This research study investigated the effects of preschool dosage on kindergarten readiness in an urban school district (n= 1,464). This study was guided by one research question: do children who attend two years of structured early childhood education programming (3-year-old and 4-year-old pre-k) demonstrate stronger academic skills than their…

Mass shootings in schools raise important questions about how best to keep individuals safe and increase survivability in such situations. One of the most common techniques used is lockdown drills, which train individuals to build time and space between them and the threat. Despite their use in 95% of public K-12 schools nationwide, their efficacy…

Effective K-12 leaders remain a central concern for schools and communities of all types. The purpose of this research is to examine critically the literature on issues facing leaders in rural and urban settings and present a synthesis of cross-cutting themes. The authors reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on K-12 leadership issues…

"Math Expressions" is a curriculum for students in prekindergarten through sixth grade that aims to build students' conceptual understanding of mathematics and to develop fluency in mathematical problem solving and computation. The curriculum encourages student learning of mathematics through real-world situations, visual supports such…

We examined relations between parent involvement and kindergarten students' behavior problems in classrooms with varying levels of teacher emotional support. Multi-informant data were collected on "n" = 255 low-income Black and Hispanic students, and "n" = 60 kindergarten classrooms in the baseline year of an intervention…

This 19th annual edition of "Quality Counts" takes a broad look at the issues and forces shaping the discussion around early-childhood education. It examines how new academic demands and the push for accountability are changing the nature of early-childhood education for school administrators, teachers, and children alike. Reporters…

Research Findings: Racial/ethnic minority low-income children with temperaments high in negative reactivity are at heightened risk for developing disruptive behavior problems. Teacher-child relationships characterized by high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict may protect against the development of disruptive behaviors in school. The…

The goal of this research is to seek information from the Cleveland (Ohio) and Buffalo (New York) area kindergarten teachers about their experience in development of caring dispositions in children. Two hundred questionnaires were sent, one hundred to each city. There was a low response rate of less than 10% from both cities. A qualitative method…

Recent evidence suggests that invented spelling is valuable in predicting reading development, revealing which prereading skills children possess and still need to learn, and promoting development of early literacy skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of letter-sound knowledge, phoneme awareness, and word reading…

Studies show that the mathematics test-score gap is evident at every level of schooling and can be linked to students' earlier performance. For example, a mathematics performance gap was found in children as young as three years of age (Case & Griffin, 1990; Jordan, Huttenlocher, & Levine, 1992). Addressing the mathematics performance gap…

It's no secret that many school programs don't give children enough opportunity to explore the natural world--i.e., to "mess about" and to have firsthand experience with nature and animals. Not so at the Muscota New School in New York City! This innovative public elementary school actively promotes inquiry-based learning and encourages…

This double issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" focuses on one of the central components of complementary learning: family involvement. As outlined in the Theory & Practice article, investments in family involvement are important across ages and settings and through the co-constructed efforts and shared responsibilities of many…

Inverness Research studied the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Seminars on Science program for eight years, from its inception in 1998 to 2006. This paper presents teacher survey ratings for "The Diversity of Fishes", along with profiles of two teachers who took the course. Course takers report on the annual follow-up surveys…

The Commissioner of Education presents facts relating to State reports, recess or no recess, school legislation; statistics of correspondents of the Bureau; growth of education in the United States; school ages, summary of statistics of State systems; summary of the statistics of the last ten years; school population, enrollment, and average…

In this thirteenth annual report, the Commissioner of Education discusses the Bureau of Education's work, with a list of its publications from the year. The Commissioner also presents summary data of institutions, instructors, and students; school age, population, enrolment, and attendance; legal school ages in the United States; teachers employed…