Graduation rates and standardized test scores are common indicators to measure student academic achievement. These indicators have revealed a gap between two socioeconomic cohorts of students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Students attending high-poverty schools have lower academic performance than students attending low-poverty schools. As a…

Identifying effective means of ameliorating achievement gaps and addressing literacy deficits is essential. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is one avenue for providing this effective instruction to the students that can most benefit from it. In the current study, kindergarten students in a public school district in Illinois received…

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…

Over the last 20 years an increasing number of districts have implemented weighted student funding (WSF) policies that distribute resources to schools in ways that more accurately reflect the level students may require and provide principals with expanded flexibility in the use of funds. This study uses an event study model to examine whether…

Black students remain under enrolled in AP courses compared to White peers, even with intentional outreach. One possible reason for this continued disparity is that Black students may choose not to enroll in AP courses where they are racially isolated. Using the 2017-2018 Civil Rights Data Collection and multilevel modeling, I examine the…

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…

English learners (ELs) in Florida face numerous challenges including low test scores, and high dropout rates, and are typically several years behind their peers when compared to other states. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental ex-post-facto study was to compare the differences between ACCESS 2.0 scores of high school ELs in…

Socioeconomic achievement gaps have long been a central focus of educational research. However, not much is known about how (and why) between-district gaps vary among states, even though states are a primary organizational level in the decentralized education system in the United States. Using data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA),…

While recent literature has pointed to the efficacy of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in providing educational intervention at an early age, there is a lack of research exploring its use in a pre-kindergarten setting. The current study assessed the efficacy of CAI on students at the start of their academic careers. The Waterford Early…

Considering instructional time is one of the most valuable and expensive resources in public education, there is nominal research examining the effectiveness of its use (Farbman, 2015). The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between the amount of extended learning time provided to eligible students at least one grade level…

English Learners (ELs) enrollment in the U.S. public schools continues to increase. ELs have various linguistic needs including listening, reading, speaking, and writing English. Often this group of students does not perform well academically on state assessments since these assessments are normally written in English and require substantial…

Despite federal and state laws and regulations that require states and local districts to provide English language learners (ELLs) with support services, prior research has indicated that ELLs are, in general, lagging behind non-ELLs in academic achievement. An unanswered question is whether the initial designation of students as ELL influences…

This brief examined the patterns of reading achievement using statewide data from all students (Grades 3-10) in multiple years to examine gaps based on student, school, and district characteristics. Results indicate reading achievement varied most between students within schools and that students' prior achievement was the strongest predictor of…

This was a quasi-experimental comparison study conducted in a rural suburban school district in Texas. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether elementary students with dyslexic tendencies, who received the Tier III, Orton-Gillingham- (O-G) based Take Flight reading intervention being piloted on two campuses, showed statistically…

The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) gifted-and-talented programs aim to support all students of exceptional learning potential within the public school system. Using proprietary data made available to us by the NYC DOE, we show, however, that substantial disparities exist in the rates of gifted-and-talented admission test taking,…