School districts throughout the United States are increasingly providing greater autonomy to local public (non-charter) school principals. In 2005-06, Chicago Public Schools initiated the Autonomous Management and Performance Schools program, granting academic, programmatic, and operational freedoms to select principals. This paper provides…

In this discussion, I explore the unfolding effects of Arizona's anti-bilingual education law (Proposition 203) on schools with predominant language-minority student populations. Instead of facilitating academic progress, policies like Proposition 203 impede teachers from "scaffolding" (Long & Adamson, 2012, p. 39) their students'…

This article examines the relationship between after-school program quality, program attendance, and academic outcomes for a sample of low-income after-school program participants. Regression and hierarchical linear modeling analyses use a unique longitudinal data set including 29 after-school programs that served 5,108 students in Grades 4 to 8…

Changes to federal guidelines for the identification of children with disabilities have supported the use of multi-tiered models of service delivery. This study investigated the impact of measurement methodology as used across numerous tiers in determining special education eligibility. Four studies were completed using a sample of inner-city…

This article highlights the rationale for Namibia's participation in three studies which were conducted under the auspices of the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) during the period 1995-2007. The article provides some of the innovative ways in which the results of the first (SACMEQ I, 1995) and…

This case study examines the implementation of "Foreign Language Activities" (English language education), which officially began in Japanese elementary schools in 2011. Subjects in this study included 37 Japanese classroom teachers (20 males and 17 females) in four elementary schools in Tokyo. The Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale…

This qualitative study explored Teach for America (TFA) alumni teachers' discourse on Arizona language policy, conducted with eight teachers in the Phoenix metropolitan area who received their professional teacher preparation from TFA, a national organization that uses alternative paths to certification to place teachers in low-income schools.…

Test-based accountability as well as value-added asessments and much experimental and quasi-experimental research in education rely on achievement tests to measure student skills and knowledge. Yet, we know little regarding fundamental properties of these tests, an important example being the extent of measurement error and its implications for…

In English language learners' (ELLs) reclassification, the tension between assuring sufficient English language proficiency (ELP) in mainstream classrooms and avoiding potential negative consequences of protracted ELL status creates an essential dilemma. This present study focused on ELL students who were reclassified around the time they finished…

Accelerating the acquisition of reading skills in at-risk third- through sixth-grade students is critically important if educators expect to meet federal and state performance targets and also meet children's needs. In an attempt to rapidly advance learning in reading, a large urban school district provided a group of 2,227 students performing…

This study was aimed to investigate the potential negative impact that positive (e.g., praise and rewards) and punitive (e.g., sending students to the office) disciplinary techniques, commonly used within the Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) approach, have on students' prosocial motivation, and how aspects of…

Understanding the contribution of the whole-school staff to health education (HE) is an important goal in HE research. This study aimed to identify the views of staff (principals; teachers; school nurses and doctors; counsellors and administrative, maintenance, canteen and cleaning staff) regarding the nature of their contribution to HE. The…

Sixth grade is a pivotal time in school, as students culminate their elementary school years and anticipate junior high school. At this age, students become more involved in trends, especially technological trends. When students can utilize the same type of technology inside and outside of school, their self-efficacy may increase. Hypothetically,…

In recent decades, much attention has been focused on student achievement in the United States. Many policy initiatives have been attempted in an effort to bolster achievement, including increasing school revenue, decreasing class size, expanding early childhood programs, and introducing vouchers and charter schools, to name a few, but not all of…

Over the last several years, educational policy has advocated for a preventive approach to keep problem behaviors from escalating and interfering with student achievement. Proactive methodologies such as school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) and response to intervention (RTI) have become common practice in school districts across the…