Although several longitudinal studies have confirmed that need-supportive teacher behaviour shapes intrinsic motivation in school, longitudinal studies on its role for intrinsic reading motivation are lacking. To fill in this gap, this study investigated whether changes in selected aspects of student-perceived teacher need-supportive behaviour in…

This study estimates the causal impact of 8th grade English learner (EL) reclassification on high school English language arts (ELA) standardized test scores, SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) reading, and on-track to graduate status. I apply a regression discontinuity design to rich administrative data from a large district in California. The…

Learning in general education contexts enhances access to general curriculum content for students with disabilities. However, few intervention studies focused on general education content have been conducted in general education settings. The current study provides preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of a literacy intervention using…

A data set from an urban Midwestern school district was mined to explore how the technology-based reading enrichment known as Mindplay Virtual Reading Coach (MVRC) affects children's performance on the English Language Arts (ELA) Standards state-wide assessment (N = 6098 students from Grades 3 to 9). ELA data from two times points were available,…

Schools use an array of strategies to match curricula and instruction to students' heterogeneous skills. Although generations of scholars have debated ''tracking'' and its consequences, the literature fails to account for diversity of school-level sorting practices. In this article, we draw on the work of Sørensen and others to articulate and…

This study examined the relationship between ninth-grade students' use of connectives (temporal, causal, adversative, and additive) in functional writing and performance on standards-based/criterion-referenced measures of reading and writing. Specifically, structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to examine the relationship between…

Students' initial eagerness and excitement for learning to read are evident when they enter primary grades. Their levels of enthusiasm for reading diminish through elementary (Eccles, Wigfield, Harold, & Blumenfeld, 1993; Mazzoni, Gambell, & Koreamaki, 1999) and middle school (McKenna & Kearn, 1990; Oldfather & McLaughlin, 1993)…

In this report, we examine the feasibility of characterizing writing performance using process features derived from a keystroke log. Using data derived from a set of "CBAL"™ writing assessments, we examine the following research questions: (a) How stable are the keystroke timing and process features across testing occasions?; (b) How…

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between virtual school size and student achievement in virtual schools in a southwestern state. Enrollment size and the following areas were studied in an attempt to determine student achievement: STAAR English Language Arts/Reading, STAAR Math, STAAR Science, and STAAR Social Studies…

This study investigated the relationship between academic achievement scores for Hispanic and all students within Tennessee. The study compared the measurement of achievement scores by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) on standardized Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) evaluations for 5th-grade students and Gateway exams…

Students enter secondary classrooms armed with attributions for their own successes or failures, informed by experiences in and out of school, but it is unclear to what degree these attributions affect achievement. Additionally, while the influence teacher expectations can have on student achievement is well documented, students' perceptions of…

Development of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and the creation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), changes the pattern of accountability testing. These changes raise the question: "How should NAEP's validity and utility be…

Parental involvement is viewed as critical to the development of effective schools and student achievement. The relationship between parental involvement and achievement test scores at a rural high school in Florida was not known. This high school has not met the state standards as determined by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT)…

Background: Chronotype refers to individuals' preference for morning or evening activities. Its two dimensions (morningness and eveningness) are related to a number of academic outcomes. Aims: The main goal of the study was to investigate the incremental validity of chronotype as a predictor of academic achievement after controlling for a number…

Historically, teacher-assigned grades have been seen as unreliable subjective measures of academic knowledge, since grades and standardized tests have traditionally correlated at about the 0.5 to 0.6 level, and thus explain about 25-35% of each other. However, emerging literature indicates that grades may be a multidimensional assessment of both…