The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine what, if any, impact that attending a four year old kindergarten program had on five year old kindergarteners reading ability as measured by Dominie testing, compared to those five year olds who did not attend a four year old program at Inman Elementary School. The significance of this study…

This study developed a comprehensive measure of the stringency level of NCLB states' accountability systems, including the strength of their annual measurable objectives, confidence intervals, performance indexing, retesting, minimum subgroup size, and the difficulty levels of proficiency standards. This study related accountability stringency in…

We examined the progress of kindergarteners who entered the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) in 2008-09 and in 2010-11 who were identified as limited in English proficiency (LEP). For the 2008-09 cohort, English proficiency increased steadily over time. Few were able to exit LEP status in their first three years in WCPSS (10.5%); this…

About 5.3 million English Language Learners (ELLs)--students whose primary language is not English and whose English language skills are not sufficient to keep up with classes conducted only in English--are enrolled in PK-12 public schools across the United States. The number of these students increased dramatically in ten years, from 3.5 million…

Results from national reading assessments reveal that millions of young people leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills required for career and college success. Young adults who lack reading and writing proficiency will likely be relegated to the ranks of unskilled workers in a world where literacy is an absolute…