Prior to this study, it was not known it was not known if and to what extent the adoption of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) predicts fifth-grade academic achievement in math and reading when controlling for baseline achievement in the previous grade for Native American students in rural elementary schools in Northeastern…

Researchers explored how 13 states in which policymakers have adopted an A-F school letter grade accountability system performed on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) post-policy implementation. Researchers found mixed results, with approximately half of these 13 states increasing achievement post-policy, and the other…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine if there is a significant difference in oral reading fluency and retell of third through sixth grade EL students taught using mobile devices versus no mobile devices when adjusted for pretest scores. The study examined the effect of mobile device use for ELs receiving reading intervention…

This quantitative correlational study was designed to determine if and to what extent there was a relationship between the Arizona Assessment Collaborative (AZAC) district benchmark assessment scores and the Arizona's Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching (AzMERIT) state achievement test scores for reading and math for students…

This study investigated the sustainability of Arizona "Reading First" initiative. During the Arizona "Reading First" initiative there were 121 Title 1 Arizona schools that were a part of the initiative. Since the conclusion of this initiative little research has been conducted to determine if the elements of the initiative have…

This report conducted an evaluation of the initial implementation of Reading Roots 5 and determined the program's impacts on students' reading outcomes. The study employed a one-group, pre-post correlational study design. Overall, participating students' reading achievement and fluency increased over the period when RR5 was implemented. This pilot…

Some claim that good and poor readers continue their trajectories despite intervention. This quasi-experimental study examined whether the READ 180 program helps general education, below-grade-level, Title I pre-adolescent readers improve. Participants included 82 students, grades 4-8, in public Title I elementary and middle schools. Results…

Researchers have estimated that by 2030, two of every five American public school students will be acquiring English as second language learners (Shah & Cavanagh, 2012). Providing adequate means by which ELLs can obtain both English language and academic proficiency will be paramount if they are to be successful, contributing members of their…

While top down federal policy processes continue to deliver policy as grand solutions to real and imagined problems within the nation's public schools, states continue to churn out their own layers of educational accountability policy. But it is no secret that state and federal policies and programs like No Child Left Behind and Reading First have…

We assessed the simple view of reading as a framework for Grade 3 reading comprehension in two ways. We first confirmed that a structural equation model in which word recognition, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension were assessed by multiple measures to inform each latent construct provided an adequate fit to this model in Grade 3.…

Writing is used for various purposes: to accomplish political agendas, build relationships, assert identities, positioning texts as meaningful beyond printed letters on a page. Therefore, teaching children to write is a cultural practice, an invitation to enter into a larger community where identities are created, practiced, and re-imagined using…

Prior research has contributed to our understanding about the ways teachers communicate their expectations to students, how students perceive differential teacher behaviors, and their effect on students' own perceptions of ability and achievement. Despite more than half a century of this work, historically marginalized students continue to be…

This study investigated the role of morphological awareness weaknesses in the reading difficulties encountered by Spanish-speaking language minority learners and their native English-speaking peers in sixth grade. One hundred and thirty-eight students (82 language minority learners; 56 native English speakers) were assessed on English measures of…

Research has suggested the 2001 No Child Left Behind high-stakes testing legislation has resulted in a narrowed curriculum, decreased opportunities for poor and minority students, and decreased job satisfaction among teachers and administrators. Given the considerably negative influence No Child Left Behind legislation has had on public education,…

Motivated by the multiple-measures clause of recent federal policy regarding student eligibility for alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MASs), this study examined how scores or combinations of scores from a diverse set of assessments predicted students' end-of-year proficiency status on statewide achievement…