Using testing data from 2.1 million students in 10,000 schools in 49 states (plus D.C.), we investigate the role of remote and hybrid instruction in widening gaps in achievement by race and school poverty. We find that remote instruction was a primary driver of widening achievement gaps. Math gaps did not widen in areas that remained in-person…

California's shift towards continuous improvement in education makes understanding how districts and schools can learn to improve a more pressing question than ever. The CORE Improvement Community (CIC), a network of California school districts engaged in learning about improvement together, is an important testing ground to learn about what this…

This research examined the influence of contrasting instructional approaches on children's decision-making competence. A total of 764 fifth graders, mostly African Americans and Hispanic Americans, from 36 classrooms in eight public schools serving children from low-income families completed a six-week unit on wolf management, using either direct…

The purpose of this article is to illustrate a seven-step process for determining whether inferential reading items were more susceptible to cultural bias than literal reading items. The seven-step process was demonstrated using multiple-choice data from the reading portion of a reading/language arts test for fifth and seventh grade Hispanic,…

This study examined the sociolinguistic contexts of neighborhoods and schools in two predominantly Latino communities in the United States. We used census data to assess social and ethnic composition and observational data to compare and contrast environmental print, language use, and availability of community services in Spanish in these schools…

In this paper, we present a closer look at the student achievement trends in the District of Columbia between 2006-07 and 2012-13. We have three main conclusions. First, we find that overall, math scores in the District have improved. The improvements in reading scores during this time frame, however, were primarily limited to the first year after…

In the Fall of 2004, 1,948 5th grade students from Phoenix, AZ enrolled in an evaluation of a school-based, substance use prevention intervention. To assess the consistency of Mexican and Mexican-American students' self-reports of lifetime substance use, the present study analyzed data reported by 1,418 students who reported Mexican ancestry and…

Over nearly three decades, the Public Policy Forum has collected and analyzed education data to report on the demographics, academic performance, and finances of public schools and districts in southeast Wisconsin. This 29th annual public schools report continues that tradition with updated analyses of new data and trends to shed light on the…

AISD's Spanish English language learner students' (ELLs) 6th-grade TAKS reading passing rates declined from 2008 to 2011, possibly due to the increased number of Spanish ELLs who exited language programs prior to 6th grade and increasing state academic achievement standards in Spring 2010.

Promising research on the teaching and learning impact of classroom-embedded formative assessment has spawned interest in a broader array of assessment tools and practices, including interim assessment. Although researchers have begun to explore the impact of interim assessments in the classroom, like other assessment tools and practices, they…

The authors examined the degree to which disparities in parent and child acculturation are linked to both family and child adjustment. With a sample of 1st- and 2nd-generation Mexican American children, acculturation and parent-child relationship quality at 5th grade, and parent-child conflict, child internalizing, and child externalizing at 7th…

This study postulated a structural model to investigate the degree of influence that White middle-level teachers who employ mastery goal orientation and academic pressure may have on Hispanic students' sense of school belongingness. Participants were 434 5th and 6th grade students and 21 teachers. Initial proposed model estimates fit the data…

In 2000, Cook, Murphy, and Hunt published a multilevel study of Chicago inner-city schools in order to evaluate James Comer's School Development Program (SDP). One main finding was that SDP reduced the rate of change and final posttest mean when delinquency was assessed annually between Grades 5 and 8 using a self-report measure of acting out. The…

This study examined information-processing variables in relation to worry in a sample of 292 fifth-grade children from Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic backgrounds. Results revealed that worry was related to threat interpretations for hypothetical situations and, when stress level was not controlled, to higher estimates of future…

This study examined the relationship between overt and relational peer victimization and depression in a sample of predominantly Mexican American students in Grades 3 through 5 in a Southwestern U.S. school district. Acculturation level was assessed and included as an independent variable along with gender and grade (a proxy for age). Fifty six…