This brief is an addendum to an earlier report, "Getting on Track to Graduation" (see ED613890) published in May 2018 by the Philadelphia Education Research Consortium (Crofton and Neild, 2018). Focusing on two cohorts of first-time ninth grade students (the Classes of 2019 and 2020), Getting on Track to Graduation examined the extent to…

One approach to reducing persistent racial/ethnic achievement gaps is to tackle their social-psychological dimensions, including the negative consequences of stereotype threat and other identity threats in school. Initial research suggested that a particularly promising approach is brief self-affirmation writing exercises for 7th grade students;…

Dropping out of high school is related to a number of negative outcomes. For example, the median income of persons ages 18 through 67 who had not completed high school was roughly $26,000 in 2013. By comparison, the median income of persons ages 18 through 67 who completed their education with at least a high school credential (i.e., a regular…

This report describes the results of a REL Southeast study using the Florida Department of Education staffing database to describe the demographic make-up, Florida Educator Certificate coverages, career paths from 2001/02 to 2011/12, and evaluation ratings of Florida's educational leaders (i.e., assistant principals and principals) in the 2011/12…

Past studies have shown positive correlations between the arts and academic achievement when the arts were integrated into the literature curriculum. Other studies have shown positive associations between the arts and other areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics and science. Considering the Theory of Change, which employs understandings in…

PISA 2012 results indicate that school systems that group students based on ability levels tend to have lower performance than those that do not divide students by ability. One way some in the United States have sought to increase equity of opportunity is to mandate enrollment of students in college-preparatory mathematics, i.e., Algebra 1 in…

In this study, we use the US nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort to examine inequalities in opportunities to learn mathematics. Specifically, we examine the characteristics of US students' elementary school math teachers and the instruction they provide. While our findings are consistent with previous…

New York City's elite public specialized high schools have a long history of offering a rigorous college preparatory education to the City's most academically talented students. Though immensely popular and highly selective, their policy of admitting students on the basis of a single entrance exam has been heavily criticized. Many argue, for…

In this follow-up to "Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude? Performance Trends of Top Students," the academic growth of 35,000 elementary and middle school students in 31 states, all of them high achievers within their own schools, were followed over a three-year period. Their achievement scores were matched with their associated…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the number of transitions by students from school to school on their mathematics achievement. Transition is defined as the number of times a student has changed schools from Kindergarten to the current school year. This study also looked at the relationship between the students' perceived…

This paper describes the school mobility rates for elementary and middle school students in North Carolina and attempts to estimate the effect of school mobility on the performance of different groups of students using student fixed effects models. School mobility is defined as changing schools at times that are non-promotional (e.g., moving…

In this study, the authors examined the relationship of 1,128 sixth and seventh grade students' grades in four subject areas (i.e., math, reading, science, and social studies) and their scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills (TAKS) Reading, Math, and Writing measures for the 2006-2007 school year as a function of their weight…

The SAT is designed to measure the verbal and math reasoning abilities of high school juniors and seniors. These abilities develop over a long period of time and are independent of a particular school curriculum. The performance of seventh and eighth graders on the SAT is amazing, especially when considering their age. Although these students do,…

For more than 250 years, Americans have shared a vision of a democracy in which all citizens understand, appreciate, and engage actively in civic and political life. In recent decades, however, increasing numbers of Americans have disengaged from civic and political institutions such as voluntary associations, religious congregations,…