The COVID-19 pandemic plunged education communities into an emergency mode of operation and challenged the pedagogic core of education. Schools across America suddenly lost access to everything essential to their daily educational practices, including face-to-face interactions with students. School administrators scrambled to devise remote…

Hurricane Katrina caused severe physical damage to the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Homes and businesses were destroyed. Natural habitats were annihilated, and many Americans were displaced for days, weeks, and even years. This study investigated the within-subject effects and contrasts of poverty, rurality, and…

In the first comprehensive analysis of Illinois' statewide survey of school climate and learning conditions, this report finds systematic differences among schools in the degree to which students and teachers report strength in the five essential supports. Previous University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR)…

This article reports the results of a study examining the utility of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in algebra for predicting performance on a state math assessment and informing instructional placement decisions for students in seventh, eighth, and tenth grades. Students completed six Basic Skills algebra probes across different time…

Case studies of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) in the Iowa project included four high schools that have been practicing this professional development model for the last five years. The schools, AHST Secondary School, Cedar Falls High School, Spencer High and Middle Schools and Valley High School were visited in April, 2011. The visits included…

Background/Context: School tracking practices have been documented repeatedly as having negative effects on students' identity development and attainment, particularly for those students placed in lower tracks. Despite this documentation, tracking persists as a normative practice in American high schools, perhaps in part because we have few models…

This newsletter focuses on the importance of reading and writing skills in all educational and career pathways. It includes a variety of strategies for integrating reading and writing skills across the curriculum--in academic, career/technical and fine arts courses--in ways that improve student achievement in reading and writing and in the content…

Analysis of National Assessment of Educational Progress achievement scores, 1975-92, indicates that nonmetropolitan 17-year-old students scored only slightly lower than metropolitan students in reading and mathematics, and at the same level in science. Comparatively faster improvement during the period was seen in Southern nonmetro scores and…

This report describes the development and implementation of a place-based curriculum for a small charter high school of 25 students in Wisconsin. The curriculum involved 100 days of field studies in local places such as historical archives, a restored wetland, a river valley, and a senior citizen community center. The students worked with 60…

This study profiles two high schools with high enrollments of low-income and racial/ethnic minority students: Thornton Fractional North High School (TF North) and Dumas High School (DHS). Both schools have substantial enrollments of low-income and racial/ethnic minority students and, despite the odds, are successfully preparing students for their…