Randomized experiments involving education interventions are typically implemented as cluster randomized trials, with schools serving as clusters. To design such a study, it is critical to understand the degree to which learning outcomes vary between versus within clusters (schools), specifically the intraclass correlation coefficient. It is also…

Purpose: To assess strengths and weaknesses of the reading level (RL) match approach and its potential to generate insights regarding the cognitive foundations of reading ability and disability. Method: We applied RL-match design to a sample of 2nd-6th graders reading a consistent orthography, Russian, using an "extreme phenotype"…

Directions used in curriculum-based measurement of reading (CBM-R) currently ask students to "do your best reading." The purpose of this study was to examine whether varying these verbal directions would affect CBM-R performance and whether these alternative directions would influence the important relation between CBM-R performance and…

An appropriate estimate of statistical power is critical for the design of intervention studies. Although the inclusion of a pretest covariate in the test of the primary outcome can increase statistical power, samples selected on the basis of pretest performance may demonstrate range restriction on the selection measure and other correlated…

Skill in generating inferences predicts reading comprehension for students in the elementary and intermediate grades even after taking into account word reading, vocabulary knowledge, and cognitive ability (Cain et al., "Journal of Educational Psychology, 96," 671-81, 2004; Kendeou et al., "Journal of Research in Reading, 31,"…

Skill in generating inferences predicts reading comprehension for students in the elementary and intermediate grades even after taking into account word reading, vocabulary knowledge, and cognitive ability (Cain et al., "Journal of Educational Psychology, 96," 671-81, 2004; Kendeou et al., "Journal of Research in Reading," 31,…

We present the results of a study of local education agency (LEA)-based interventions to improve the reading outcomes of struggling readers in sixth grade. The sample included 1,076 intervention students and 3,644 comparison students. Regression discontinuity was used to evaluate intervention impact. The study contributes to the field by…

A subset of students fail to respond adequately to reading interventions. This synthesis systematically reviews studies in which students in grades K-3 responded inadequately to a Tier 2 reading intervention and were provided with a Tier 3 intervention. Descriptions of the Tier 3 reading interventions and effects are provided. To meet inclusion…

This study examined the effectiveness of Zipfian frequency at facilitating the acquisition of English prenominal past participles. Chinese middle school students (N = 103) were randomly assigned to a sequenced Zipfian frequency (SZF) group, a random Zipfian frequency (RZF) group, a balanced frequency (BF) group, and a control group. A mixed…

Background/context: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only comparative assessment of academic competencies regularly administered to nationally representative samples of students enrolled in Grades 4, 8, and 12. Because NAEP is a low-stakes assessment, there are long-standing questions about the level of engagement and…

This paper provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing and analyzing studies that randomize schools--which comprise three levels of clustering (students in classrooms in schools)--to measure intervention effects on student academic outcomes when information on the middle level (classrooms) is missing. This situation arises…

Proposes a research design for estimating for a given population the extent to which items with high context dependence (CD) measure a construct that is independent from that measured by items with low CD, shows how this design can be used empirically to compare the utility of alternate CD indices, and provides findings of two studies. (HOD)

The validity of the equipercentile hypothesis of the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System norm-referenced evaluation model was examined using 3,224 seventh- and ninth-grade students. Findings from confidence interval procedures contradicted the equipercentile hypothesis. There was a pattern of large gains for students not receiving any special…

The Rasch model was used to equate reading comprehension tests of widely different difficulty for three groups of fifth grade students of widely different ability. Under these extreme circumstances, the Rasch model equating was unsatisfactory. (Author/CTM)

The Education Voucher Demonstration began in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District during the 1972-73 school year. Under the voucher concept, parents freely select a school for their child and receive a credit or voucher equal to the cost of the child's education that is paid directly to the school upon enrollment. It was presumed that…