Math and English Language Arts (ELA) are two major areas that continue to show gender achievement gaps in U.S. students. Given the importance of peer relations in academic success, the degree of gender integration in classrooms in early elementary school may shift student interest and performance to lessen these gender gaps. We tested the…

Despite focused efforts, achievement gaps remain a problem in the America's education system, especially those between students from higher and lower income families. Continued work on reducing these gaps benefits from an understanding of students' reading and math growth from typical school instruction and how growth differs based on initial…

Although Montessori is the most common unconventional education model, no multi-state study has compared standardized test proficiency of Montessori schools with districts. Here we report on this for the 10 states/regions with the most public Montessori schools (n = 195). In 3rd grade, Montessori schools were less proficient in math but more…

We examined the age of onset, over-time dynamics, and mechanisms underlying science achievement gaps in U.S. elementary and middle schools. To do so, we estimated multilevel growth models that included as predictors children's own general knowledge, reading and mathematics achievement, behavioral self-regulation, sociodemographics, other child-…