Oklahoma is in the process of transitioning to new English language arts and mathematics standards that will better prepare students to be successful in college and their careers. Time, effort, and resources must be dedicated to effective implementation in order to realize the promise of these new common core state standards. This paper captures…

Texas is in the process of transitioning to new English language arts and mathematics standards that will better prepare students to be successful in college and their careers. Time, effort, and resources must be dedicated to effective implementation in order to realize the promise of these new common core state standards. This paper captures the…

Wisconsin is in the process of transitioning to new English language arts and mathematics standards that will better prepare students to be successful in college and their careers. Time, effort, and resources must be dedicated to effective implementation in order to realize the promise of these new common core state standards. This paper captures…

Wyoming is in the process of transitioning to new English language arts and mathematics standards that will better prepare students to be successful in college and their careers. Time, effort, and resources must be dedicated to effective implementation in order to realize the promise of these new common core state standards. This paper captures…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment measures students' knowledge and skills in mathematics and students' ability to apply their knowledge in problem-solving situations. At each grade, students responded to questions designed to measure what they know and can do across five mathematics content areas: number…

The Monitoring the Future (MTF) project reports annually on levels and trends in self-reported substance use by secondary school students (e.g., Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009). The reports include subgroup comparisons, and these have revealed substantial differences among race/ethnicity groups, as well as some differences…

This report provides a detailed portrait of Hispanic and White academic achievement gaps and how students' performance has changed over time at both the national and state levels. The report presents achievement gaps using reading and mathematics assessment data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for the 4th- and 8th-grade…

Extant racial-ethnic identity literature suggests some general themes about the relationship between identity and academic outcomes. However, there is a paucity of knowledge about the mechanisms that underlie those relationships. The purpose of the current study was to examine how contextual factors, including one's perception of the interracial…

This study examined the developmental effects of early parental intrinsic and extrinsic motivational strategies on mathematics achievement scores obtained from White students compared to underrepresented minority students. A latent growth curve model was fit to data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) with mathematics achievement…

Charter schools have recently emerged as popular and effective alternatives to traditional public schools. Less than two decades since charter schools first came on the scene, the nation has 4,578 charter schools dispersed across forty-one states and the District of Columbia. These schools enroll 1.4 million students, and their rapid growth shows…

A major debate among education reformers over how best to reduce the achievement gap broke out during the 2008 presidential campaign. Most advocates on both sides backed Barack Obama, but they urged him to pursue different policies. The Education Equality Project (EEP) supported a continuation of accountability and other school-focused reforms.…

This report presents results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading at grades 4 and 8. Nationally representative samples of 213,100 fourth-graders and 168,200 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading. At each grade, students responded to questions…

Existing evidence suggests that high stakes exams result in little increased learning among students. Yet, given the federal mandates for greater accountability, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and Race to the Top policies, and the "pervasive testing culture," the use of high-stakes tests is presently an accepted…

The purpose of this study was to assess the socialization skills, self-esteem, and academic readiness of African American males in a school environment. Discussions with students and the School Perceptions Questionnaire provided data for this investigation. The intended targets for this investigation were African American students; however, there…

This article describes the effects of placing Spanish-speaking students in an Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language course in the 8th grade. Fifty-eight Hispanic students in the AP class and a similar comparison group answered survey questions on parental involvement, peers, sense of belonging at school, and academic aspirations. Data gathered…