In March of 2020, in response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of Illinois mandated the transition to remote instruction for all schools. Although schools had the option to resume in-person instruction during the 2020-21 school year (SY21), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) acknowledged that in-person instruction may not…

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was marked by a transition to remote learning in Illinois schools and nationwide. The following school year, schools and families faced difficult decisions about how and when to return to in-person learning. School leaders, parents and caregivers, and students considered how to balance…

The purpose of this study was to determine if SuccessMaker Reading had an effect on at-risk students when used with a Language Arts course. SuccessMaker Reading is a web-based system that provides reading skills practice that align with state standards. The sample of this study consisted of seventh (2019) and eighth (2018) grade classes from a…

Northwest Evaluation Association™ (NWEA™) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) interim assessment scores. One important tool is the concordance table between MAP and state summative assessments. Concordance tables have been used for decades to relate scores on…

"TAP"™: "The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP™)" is an educator effectiveness program that aims to improve student achievement through supports and incentives for teachers. Based on the research, "TAP"™ teachers were found to have no discernible effects on student achievement in science, English…

This report describes a program that used both critical and creative thinking skills to enhance the educational process in language arts. The targeted population consisted of fourth- and seventh-grade students in two growing, middle-class communities located in northern Illinois. The lack of higher-order thinking skills was documented through…

A project developed a program for improving deficient student-to-student listening skills. The targeted population consisted of 18 seventh-grade middle school students in a culturally diverse, lower middle class community in a near-western suburb of Chicago. The problem of deficient listening skills was evident through teacher observation and…

This report describes a program for improving moral character to increase academic achievement. Targeted population consisted of middle school students in a growing middle class community in a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The problem, an absence of proper moral character, was documented through data collected from discipline referrals to…