The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between school organizational style and student outcomes. The research questions that guided this study were, "Is there a difference in mathematical performance of fourth graders who receive departmentalized instruction as compared to fourth grade students who receive…

This paper examines the French achievement results of three groups of students: Canadian-born English/French bilingual, Canadian-born multilingual and immigrant multilingual Grade 6 French immersion students, by investigating how the variables of integrative and instrumental motivations, attitudes to the learning situation, French language…

The report examines 2012-2013 Austin Independent School District (AISD) student academic performance results on the state academic test (STAAR), on an early reading test (Tejas Lee), on the Language Assessment Scales (LAS) Links, and on the state's English language proficiency test (TELPAS) for English language learners in the AISD dual language…

To help explain the differences in students' performance on internationally administered science assessments, cross-national, video-based observational studies have been advocated, but none have yet been conducted at the elementary level for science. The USA and Germany are two countries with large formal education systems whose students…

Teachers in School 9, a small elementary school in Passaic County, N.J., were shocked: Just 2.5% of students in the school were performing at grade level in math, making it the lowest-performing school in math in the nonpublic school district of 49 schools. School 9's student population is 69% Hispanic and 31% black; 80% qualify for free or…

"Make It Count" was a large scale, government-funded, project aimed at improving the mathematics learning of Indigenous students. NAPLAN Numeracy test results were used as one measure of the effect of the program. In this paper we report on the performance on these tests of Indigenous students in schools involved in the project. Group…

We use visualization to find patterns in educational data. We represent student scores from high-stakes exams as flow vectors in fluids, define two types of streamlines and trajectories, and show that differences between streamlines and trajectories are due to regression to the mean. This issue is significant because it determines how quickly…

In this technical report, we present the results of a reliability study of the second-grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures available on the easyCBM learning system conducted in the spring of 2011. Analyses include split-half reliability, alternate form reliability, person and item reliability as derived from Rasch analysis,…

In the Hastings Nebraska Public schools, two of the eight schools have been identified as national models of educational effectiveness. In seven of eight buildings, in just four years, student test scores have increased from around 60% proficiency to around 80% proficiency or better. At Hastings, central office leaders emphasize three key…

This qualitative study examined elementary and middle school students' perceptions of assessment. Individual interviews were conducted with 64 students, with questions focused on their emotional reactions and thinking about classroom and large-scale assessment as related to goal orientation, self-regulation, attributions, and self-efficacy.…

Project Inquiry-Based Mathematics was a National Science Foundation Math-Science Partnership implemented in a Great Plains city school district with a significant K-12 Native American population. One goal of the project was to reduce the achievement gap between Native American and non-Native students enrolled in district. This gap reduction was to…

A usability study was conducted by the Research and Innovation Network and Assessment Solutions Design to assess the usability of a drawing response interaction type. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) commissioned a multi-part study to determine the viability of using the drawing response interaction on…

Given the recent release and widespread state adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), teachers across the country now have common goals related to what their students should understand about particular mathematical topics. The authors of CCSSM explain, "Asking a student to understand something means asking a teacher to…

This brief summarizes findings on class size from over 25 years of work on the Tennessee Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) randomized, longitudinal experiment, and other Class-Size Reduction (CSR) studies throughout the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden, Great Britain, and elsewhere. The brief concludes with recommendations. The…

The passage of Senate Bill 530 in June 2007 increased visibility about the importance of health-related fitness in Texas. As a result of the mandate, more than 2.6 million 3rd- through 12th-grade students from all Texas counties were evaluated between January 1, 2008, and June 1, 2008, using a standardized test of health-related physical fitness…