This research study investigates the impact of the rapid transition from paper-based to online administration of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams on student performance in a South Texas school district. The transition, mandated by House Bill 3261, presented Texas public schools with a tight timeline for adapting…

Reading depends on the integration of both cognitive and motivational factors, yet reading motivation has received little attention in the research literature. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Baylor Revision of the Motivation to Read Survey (B-MRS; Watkins & Browning, 2015) with a sample of…

Schools often track students to classes based on ability. Proponents of tracking argue it is a low-cost tool to improve learning since instruction is more effective when students are more homogeneous, while opponents argue it exacerbates initial differences in opportunities without strong evidence of efficacy. In fact, little is known about the…

The article aims to provide relevant data that speaks to current campus needs in a time of pandemic-affected era transitional learning in PK-12 public education. As current educational leaders seek to address the academic and behavioral needs of students, the findings from this research study taken during COVID-19 protocols express three areas of…

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) prepares an annual report on graduates and dropouts in Texas public secondary schools. This report includes state summaries of the annual dropout rate, longitudinal graduation and dropout rates, and state attrition rates. In addition to statewide statistics, the report provides historical information about dropout…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a selected set of school-related variables predicted whether middle schools on opposite ends of the school size spectrum--rural and major urban--were able to meet or exceed the average passing rate on the 8th grade State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading exams. The "Texas…

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…

This report highlights the results of Austin ISD 4th- and 8th-grade students on the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation's Report Card.

As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, public school educators encountered several difficulties acquiring and integrating curriculum online. The problem addressed in this study was the negative effect online curriculum implementation had on student achievement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory case…

Background/Context: Students designated as English Learners (ELs) account for 10.4 percent of all students nationwide but have historically been provided unequal access to educational resources (Gándara et al., 2003; National Center for Education Statistics, 2023). Further, education policies are often blind to ELs' strengths and challenges,…

More than a quarter of all U.S. students in grades K-12 are Latinx. Examining what Latinx texts are included in classroom literature anthologies is essential to ensuring cultural representativeness of the increasing Latinx student population, especially in states such as Texas and California, whose Hispanic student population is more than 40…

Region 14 Comprehensive Center and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) are collaboratively implementing projects to address high leverage problems such as instructional leadership professional development, school-based mental health supports, and evidence-based reading instruction. This profile provides a summary of these selected projects and an…

This study examines the educational outcomes of Latino men in Texas by conducting a descriptive policy-focused disaggregate analysis of longitudinal data from the 8th Grade Cohort Longitudinal Study and the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS). Based on our analysis, we provide context and understanding of the progress made towards meeting…

Well-informed decisions on curricular materials can be an efficient way to boost student achievement. Prior studies have employed experimental and quasi-experimental designs to investigate the effects of textbooks on mathematics achievement. This is the first study to consider textbook effects in social studies education. Within the context of a…

This annual report provides information for the 2021-22 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…