This study delved into the critical examination of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and its integration into the English/language arts (ELA) curriculum. CRP, rooted in acknowledging and accommodating the diverse literacy levels, languages, and cultural practices of students, holds significant promise in enhancing educational equity and…

This quantitative study is primarily intended to examine whether district level performance results from Grade 8 ELA state assessments can help to predict future passing rates on AP exams. The participants for the study are all 218 K-12 school districts in New Jersey, all of which generated results across score levels and passing rates for PARCC…

Decades of federal and state education legislation enacted to increase student academic achievement and enhance school quality have pronounced impacts on teachers and their instructional practice. That impact is captured in the term intensification. Intensification is multifaceted and manifests as additional tasks accomplished simultaneously, with…

This narrative inquiry shares the stories of two teachers' collaborative experiences with their counterparts in social studies and English. The primary objective was to learn about how these teachers, within separate teaching dyads, understand and attempt to accomplish the goals of both colleagues' disciplines while planning instruction. Field…

The purpose of this study was to examine data regarding the implementation of critical components of the Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework in Minnesota public secondary schools, defined as middle and high schools that service any combination of Grades 6-12. This study's mixed method design utilized secondary data collected from the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of a relationship between second-order change leadership behaviors of high school administrators and changes in student achievement on the Florida Standards Assessment English Language Arts/Reading component and the Algebra 1 End of Course examination in two large urban school districts.…

A lack of horizontal and vertical alignment of the English language arts (ELA) curriculum exists at Lakeside High School (LHS) (pseudonym). This problem was revealed by the diverse interpretations of the ELA state standards by teachers, driven by the wide-range of teachers' beliefs about ELA instruction. Failure to establish an effective culture…

The study investigated the relationship between student proficiency on The Writing Revolution (TWR) evaluative scales and student performance on the English Language Arts Regents Exam (ELA Regents Exam). The participants (n = 54) were enrolled in an 11th grade English Language Arts Regents Preparatory class in a small urban New York City High…

This report examines one component of the current school accountability system--learning gains. We find that learning gain percentages are affected by a variety of factors including starting achievement level, socioeconomic status, and English language learner status when the current definition of learning gains is used. Hence, we propose a new…

Project OCCAMS (Online Curriculum Consortium for Accelerating Middle School) is a collaboration between the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University, the Center for Gifted Education at The College of William & Mary, and Columbus Public Schools with a goal of providing accelerated learning in language arts aimed at increasing…

Federal law requires that, at a minimum, states assess high school students at least once in English language arts/literacy (ELA), mathematics, and science; these results are used for school accountability. With states' recent transitions to new assessments and accountability systems, Achieve wanted to know more about how these varied assessments,…

This case study examines how district administrators and high school mathematics and science teachers use data in instructional decision making and what challenges they face in the current accountability context. Findings reveal unique aspects of data use directly related to a high school setting within the context of test-based accountability and…

This data book profiles noteworthy academic events, trends and outcomes at the state and complex-area level. It includes tables, figures and narrative sections related to demographic, financial and educational performance. A list of resources is provided. [For " Hawaii Department of Education Data Book, 2020. 31st Annual Report," see…

Ensuring that students graduate high school prepared for college and careers has become a national priority in the last decade. To support this goal, states have adopted rigorous college and career readiness (CCR) standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Additionally, states have begun to require students to pass assessments, in…

This study investigated direct and indirect effects of executive functions on reading comprehension in adolescents (N = 87, M = 14.0 years, SD = 1.5) by testing for parallel mediation of effects of working memory, task-switching, and inhibitory control via decoding and text recall/inference. Working memory showed direct and indirect effects on…