Teacher self-efficacy, the belief teachers have that they can make a difference for their students or have a positive impact on their students' academic careers, has been studied for years. Very little is known about teacher self-efficacy in school librarians, however. The following study examined the difference in school librarians' teacher…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of a relationship between second-order change leadership behaviors of high school administrators and changes in student achievement on the Florida Standards Assessment English Language Arts/Reading component and the Algebra 1 End of Course examination in two large urban school districts.…

This study examined the high schools' state tests performances in mathematics, reading, and science of an open-enrollment STEM-focused charter school system,Harmony Public Schools(HPS), between 2010 and 2013, and compared them with the performance of matched traditional public schools (TPS) in Texas. After propensity score matching, 12 HPS schools…

The action research study described in this report outlines the design and implementation of a unit of blended instruction in a traditional high school English classroom. Twenty technical high school students in an 11th grade Honors English class engaged in a variety of internet-based activities in conjunction with traditional learning activities…

Previous research has demonstrated a correlation between student demographic factors and standardized test scores in Florida. The researcher examined the impact teacher beliefs and instructional practices had on students' performance on Florida Comprehensive Reading Assessment Test in 10th grade. Teachers at four schools with a majority of at-risk…

As teacher educators, we continue to focus on tutoring experiences as ways to help tutors connect coursework to practice. This study presents a preservice tutoring program designed to provide a field-based experience where the tutors would be able to (a) learn about literacy instruction, (b) use a multitude of assessment data rather than…

Many educational testing programs report examinee performance at more than two levels of proficiency. Whether these assessments have the capacity to support these multiple inferences, though, is a topic that has not been widely discussed. This study proposes a method for evaluating the minimum number of measurement opportunities for reporting…

Given the increased risk factors in the transition from middle school to high school, this study tracked academic and school discipline records for students receiving general and special education services as they transitioned from Grade 8 to Grade 9. The authors employed analysis of variance and structural equation modeling to determine the…

This paper analyzes the relationship between age at arrival and immigrant-receiving high schools (i.e., enclave schools) on the academic performance of first- and second-generation immigrant children using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). The CILS survey was conducted in two major immigrant-receiving cities in the…

The journey toward 100% proficiency is most successful when a whole school works as a team. School leaders must focus their school's energy and effort on schoolwide initiatives that will make the changes needed to increase student learning and improve students' scores on state tests. The structure of the school and the collaboration of the faculty…

A technique for measuring comprehension of lengthy prose is presented. The "textual segmentation" procedure requires subjects to partition text into complete, meaningful units such as paragraphs, chapters, and books. Potential applications of textual segmentation include measurement of reading comprehension, readability, and criteria for…

Studied differences in the types of errors made by students with disabilities on a multiple choice reading test administered under oral reading accommodations. Findings for 2,999 high school students suggest that it is safe to adhere the same meaning to test scores for disability groups even when the test is administered under different…

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the average 17-year-old today is no more proficient at reading or mathematics than his counterpart in 1970. Some progress has been made by 9- and 13-year-olds, but the gains evaporate by the time these students reach the end of their K-12 experience. The average 17-year-old…

This study examined the effect of oral administration accommodations on test structure and student performance on the Reading test of the South Carolina High School Exit Examination (HSEE). The examination was given at Grade 10 and was untimed; hence, students were permitted as much time as they needed to answer all the questions. Three groups of…

Reviews recent research on reading comprehension and textbook content and provides examples of several instructional strategies designed to aid students in understanding textbook passages. (JDH)