Ms. Lewis, a Native American parent has a son named Ashkii who receives special education services in a rural elementary school located on a reservation. She has not received support from the individual education program team regarding Ashkii's academic progress due to COVID-19. The challenges in accessing special education services for Ms. Lewis…

School psychologists are encouraged to empower parents to be active partners in their child's education, including providing social-emotional supports. Typical parent engagement efforts involve trying to get parents to attend school meetings, which may overlook other ways parents can meaningfully support students. The current study examined…

School psychologists are encouraged to empower parents to be active partners in their child's education, including providing social-emotional supports. Typical parent engagement efforts involve trying to get parents to attend school meetings, which may overlook other ways parents can meaningfully support students. The current study examined…

In this essay, Jason A. Grissom, Christopher Redding, and Joshua F. Bleiberg investigate the receipt of gifted services based on the socioeconomic status (SES) of elementary school students and their families. Using nationally representative longitudinal data, they show that gaps in the receipt of gifted services between the highest and lowest SES…

Children who exhibit early behavioral and academic difficulties are at increased risk of later negative outcomes (U.S. Department of Human and Health Services 2009). Within the school setting, conceptualization of family risk, culture, and demographic factors is needed to effectively identify at-risk families to improve child educational outcomes.…

In 2006, the Anchorage School District implemented a school wellness policy to address the problem of obesity among its elementary-aged students. We assessed whether the addition of this policy is effective in protecting or preventing students from becoming overweight/obese over time. The methods involved following two cohorts of students for 5…

Background: Identifying lifestyle factors such as physical activity (PA) patterns and eating behaviors of children may be beneficial in implementing interventions in urban elementary schools. Purpose: To examine PA levels and self-efficacy (SE) in PA and health eating (HE) of third, fourth, and fifth graders in 3 low economic elementary schools in…

Background: Little is known regarding youth perceptions of tap water and school water fountains and how these relate to water and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake. Methods: We used national 2010 YouthStyles data to assess perceptions of tap water and school water fountains and associations with water and SSB intake. Results: Nearly 1 in 5…

How well do U.S. students read? In this article, Sean Reardon, Rachel Valentino, and Kenneth Shores rely on studies using data from national and international literacy assessments to answer this question. In part, the answer depends on the specific literacy skills assessed. The authors show that almost all U.S. students can "read" by…

Research Findings: Given the growing literature pertaining to the importance of fine motor skills for later academic achievement (D. W. Grissmer, K. J. Grimm, S. M. Aiyer, W. M. Murrah, & J. S. Steele, 2010), the current study examines whether the fine motor skills of economically disadvantaged preschool students predict later academic…

The authors investigated the association between participation in Nations in Neighborhoods (NiN), a program of folk and traditional arts instruction, and achievement in English language arts in a sample of low-income elementary school students, many of whom were recent immigrants and English language learners. The program drew on the core…

This study of advanced readers in Reading First (RF) classrooms was part of a larger evaluation of one state's RF implementation. The study's purposes were to (a) assess the longitudinal growth of advanced primary readers as compared with their non-advanced-reading peers over a 3-year timeframe and (b) determine the degree to which RF classrooms…

Objectives: The study examined the effects of the Self-Management Training and Regulation Strategy (STARS) on disruptive behavior, authority acceptance, social competency, and student-teacher relations. Method: All fourth- and fifth-grade students (N = 762) in seven schools and 42 classrooms were screened for disruptive behaviors. Using a cluster…

Research suggests that girls receiving special education services for Emotional Disturbance (ED) may have unique characteristics and needs. Similarly, juvenile justice research has identified unique characteristics of court-involved girls. This study examined characteristics of girls with ED and a history of arrest. Additionally, classroom-based…

Background: African-American and Latino children living in neighborhoods with a low-socioeconomic index are more at risk of obesity-associated metabolic disease than their higher socioeconomic index and/or white peers. Currently, consistent and reliable questionnaires to evaluate nutrition and physical activity knowledge in these children are…