Student-teacher relationships and school belongingness are both strong predictors for students' academic success (Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Hattie, 2009). Experiences related to their cultural identities also inform how they perceive their educational environment (Kutsyuruba et al., 2015) and may also predict academic success. Although current…

African American males often struggle with reading motivation and reading achievement. The problem addressed in this research study was that low reading motivation in African American males is associated with low scoring on standardized and summative reading assessments. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the reading…

In March of 2020 the COVID-19 Pandemic changed the world in education as we knew it. Schools, along with businesses and public venues around the world shut their doors in order to attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Just because the brick-and-mortar buildings were being closed did not mean that schooling would stop. Teachers and students from…

Recognition of the need for students with disabilities to receive free and appropriate education was brought to the forefront with the passage of Public Law 93 - 112, Rehabilitation Act in 1973. In 1975 Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted requiring all schools to develop and provide a free, appropriate…

State policy makers are constantly looking for ways to improve teacher quality. An oft tried method is to increase the rigor of licensure exams. This study utilizes state administrative data from Arkansas to determine whether raising the cut-scores on licensure exams would improve the quality of the teacher workforce. In addition, the study…

Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest partnered with the Arkansas Department of Education to examine Arkansas's middle school and high school indicators of postsecondary readiness and success, building on an earlier study of these indicators (Hester et al., 2021). Academic indicators include attaining proficiency on state academic…

Knowledge is Power Program Delta College Preparatory School (KIPP DCPS), an open-enrollment charter school,1 opened in 2002 in Helena, Arkansas. KIPP DCPS students have consistently outperformed their peers from neighboring districts on year-end student achievement scores, and KIPP's national reputation led Arkansas lawmakers to exempt KIPP from…

The purpose of this paper is to showcase new research that seeks to provide guidance on the heterogeneity of treatment effects by utilizing the variance of demographic differences in state assessments. This study is focused on a simple randomized block design where students are nested within schools, and within each school students are randomized…

Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest partnered with the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) to examine Arkansas's middle and high school indicators of postsecondary readiness and success, building on an earlier study of these indicators (Hester et al., 2021). Academic indicators include attaining proficiency on state achievement tests,…

This report demonstrates the effects of the Arkansas Better Chance program (ABC) on late elementary and middle school outcomes. End of year assessments, which varied over the course of the study years, were examined for students of three preschool cohorts. Students included in the statewide study received free lunch all years and were enrolled in…

This report demonstrates the effects of the Arkansas Better Chance program (ABC) on late elementary outcomes (third through sixth grades). End of year assessments, which varied over the course of the study years, were examined for students of three preschool cohorts. Students included in the statewide study received free lunch all years and were…

This report demonstrates the effects of the Arkansas Better Chance program (ABC) on late elementary and middle school outcomes. End of year assessments, which varied over the course of the study years, were examined for students of three preschool cohorts. Students included in the statewide study received free lunch all years and were enrolled in…

According to the compensation model of aggression (Staub, 1989), some people bully to defend against their own feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Classmates and teachers rated a sample of American sixth graders in terms of trait: defensiveness (i.e., defensive egotism), self-esteem, bullying, and related behaviors. Consistent with the model,…

This report demonstrates the effects of the Arkansas Better Chance program (ABC) on late elementary and middle school outcomes. End of year assessments, which varied over the course of the study years, were examined for students of three preschool cohorts. Students included in the statewide study received free lunch all years and were enrolled in…

This report looks at student growth in Arkansas school districts disaggregated by district poverty and by the district's value-added performance relative to other districts. We estimated district value-added performance statistics by subject and grade level (8 and 11-12) for longitudinal student cohorts, using statistical models that adjusted for…