pertaining to their achievements in…

National and International standardized assessments have shown sharp differences between native and foreign students' performance in both text comprehension and mathematics. Based on the data gathered yearly by the INVALSI (Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of Educational Systems) at the national level, we performed a two-step…

This dissertation investigates the impact of attending a STEM-designated elementary school on students' math, ELA (English Language Arts), and science achievement and growth scores. As technology continues to advance in education, educators are exploring innovative instructional methods. With a concerning decline in math proficiency nationwide,…

The purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to determine the difference in students' LEAP ELA achievement scores in grades 3-5 based on the teacher's level of dyslexia knowledge. This study used the Phonological Deficit Theory (PDT) and the Criterion Referenced Assessment Theory (CRT) as its foundation. PDT describes the levels of…

In a large-scale quantitative study that adopted a learning analytics approach, we searched for associations between students' activity in a game-based online mathematics learning environment and their mathematics achievements on a national standardized test. Students were active in the environment throughout the school year, and particularly…

Standardized testing is generally regarded in schools today as the primary way to measure and determine student achievement. Student performance determines the degree to which schools, teachers, and students are identified as being successful. The problem being investigated by this study was that all students are spending too much classroom…

Schools are tasked with ensuring that students with disabilities are educated within general education classrooms, alongside non-disabled peers, to the maximum extent possible. This study investigated the influence of classroom placement on academic achievement in reading and mathematics for a group of students with mild learning disabilities, who…

I investigated the relationships between mathematics achievement on the Iowa Assessments and the mastery of four epistemic actions: selecting, analyzing, computing, and representing. These epistemic actions play a crucial role in characterizing mathematical reasoning and are essential for solving mathematics problems in the Iowa Assessments across…

Whether intellectually gifted children have a greater emotional response when tested is still unclear. This may be due to the marked heterogeneity of this particular population, and the fact that most studies lack the power to reduce the noise associated with this heterogeneity. The present study examined the relationship between performance and…

Education laws in the U.S. hold schools accountable for including students with intellectual disability on statewide reading assessments. Students with intellectual disability have been taking general or alternate reading assessments over the past two decades. However, very little attention has been given to the results of these assessments. The…

We study a decade of achievement gaps for fifth-, eighth-, and 10th-grade students in Norway using administrative population data. Norway is a wealthy and egalitarian country with a homogeneous educational system, yet achievement gaps between students at the 90th and 10th percentiles of parental income and between students whose parents have at…

The purpose of this study is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the learning of students in public education through the analysis of standardized assessment performance before and during COVID-19. The study also compares virtual learning and face-to-face students' change in performance on the standardized assessments. To answer the…