Background: Early-grade reading proficiency is well documented as in important factor for later academic success. Researchers and educators consider the achievement of reading proficiency by the end of grade three to be crucial to future academic success and financial independence (Hein et al., 2013; La Paro & Pianta, 2000; Singh, 2013). As…

Elementary music teachers are required to attend long-term, campus-wide professional development outside their content area. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to better understand how elementary music teachers in a North Texas and a South-Central Colorado school district who have had five or more years of teaching experience…

Data about English Learner (EL) students in the United States are more plentiful than ever. Under the federal "Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015" (ESSA), states must report a wide range of information about their students' English language arts and math standardized test scores, graduation rates, and more. They must also break these…

Over the past 30 years, numerous policies have focused on closing the achievement gap in the United States. Despite this emphasis on mastery and proficiency, students continue to perform below expectations. We use standardized math test performance to explore whether schools have been able to eliminate the achievement gap across middle-level…

Research across the decades has confirmed that effective school leadership is associated with better outcomes for students and schools. A high-quality school leader affects dozens of teachers and hundreds or thousands of students. It is a pivotal role. From 2011 to 2016, The Wallace Foundation, through its Principal Pipeline Initiative (PPI),…

Across the country, effort is underway to restrict discussion, learning, and student support related to race and gender/sexual identity in educational settings, targeting schools with state legislation and politicians' orders; national conservative media and organizations; Board directives; and local actors wielding media-fueled talking points. To…

Response to intervention (RTI) was included in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), specifically as part of an assessment process to determine if a child has a disability. Although IDEA's focus is on students with disabilities, 10 states have developed policies that attend to students with gifts and…

The Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act requires grade-level attainment in literacy in English for students in grades K-3. Its practical outcome, however, has been to pressure schools with bilingual programs to shift their instructional language allocations towards more English in the early grades. Proposed rule revisions debated…

The author's purpose for this article is to examine the use of the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework to meet the needs of a continuum of learners, from those who most struggle to those in need of advanced educational opportunities. Through classroom observations, teacher interviews, and dialogue with the site-based Problem-Solving Team,…

Background: School-located vaccination (SLV) offers an opportunity to deliver vaccines to students, particularly those without a primary care provider. Methods: This SLV program offered 2 clinics at each of 20 elementary schools (influenza vaccine) and 3 clinics at each of 7 middle/preschool-eighth-grade schools (adolescent platform plus catch-up…

Data systems that use monolingual language frameworks to understand the reading achievement of third-grade students provide inadequate information about emerging bilingual (EB) learners. The authors of this research study apply two competing ideologies (parallel monolingualism and holistic bilingualism) to interpret one set of data. Their findings…

School leadership is synonymous with challenge. However, some school leaders face true crises--situations threatening the continuing existence of their school. "Leading Schools During Crisis" analyzes leadership and behaviors of principals in these extraordinary circumstances. A simultaneously scholarly and practice-oriented book,…

With decreasing enrollment, decreasing funding for public school education, changes in family and societal needs, and the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, policymakers and school leaders are wrestling with reforms to the school calendar and instructional time spent in the classroom, with the goal of increasing student achievement.…

This report presents findings about the relationship between participation in the Title I school choice and supplemental educational services options and student achievement from the National Longitudinal Study of "No Child Left Behind" (NLS-"NCLB"). A key component of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001"…

The intent of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 is to hold schools accountable for ensuring that all their students achieve mastery in reading and math, with a particular focus on groups that have traditionally been left behind. Under NCLB, states submit accountability plans to the U.S. Department of Education detailing the rules and…