This study addressed the issue of low reading proficiency in Kentucky's students with disabilities, potentially exacerbated by post-third-grade curriculum changes. This quasi-experimental ex post facto comparative study aims to determine differences in the grade four reading achievement gap in students with disabilities compared to students…

Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT) is a text- and discourse-based set of instructional practices that engage students with disciplinary texts as a means of building content knowledge and improving reading comprehension. PACT)s "efficacy" has been the subject of extensive previous trials. The purpose of this study was to…

This research with middle school students from Kentucky (KY) and Nevada (NV) provides a snapshot of students' spatial-scientific understandings as we explored how well students understand lunar-related content, both spatially and scientifically, after receiving instruction with similar curricular Earth-Space content. Utilizing a lens of spatial…

As parents, communities, educators, and policymakers continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning in America, many have turned to recently released results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP measures what students know and what they can do in several tested subjects, including reading,…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted face-to-face instruction in schools across the United States and the world. Using the Online Student Connectedness Survey (OSCS), we analyzed data from three middle schools in a suburban school district in the southeastern United States in order to determine if there were any statistically significant interaction…

Study Objectives: To prospectively examine changes in adolescent sleep before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in adolescents with and without ADHD. Methods: Participants were 122 adolescents (ages 15-17; 61% male; 48% with ADHD). Parents reported on adolescents' sleep duration and difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep (DIMS); adolescents…

This study explores the impact of professional learning communities on student achievement in a small school setting. Aaron Hansen's book, "How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools," offered a guide for arranging vertical, grade-level teams with one teacher per grade level at one private, K-8 school. The faculty engaged in…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2017 pilot study of the Middle School Transcript Study (MSTS) is the first NAEP transcript study to focus on the middle school level, collect student coursetaking data at the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) level, and rely solely on the electronic submission of course catalogs and…

The necessity and lack of reading proficiency has been researched thoroughly. Many administrators, along with educators, are constantly looking for a means to increase reading proficiency. Districts nationwide are spending money on professional development to increase reading proficiency. The purpose of this study was to examine data in search of…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the progress being made to close the current achievement gap in Kentucky. Guiding the study is the following research question: Which districts are closing racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps at rates that exceed expectations? The authors assess districts' progress in closing racial and…

This study was designed to investigate the influence of poverty and parent marital status on eighth grade student achievement as measured by the EXPLORE, a precursor to the ACT. The sample included 520 eighth grade students at a middle school in West Kentucky--parent marital status, free/reduced lunch status, and EXPLORE test scores were obtained…

Charter schools are the most popular alternative to traditional public schooling in the United States. The majority of research indicates positive effects of charter schools on student performance in traditional public schools. Most studies use the share of charter school students enrolled as a measure of the competitive pressure of charter…

Understanding factors that foster resilience and buffer against the negative psychological impact of COVID-19 is critical to inform efforts to promote adjustment, reduce risk, and improve care, particularly for adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders. This prospective longitudinal study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of the…

"Literacy Design Collaborative" aims to help teachers improve their effectiveness in the classroom with a focus on supporting their literacy instruction. "Literacy Design Collaborative" provides professional development, coaching, and resources to support teachers to work collaboratively in their schools to create and use…

"Literacy Design Collaborative" aims to help teachers improve their effectiveness in the classroom with a focus on supporting their literacy instruction. "Literacy Design Collaborative" provides professional development, coaching, and resources to support teachers to work collaboratively in their schools to create and use…