A comparison of Chicago public school students' standardized test scores in 2009-2014 with those of public students across the U.S. reveals two striking patterns. First, Chicago students' scores improved dramatically more, on average, between third and eighth grade than those of the average student in the U.S. This is true for students of all…

This executive summary provides highlights from the full evaluation report (published separately) that describes program outcomes for students in APIE's Middle School Math and College Readiness Coaching Programs in the 2016-2017 school years. [For the full report, see ED626453.]

With the increased emphasis on college and career readiness resulting from the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the need for students to be able to read and write proficiently has become well established. Social studies teachers are now expected to teach nonfiction reading and writing skills in their content-area courses. Many…

All classrooms are active social systems; the middle school classroom involves complex interactions between and among peers as well as between students and teachers. In the elementary years, attention is often given to nurturing students and fostering relationships, yet when young adolescents transition to the middle school, a focus on control and…

In the current context of high stakes testing, school literacy is often defined by standardized literacy assessments--most state tests require students to demonstrate proficiency on specific kinds of writing tasks and reading material. Today, where schools and teachers exist in an environment of increased accountability, stakeholders who…

In many cases, teachers shy away from including much writing because of the many hours it requires to read and provide substantial feedback on such papers. Yet writing is widely understood as critically important to learning (Applebee & Langer, 2013; Mayher, 1983; Zinsser, 1989). This article describes a program from the Northwest Arkansas…

The purpose for this correlational, cross-sectional, explanatory was to explain the influence of the length of the school day on the total percentage of students who scored Proficient or Advanced Proficient (TPAP) on the New Jersey Ask (NJ ASK) in Language Arts and Mathematics in Grades 6-8 in for student populations with low, median, and high…

The article examines the results of two quasi-experimental studies of the implementation and impact of the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC), an intervention designed to support secondary teachers' transition to Common Core State Standards in English language arts. The first study examines LDC implementation by eighth-grade social studies and…

This report provides an overview of the process used to derive a school's growth level and summarizes 2015 math and reading/ELA growth levels for all AISD elementary, middle and high schools. Additionally, longitudinal data are provided for each school level.

The population of English language learners (ELLs) within the US has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years, thereby escalating the need for teachers to be knowledgeable in how to teach these students. However, research indicates that many teachers are not receiving adequate English as a Second Language (ESL) professional development.…

The purpose of this pretest-posttest control group experimental study was to see the effect of classroom walkthroughs on middle school teacher motivation. The independent variable was; classroom walkthroughs and the four dependent variables were teachers' self-concept of the ability to affect student achievement, teachers' attitude toward the…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the concept of the ninth grade academy structure in Texas high schools affects a variety of variables indicative of student achievement. Data representative of performance by students served in 30 schools with a separately structured ninth grade academy were compared to data representative of…

Adolescents' peer networks tend to segregate by relative language proficiency, but students from all linguistic backgrounds benefit academically from classroom peer relationships both within and across English learner (EL) and non-EL classified groups. We drew upon social network analysis of student survey data in 46 English and math middle school…

Existing research on self-management skills shows that measures of self-management predict student success. However, these conclusions are based on small samples or narrowly defined self-management measures. Using a rich longitudinal dataset of 221,840 fourth through seventh grade students, this paper describes self-management gaps across student…

Students are growing up in a digital world where technology is constantly changing and evolving. However, their use of these technologies is often more social rather than academically as a way to advance their understanding of key concepts or skills as it relates to instructional content. Teachers know how to teach, and our students are definitely…