Charter schools have been growing in the United States and worldwide over the past two decades, and there is considerable interest in how they affect students remaining in traditional public schools (TPSs). Charter schools present important policy questions, as they often compete for the same students, educators, and resources as TPSs. This brief…

Reading scores have not made a significant shift since the 1990's when national and state standardized assessments initially tested grade level reading comprehension (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], n.d. & Florida Department of Education [FLDOE], n.d.). In addition, when analyzing subgroups, economically disadvantaged students…

This case study was designed to determine the extent to which standardized mathematics and reading scores in traditional public school differ before and after the introduction of a public charter school in central Florida rural cities. The purpose of the quantitative casual-comparative research study was to determine the impact to the traditional…

Purpose: There are extensive concerns about the size of speech-language caseloads in schools. However, little empirical data exist regarding the patterns of speech-language services enrollment. We reviewed data from several hundred schools in a large state to explore the role of school-level factors in speech-language case enrollment. Method:…

This study examined the heterogeneity of literacy profiles for adolescents with and without a specific learning disability (SLD) in the U.S. state of Florida Student subgroups displaying common patterns of performance in word-level skills and reading comprehension were identified through latent profile analysis. Results indicate most of the total…

Public policies often target individuals but within-family externalities of such interventions are understudied. Using a regression discontinuity design, we document how a third grade retention policy affects both the target children and their younger siblings. The policy improves test scores of both children while the spillover is up to 30% of…

Public school leaders have searched for solutions to disruptive student behavior and its effect on academic concerns. As a result, research-based behavior models such as school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) were used to adjust student behavior with the goal of improving academic achievement; therefore, there is a necessity to understand…

Expansion of the use of student test score data to measure teacher performance has fueled recent policy interest in using those data to measure the effects of school administrators as well. However, little research has considered the capacity of student performance data to uncover principal effects. Filling this gap, this article identifies…

We use remarkable population-level administrative education and birth records from Florida to study the role of Long-Term Orientation on the educational attainment of immigrant students living in the US. Controlling for the quality of schools and individual characteristics, students from countries with long-term oriented attitudes perform better…

This research explores the differences in revenue reported after accounting for charter funds passing through district budgets between Florida's traditional schools and charter schools at both the state level and the individual district level. Differences in the percentage of the revenues the schools are expending on instructional services are…

This paper is a research dissertation based on a qualitative case study conducted on Teachers' Experiences within a Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM) process. The study site was a Title I elementary school in a large school district in Central Florida. Background information is given in relation to the need for research that was conducted on the…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2013 Grade 12 Reading and Mathematics State Pilot assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. This report presents the results for Florida's 2013 student achievement in reading. In…

As part of its effective teaching initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with three urban school districts across the U.S. and a group of four charter management organizations to undertake a strategic set of human capital reforms. A key objective of the "Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching" program was to…

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international comparative study of student achievement. In 2011, PIRLS was administered to nationally representative samples of 4th-grade students in 53 education systems around the world. The PIRLS assessment measures student performance on a combined reading literacy scale, as…

State education leaders are often interested in identifying schools that have demonstrated success with improving the literacy of students who are at the highest level of risk for reading difficulties. The identification of these schools that are "beating the odds" is typically accomplished by comparing a school's observed performance on…