The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has periodically published reports using results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to compare the proficiency standards that states set for their students. Since standards vary across states, the results of the various state assessments cannot be used to directly compare…

Background: As technology continues to advance, language acquisition methodologies have increasingly been integrated into computer-assisted language learning (CALL) systems. In the context of Chinese language acquisition, characters are structured in three phases: the overall character, its components, and its strokes. Proficiency in identifying…

The purpose of the current research is to determine the effect of changing the English Language Art curriculum on the reading growth of fourth-grade students who attended a public school district located in a suburban community in the Northeastern part of the United States. This ex-post facto study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the…

This study reports achievement and growth from kindergarten to fourth grade for three groups of English Learners (ELs): (a) ever-ELs; (b) ELs consistently eligible for service; and (c) EL and Special Education dually-identified students. All three EL groups had lower test scores than never-ELs throughout K-4. In math, ELs grew more than never-ELs…

Background: Multiple perspectives on cognitive development, including Cattell's Investment Theory (1963, 1987), suggest that fluid reasoning (Gf) is foundational to the development of academic knowledge and skills. Yet little is known of the role that Gf may play in reading achievement, particularly in comparison with a larger literature…

The problem addressed through this study was the low levels of reading comprehension of literary and informational texts among fourth-grade students statewide. The reading workshop model and the guided reading approach are two different instructional methods used to teach reading to fourth-grade students at two school districts in Texas. The…

The advantages and disadvantages of single-sex schooling continue to be a source of policy and public debate. Previous empirical evidence is somewhat ambiguous, with some studies finding a positive impact of single-sex schooling on education achievement and others finding no differences across school types. The relationship between single-sex…

Using a national sample of kindergarten to eighth grade students from Catholic and public schools who took MAP Growth assessments, we examine achievement growth over time between sectors. Our findings suggest that while Catholic school students score higher in math and reading than public school students on average, they also enter each school…

Reading self-beliefs, comprising self-concept and self-efficacy, play a pivotal role in shaping students' learning engagement and learning outcomes. However, existing literature on the self-beliefs of school-entry students primarily originates from Western contexts, and the exploration of differences in self-beliefs, engagement in learning, and…

A fundamental assumption of multi-tiered systems of support is the bidirectional movement of students between tiers. In comparison to research on when to intensify instruction, less attention has been paid to the validity of decisions to exit students from supplemental supports. We used data from 554 third-grade students who met the criteria to be…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and to describe more fully the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, "Student achievement in 2021-22: Cause for hope and continued urgency." The authors investigated two main research questions in this brief: (1) How do achievement gains…

Extensive reading (ER) research has suggested that completing the equivalent of 7,200 standard words of extensive reading per week facilitates substantial reading rate gains. Research has also suggested that 100 minutes per week is sufficient to complete this goal for most English language learners (Beglar & Hunt, 2014). However, experimental…

Bayesian regression has emerged as a viable alternative for the estimation of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) growth slopes. Preliminary findings suggest such methods may yield improved efficiency relative to other linear estimators and can be embedded into data management programs for high-frequency use. However, additional research is needed,…

Given the significant role that academic self-concept plays in students' learning, understanding the psychological processes involved in its formation continues to be an important focus of enquiry. There is strong empirical support for two major models of academic self-concept (ASC) formation: the big-fish-little-pond (BFLP) model and the…

The number of English Learners (EL) enrolled in general education classroom environments in Illinois is increasing. State assessment data demonstrates that EL students are academically behind in reading. Since general education teachers in Illinois are not required to have an ESL endorsement and teacher preparation programs do not consistently…